Town boss Paul Jewell admits that left-back Aaron Cresswell will be a loss to his side when the Blues face Millwall at the Den on Saturday. The 21-year-old, who his manager says is arguably the club's best player so far this season, is out for one game having picked up a second yellow card and then the inevitable red for dissent close to the end of Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Crystal Palace.
Jewell says the former Tranmere man's exit has got him thinking about his options: "We’re going to be missing Cressy, that’s a bit of a blow for us, and you start thinking whether to make two or three changes for one.
"But I think at the end of the day it’s important we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water because there’s an awful lot we’ve been doing right recently.”
The Town manager refused to be drawn on precisely who would take previously ever-present Cresswell’s place at the Den but hinted that it would be veteran former Millwall man Mark Kennedy.
Jewell admits that the 35-year-old’s lack of mobility might cause him to change his midfield system: "I’m not saying Sparky’s playing and I’m not saying he’s not, but if that is the situation we might have to [look at it].
"We’ve won four games playing a diamond formation and gave teams lots of problems. I think we’ve lost one playing it, so why do we have to change the whole system for one player?”
The last two performances have been under par but having reviewed the matches since, the Town boss says there were positives: "You analyse the game back on the tape, as we have this week, and we didn’t play well against Portsmouth but we were in the right areas and battled away.
"We played better against Palace and just didn’t create enough opportunities. It’s a decision I have to make and whoever I have to put in at left-back I’m sure will go in and do a decent job.
"But we will miss Cressy as he’s been arguably our best player this year. He’s been sent off for being a bit silly at the end and we have to get on with it.”
Manchester City loanee Reece Wabara is another option with more running in him than Kennedy but the Blues manager is concerned that he might be throwing the right-sided 19-year-old in at the deep end.
He said: "Whether it’s fair to put a young lad in making his [full] debut on the wrong side of the pitch is a big call.
"I think he’s been really patient and done really well in training. I spoke to [City’s football administration officer] Brian Marwood about him yesterday.
"I said that although he’s not playing, he’s involved in first team preparation, first team matches, travelling away and seeing how it’s done.
"It’s doing him good as far as his education’s concerned. He’s obviously very keen to play and he was coming on against Portsmouth until Sonko got injured when we had to change our minds.”
Similarly, Jewell thinks it’s too soon for academy second-year Joe Whight, who signed a two-year professional deal in the summer: "It would be a big ask for Joe at the moment.
"I’d like to get Joe out on loan somewhere to give him some experience and really toughen him up because we think he’s going to be a good player.
"Some people at 17 or 18 are mentally stronger than others and Joe’s got a little bit to do on that part of things.
"I said to him the other day that I want him to see Aaron Cresswell as a challenge to him. I don’t want him to see Cressy as here to play all the time, I want him to see himself getting in the team and getting ahead of Cressy. That’s what I want Joe to think.”
The Town boss wants to see a number of his youngsters go out on loan - the likes of Ronan Murray, Tommy Smith, Jack Ainsley and Shane O’Connor - but Jewell says it’s not always easy to find them teams: "In fairness to the players, it’s not them that don’t want to go.
"When I ring a club up, they always want experience, big centre-forwards and the like, so it’s difficult.”