Town boss Roy Keane says his players will be hurting after Sunday’s derby defeat to Norwich and will have to be at their best to beat West Brom in tonight’s Carling Cup quarter-final at Portman Road. The Blues are without virtually an entire team due to injury, suspension and ineligibility for this evening's match, which will definitely be going ahead despite the snowy weather.
Keane said: "I think they’ll be hurting, of course they’ll be hurting, but you’ve got to bounce back. A lot of the players who were involved on Sunday won’t be available, but it’ll give some of our other players a chance to stake their claim to get in the team for a quarter-final and stay there for some important league matches which are coming up.”
The Blues are definitely without loanees Jack Colback, Rory Fallon, Gianni Zuiverloon and Jake Livermore as they have already played in the competition for their parent clubs this season, while Damien Delaney is suspended for one match after his sending off at Norwich.
Key defender Gareth McAuley is out until January at best having undergone achilles surgery recently, but better news is that Connor Wickham is likely to be back in time for the Preston match having picked up a thigh problem in the reserves last week.
Mark Kennedy and Luke Hyam are around a fortnight away from returning to action after their hamstring injuries. Alan Quinn played 45 minutes for the reserves last week but isn’t considered ready for a first team return yet. The Irishman will play in the reserves at Luton next week.
In addition to those definitely out, keeper Márton Fülöp is a doubt having suffered an ankle problem at Norwich, while young midfielder Jamie Griffiths sustained a blow to the leg in training and will be assessed today before a decision is made on whether he will be involved.
Keane says Town could also potentially be without defender Darren O’Dea, whose girlfriend was yet to give birth to their first child as of Tuesday afternoon: "Darren’s available for Wednesday unless something happens today or tomorrow . Probably the way things are going she’ll go into labour tonight and he’ll have a nine-hour drive tonight and would be ruled out.”
Better news is that Tom Eastman is over his groin injury and is expected to be fit enough to be involved. Keane has also confirmed that Argentinian midfielder Luciano Civelli will be in the squad having returned to the 18 for the first time in 20 months on Sunday after his multi-ligament knee injury.
The Blues boss says he can sympathise with fans’ frustrations after the side’s recent slide down the Championship table: "I can understand the doom and gloom around the supporters, I’m not here to try and produce a magic wand and say ‘everything’s going to be fine’. It’s not, it’s not going to get any easier. We’ve got tough games in terms of West Brom with their quality and experience, Swansea are in good form.
"Our home form hasn’t been great, we’ll need a bit of bravery from our players in terms of receiving the ball and wanting the ball and wanting to come to Portman Road on Wednesday.
"There’s a chance of getting to the semi-final of the Carling Cup, but we’ve got to be at our very, very best and even then that might not be enough with the inexperienced players we’re going to have to play on Wednesday night.”
Keane hopes supporters will back the team, even if they are dissatisfied with his current performance: "It is difficult for supporters when you’re not winning matches, they pay their money. Hopefully they’ll get behind the team, get behind the young fellas and we'll see where that takes us.
"I think the relationship [with the supporters] can be classed as a bit of a rollercoaster but we’re still on the rollercoaster, we’ve been down a few dips in the last few weeks and we need to give them a bit of a high.
"That’s football. If we can get them a good result on Wednesday, it doesn’t fix what we’ve done over the last month or two with our poor results and conceding four to Norwich, but it might be a small step in terms of our recovery to try and win back the supporters who have turned on me as the manager, which is part of the game when you’re losing.”
The Irishman says he’s looking forward to taking on Premier League opposition, the Blues having reached the last eight of the Carling Cup for the first time in a decade: "We always hoped to go on a decent cup run and if we got the quarter-final there was a good chance we’d be playing a Premier League team. A lot of these teams are taking it much more seriously now, it’s a chance for them to win a bit of silverware.
"We’ve had some good draws and have made it hard for ourselves in terms of getting through against teams from the lower leagues, which goes to show what a tough game it’s going to be on Wednesday night. It’s the first time we’ve played a team from the Premiership. It’s a big ask, but we’ll do our best.”
Keane says West Brom have done very well since winning promotion from the Championship in May: "They’re a good example to a lot of teams, like Blackpool. On the back of promotion they’ve built well, it’s a good, strong squad which they’ve used well in the cup competition.
"If you can go to Everton and win 4-1, I don’t care what anyone says, that’s some going. They’ll come down here and once you get to the quarter-finals of the cup all the teams will feel ‘this can be our year’.”
The Blues came close to beating the Baggies at Portman Road in the league last season only a late equaliser preventing Keane’s side from taking all three points, but he says tonight will be significantly harder: "We should have got a result down here against them last season, but they’re a much stronger squad now than they were then and we’re a weakened team compared with what we had that night because of injuries and the players who have left the club.
"I think it’s a much tougher ask for us to try to get a result against them this year than it was last year.”
Keane says his young players won’t let him down in terms of effort: "People like Ronan Murray, Reggie Lambe, Troy Brown and Tom Eastman, who we hope will be fit. These young boys are learning their trade and we’ll have to play a fair number of them.
"Let’s see how they do. If they give 100% and represent the club well we’ll be happy, but even with that there’s no guarantee we’re going to win because of the quality we’re up against.
"It’s a big night for everyone, it’s a big challenge, but the carrot that’s there for us is the semi-final of the Carling Cup and for some of our young boys to get the opportunity to play in the quarter-final of any cup, they’ve got to look forward to it and learn from it and be better players and better people for it.”
Regardless of Márton Fülöp’s fitness, Brian Murphy is likely to be in goal, the Irishman having been the keeper in all Town’s Carling Cup matches so far.
Elsewhere, Keane has plenty to ponder due to the large number of absentees but more than a few options given the versatility of some of his squad members.
Tom Eastman may well return at right-back with Tommy Smith keeping his place at the centre of the defence. Darren O’Dea, if he’s not called back to Glasgow, could play alongside the New Zealand international with Troy Brown or Shane O’Connor at left-back.
Alternatively Brown could come in at right centre-half with O’Dea at left-back, while Jaime Peters is yet another possibility at right or even left-back.
With West Brom playing a 4-5-1 system, Keane could choose to match them which may see Peters come into the centre of the midfield with Grant Leadbitter and David Norris, with Carlos Edwards on the right and Andros Townsend — like Peters left out of the squad at Norwich presumably with a view to tonight’s match — on the other flank. Tamás Priskin is likely to be the lone striker.
Ronan Murray and Jason Scotland will probably be involved from the bench at some stage, while Luciano Civelli will be hoping to get on the Portman Road pitch for the first time since March 2009. Irish youngster Conor Hourihane could also be amongst the subs with central midfield resources particularly stretched.
West Brom will be without midfielder Youssuf Mulumbu, who was sent off in the closing stages of the Baggies’ 4-1 victory at Everton on Saturday. Defender Jonas Olsson is out of action with an achilles injury, while striker Ishmael Miller is back in training after a lower abdominal problem but probably isn’t ready to return. Striker Marcus Haber is out with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Albion assistant head coach Eddie Newton says that while some senior players will be rested, he and boss Roberto Di Matteo won’t make wholesale changes with no new injuries suffered at Goodison Park: "There are no new problems from the weekend, just manageable ones, like nicks. There are no strains or anything like that. We're pretty healthy as a squad.
"Maybe we might rest a couple but other than that we're very happy. I'm happy for all the boys that have gone out on loan because they need to play games.
"But it's going to be a little bit more difficult to make 11 changes like we've been doing in the previous rounds. We'll adjust the squad as necessary and go from there basically."
Newton says the Blues may benefit from getting away from the pressure of the Championship after four successive defeats: "Any side is dangerous. At the end of the day they want to get to a final as well.
"It may be a great break from the league run they're going through. Sometimes it is a good thing for players to get away from the strain of not getting a result in the league.
"It's kind of like a release and they'll believe, if they get a great result against us, it will be the springboard to get their league form back on track. It's going to be a dangerous game without a shadow of a doubt."
The sides last met in the competition in the 1969/70 season at the third round stage with the tie going to a replay. The first game at Portman Road ended 1-1, Charlie Woods scoring for the Blues and Colin Suggett, Town's chief scout during the George Burley era, netting for the Baggies.
In the replay at the Hawthorns, the home side won 2-0 with Bobby Hope and Jeff Astle scoring the goals.
Last season, as Albion marched into the Premier League, Town were defeated 2-0 at the Hawthorns with Youssuf Mulumbu and Robert Koren on the scoresheet.
At Portman Road, the teams drew 1-1, Grant Leadbitter netting a penalty and Chris Brunt grabbing the equaliser in the final minute.
Overall, Town have won 32 games between the sides (30 in the league), West Brom 21 (20) with 16 (14) ending in draws.
Right-back Gianni Zuiverloon joined the Blues on loan from tonight’s opponents last week but is ineligible for tonight’s game and is the only current Town player to have worn the Baggie shirt.
None of Roberto Di Matteo’s squad have played for the Blues, although veteran third-choice keeper Dean Kiely was on loan at Portman Road in November 1989 without making a first team appearance.
The draw for the semi-finals of the Carling Cup will follow this evening’s tie between Birmingham City and Aston Villa. It will be live on Sky Sports immediately after the match at St Andrew’s, following extra-time and penalties if they are required.
Wednesday’s referee is Select Group official Mike Jones from Chester, who has shown 36 yellow and two red cards in 13 games so far this season.
Jones, who is famed for having been the ref in charge when Darren Bent scored his famous beachball goal for Sunderland against Liverpool, most recently took control of the Blues in the 4-0 defeat to Newcastle at Portman Road last season.
He was also the official in charge of the 1-1 draw at Elland Road in April 2007 when the Blues consigned Leeds United to relegation to League One and the home side’s fans invaded the pitch causing the game to be suspended for more than half an hour.
Squad from: Murphy, Lee-Barrett, Fülöp, Eastman, Brown, Peters, O’Dea, O’Connor, Smith, Norris, Leadbitter, Healy, Hourihane, Edwards, Townsend, Lambe, Griffiths, Priskin, Scotland, Murray.