Striker Tamás Priskin found himself trapped back in Hungary on Wednesday night with sub-zero temperatures grounding outward flights. The 25-year-old had been due back at Portman Road yesterday ahead of Saturday’s visit to Nottingham Forest.
Manager Paul Jewell said: "He’s stuck in Hungary. He rang me on Wednesday night to tell me it’s -5 and planes can’t take off, so he’s stuck in Hungary.”
The weather improved yesterday and Priskin, who scored three times in two friendlies for his national side during the break, should be back at training today when Jewell says he will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s game at Nottingham Forest: "We’ll see if and when he gets back what state of mind and what physical state he’s in.”
The Hungarian international made his first Town appearance of the season in the 3-2 defeat to Doncaster, Jewell admitting that his team was well under par: "We shuffled the pack around a little bit but didn’t have a great performance.
"I see them on the training pitch and see who is looking sharp or who is looking a bit down or whatever. I’ve got an open mind about the team for Saturday as we speak."
Trinidadian duo Carlos Edwards — who has also been away with his national side - and Jason Scotland were surprise omissions from the Doncaster line-up with Jewell feeling their form had dipped, partly due to off-field issues: "Carlos has been away and hopefully he’ll be back in today [Thursday]. Jason is fine, he’s got his head down, he hasn’t sulked, he’s worked and he’s trained fine.
"I just thought Carlos was tired. He’d been through a lot in his personal life and sometimes things catch up with you. I thought he was tired and a bit flat.”
Jewell says midfielder Colin Healy, who was withdrawn after 28 minutes of the Doncaster defeat, may well come back into his plans despite the Irishman making it clear that he wasn’t overly impressed at being hauled off so early on: "Colin came in to see me after training on the Tuesday. He wasn’t happy. I understood where he was coming from. I didn’t expect him to be happy. I felt for him.
"We shook hands and life goes on. Whatever happens, happens. He could be in my squad. I’m not writing him off. Watch this space.”
The Blues boss says the ex-Cork City man, who was making his first league start of the season, might have been one of two early substitutions: "It was a very hard decision because Colin’s a terrific professional. I very nearly made two subs at the same time, Hutch just talked me out of the second one.
"I just felt that I needed to do something. Colin wasn’t happy. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly. That’s life, I’m paid to make decisions, some are popular, quite a lot are unpopular.
"I had to make a decision, I made it. He’s had his say about it, I’ve had my say about it and we move on.”