Roy Keane says the Blues will definitely be without skipper David Norris, Grant Leadbitter and Gareth McAuley when they face Barnsley at Portman Road on Saturday (KO 3pm). The Town manager says he’s also unlikely to risk Darren O’Dea and Mark Kennedy, who are on their way back from injuries.
Keane said: "David Norris is definitely out, Gareth McAuley’s definitely out, Grant Leadbitter is suspended and I think it’s too soon for Darren O’Dea and Mark Kennedy. The plan is for them to be involved on Tuesday in the reserve game, but we’ve still got good options."
Norris has an ankle injury, but could be back for the Hull City match in a week's time, while McAuley, who has achilles tendinitis, is unlikely to be available for the visit to the KC Stadium and has already been withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad. The Blues are waiting on the results of a scan.
Kennedy is returning from a hamstring problem, while O'Dea is on the way back after a knee operation. Town are in talks with the Republic of Ireland management regarding the on-loan Celtic man’s involvement with his national squad for next week’s friendly against Norway.
In the absence of the senior players, Keane says he has no qualms about bringing in his younger players: "It’s something we’ve done all season and the lads who have been on the bench all season will get a chance, whether that’s Luke Hyam, Troy Brown or Ronan Murray, Reggie’s never let us down. So you’ll see some young boys involved and they’ll do well for us.
"I’m comfortable even with us missing important players that the lads will come in and do well, as they did early in the season when we were forced to throw them in earlier than we expected.”
Keane says there’s no point in dwelling on Tuesday’s 2-0 home loss to Derby: "There are 30-odd games to go and we’ve said all along that there will be ups and downs, there’ll be disappointments, but what we have to do is look forward to the game on Saturday.
"Whatever happened Tuesday is history. Yesterday’s gone. We now have to prepare the players available today as best we can. They’ve all trained well this morning, they’re all positive and they know we need to perform and not give away the goals we have been giving away over the last six weeks.”
The Blues boss is looking for greater consistency from his team: "The other night I said that at the moment we’re not good enough to win four or five games on the spin. I think it’s six years since this club has won four games in a row and it’s the nature of where we are at the moment. I don’t think I ever suggested that the players aren’t good enough.
"To get out of this league you have to be consistent but we’ve got some good players, there’s a good spirit amongst them and we’ve got to bounce back.”
Keane refused to reveal his choice of captain with skipper Norris and stand-in Leadbitter out. Damien Delaney looks to be the favourite with Mark Kennedy an alternative if the Blues boss decides that the former Cardiff man is fit enough to be involved. The Blues boss feels he has various other options including Márton Fülöp and former U18 skipper Luke Hyam.
Whether he’s captain or not, Fülöp will be in goal with Keane having significant decisions to make at the back in the absence of key man McAuley. The Blues boss will probably move Tom Eastman into the centre alongside Damien Delaney with Tommy Smith at left-back and Jaime Peters on the right.
Troy Brown is an alternative at either right-back or centre-half, while Kennedy could make a surprise return on the left, Keane having previously opted to field players he has initially ruled out.
In midfield, Luke Hyam looks likely to return in the centre, probably alongside Jack Colback with Andros Townsend potentially returning on the left with Carlos Edwards on the right.
Jason Scotland could return in the deeper of the two striking roles having been rested on Tuesday. Tamás Priskin is also likely to start with Connor Wickham and Ronan Murray coming off the bench at some stage. Reggie Lambe and Shane O’Connor will probably join them on the bench. Kennedy and O’Dea will also probably be amongst the subs.
Alan Quinn (groin) and Colin Healy (hamstring and groin) aren’t ready to be included but could be involved in the reserves friendly at Norwich next week.
Tykes boss Mark Robins, like Keane a former Manchester United player as well as a one-time Canary, says Town will be determined to react to their midweek defeat: "They lost to Derby on Tuesday, so they're a wounded animal.
"They'll be looking to bounce back from that defeat, but we'll go there full of confidence. You expect grit, determination and quality from a Roy Keane side - and I expect that's what we're going to see.
"But the players responded excellently after our defeat to Leicester and we're looking for another good performance from them.
Barnsley, who sit in 18th place on 19 points, five fewer than the Blues, will be without left-back Luke Potter, who is out for at least a month having undergone knee surgery, while fellow defenders Matt Hill (foot) and Jay McEveley (knee) are also sidelined.
Historically, Town have done well against the Tykes, winning 19 games between the sides (18 in the league), drawing four (four) and losing 12 (10).
The last time the teams met in March, loan striker Daryl Murphy’s sixth goal of his spell with the Blues took Town to a 1-0 win at Portman Road.
At Oakwell earlier in the season, former Town loanee Jon Macken’s last minute goal gave Barnsley a 2-1 victory over the Blues, who still hadn’t won a league game at that point in the season.
The Tykes had gone ahead in the first half through Iain Hume, who later smashed a penalty against the bar, Liam Rosenior equalising for the Blues just before the break.
The most famous meeting between the teams came in May 2000 at Wembley when Town won the play-off final 4-2 to reach the Premier League.
Jay McEveley was on loan with Town in the 2005/06 season, scoring one goal in 17 starts and two sub appearances, while Blues midfielder Colin Healy spent 2006/07 at Oakwell but made only two starts and eight appearances from the bench during an injury-hit spell.
Saturday’s referee is Paul Tierney from Lancashire, who has shown 39 yellow and two red cards in 13 games so far this season. Tierney’s most recent Town match was the Carling Cup tie at Crewe earlier in the season in which he booked David Norris, Grant Leadbitter, Shane O’Connor, Tommy Smith and one Railwayman.
Probable squad: Fülöp, Murphy, Peters, Smith, O’Connor, Eastman, Delaney, O’Dea, Kennedy, Brown, Hyam, Colback, Livermore, Townsend, Edwards, Lambe, Griffiths, Scotland, Priskin, Wickham, Murray.