Town manager Roy Keane says his squad can’t afford to slacken off having made a start to the season which has seen them climb to second in the Championship and reach the Carling Cup’s last 16. Keane has plenty of selection headaches ahead of Saturday’s game at Scunthorpe with a much-changed side impressively defeating Millwall in the Carling Cup in midweek.
The Blues boss is pleased with the way the season has gone so far, but is well aware that the campaign has only just begun: "The players have done well and we want to keep it going. There’s such a long way to go in the Championship, but we’ve had a decent start and the players deserve great credit.
"Our younger boys have done well and also our experienced players like Gareth McAuley, David Norris, Grant Leadbitter, Mark Kennedy and Márton Fülöp, while Tamás Priskin got another goal the other night.
"We’re pleased with the players, they’re doing very well, but we can’t slacken off, we’ve got to keep going full pelt and see where it takes us.”
Keane says many of those involved at the Den pressed their claims for inclusion against the Iron, including some of those who have been out with injury.
The manager and his staff will assess the likes of Damien Delaney, who made his first senior appearance after his thigh injury on Tuesday, before picking Saturday’s team: "We’ll have to gauge Damien and Mark Kennedy as they’re still getting up to speed.
"Darren O’Dea should be OK, the rest will have done him the world of good because he has struggled with his knee.
"Tommy Smith has had an issue with his back for the last couple of months, so it was ideal to give him a rest and he’ll come back into competition with the other centre-halves. Shane O’Connor’s going to train this week after his hamstring problem, but Quinner’s a bit off yet with his groin injury.”
Scunthorpe currently sit in 16th in the Championship with a home record of won one and lost two, but Keane isn’t expecting an easy afternoon: "It’s going to be a tough game. We played Scunthorpe last year and had two very close games.
"We had a very tough game up there, we drew 1-1, and we were probably glad to get a draw because I don’t think we were great on the night. We had a very tight game down here as well.
"There have been changes there, they’ve got a new manager, so they’ll be playing with a lot of enthusiasm and energy as you’d expect.
"But we’re in decent spirits ourselves,” he added, "and for us to get a result we’ll have to be at our best, however, hopefully it’s the same for Scunny - if they’re going to beat us, they’ll have to be at their very best.”
Keane has plenty of decisions to make having made eight changes from the side which beat Cardiff 2-0 last week for the 2-1 victory at Millwall. The Blues boss will almost certainly recall Márton Fülöp in goal, despite another impressive display from Brian Murphy against the Lions, while Tommy Smith is likely to return alongside Gareth McAuley in the centre of the defence.
Darren O’Dea will probably get the nod ahead of Mark Kennedy at left-back, while Jaime Peters could well come back in at right-back. Tom Eastman did well in an unfamiliar role against Cardiff and Millwall but Keane may not fancy giving the 18-year-old three games in a week.
The Blues boss will have to decide whether to play a three or four-man midfield but will probably again go with the latter with skipper David Norris and Grant Leadbitter in the centre. Carlos Edwards will return on the right and Andros Townsend will be looking to replicate Tuesday’s excellent performance on the left.
Playing a four-man midfield allows Keane to play both Connor Wickham and Jason Scotland with the Trinidadian likely to be in a deeper role as he was last week with Colin Healy taking up a similar position at Millwall in the week.
Tamás Priskin will probably be involved from the bench at some stage, while Reggie Lambe particularly impressed his manager at the Den and is likely to be amongst the subs, along with new signing Jake Livermore.
Aside from the injured O’Connor and Quinn, Luciano Civelli is the only senior player not in the with a shout of making the squad with Keane feeling the Argentinian still needs more reserve games.
Ian Baraclough was appointed Scunthorpe’s new manager this morning, having been in a caretaker role since Nigel Adkins left for Southampton earlier in the month, and says his side need to replicate their decent away form — two league wins in their four games on their travels so far — at Glanford Park: "It's the first of two home games that are massively important for us.
"We have enjoyed the excitement and euphoria of testing ourselves against the best [in the Carling Cup against Manchester United] but now it's back to the league and we need to have the right focus. We have done well away, but now we need to start picking up results at home."
Defender Jim McNulty (ankle) and midfielder Garry Thompson (groin) are currently out injured. Centre-half Rob Jones may return after a knee injury.
Scunthorpe have only beaten the Blues once in history, a 4-0 win at the Old Showground back in Town’s 1960/61 Second Division championship season. Other than that, the Blues have won eight (six in the league) and drawn three (three).
In February, the sides drew 1-1 at Glanford Park in a game which had been postponed due to a frozen pitch earlier in the season, Cliff Byrne scoring for the Iron and David Healy netting his first and only goal for Town soon after.
At Portman Road less than a month later, Connor Wickham struck his first league goal for the Blues in injury time to give Town a 1-0 win. Both sides ended the match with 10 men, Iron defender Cliff Byrne was red-carded for an off the ball elbow on Jack Colback, then Damien Delaney was more harshly sent off for a trip on halfway, a dismissal which was subsequently overturned.
No member either current squad has played for the other side, although Scunthorpe defender Rob Jones was linked with Jim Magilton’s Blues on a number of occasions while he was with Hibs.
Scunthorpe fans are launching a campaign to retain the standing area at Glanford Park at Saturday’s game.
The Iron are running a Kids for a Quid scheme at the match, an offer which will be running on the day of the match from their ticket office for cash only.
Saturday’s referee is Mark Haywood from West Yorkshire, who has shown 11 yellow cards and no reds in six games so far this season. Haywood’s only previous Town match was the 1-1 draw at Leicester in January in which he booked just Alex Bruce.
Squad from: Fülöp, Murphy, Peters, O’Dea, Eastman, Kennedy, McAuley, Smith, Delaney, Norris, Leadbitter, Edwards, Townsend, Hyam, Livermore, Healy, Lambe, Wickham, Scotland, Priskin.