Town boss Paul Jewell goes into Saturday’s home game against Huddersfield looking for his side to bounce back from the twin disappointments of the 6-0 thrashing at Blackpool and the Capital One Cup exit at Carlisle. The Blues manager is able to call on new signings Guirane N’Daw, Daryl Murphy and Paul Taylor, but looks likely to be without skipper Carlos Edwards, who has a groin injury.
Jewell appears set to hand Murphy and Taylor their debuts, in the Irishman’s case his third for the Blues, from the start with N’Daw, who is not quite up to full fitness, amongst the subs.
Murphy will probably take over from Josh Carson, who is over the hamstring injury he was suffering with at Carlisle, on the left of midfield with Taylor likely to come in for the so far this season misfiring JET on the right.
Michael Chopra will be in his usual lone striker’s role with Lee Martin behind him, ahead of Massimo Luongo and probably Luke Hyam, who is also over his hamstring problem.
At the back, the Blues’ only two current centre-halves, Tommy Smith and Luke Chambers, will be in the middle with N’Daw their likely deputy if one of them picks up a knock.
Jack Ainsley looks set to replace Edwards at right-back - his first start since the 7-1 hammering at Peterborough a year ago - with Elliott Hewitt at least a couple of weeks away from first team action despite being back in training after his hip operations. Scott Loach will continue in goal.
There was still no news of Cheick Kourouma's situation as of last thing last night with Town likely to learn whether the paperwork went through in time today, although it seems unlikely that the Frenchman would be involved today even if it did.
The big Huddersfield news of the week has been the exit of former Blue Jordan Rhodes for a fee the Terriers have confirmed is a guaranteed £8 million. Town will receive around £700,000 via their 10%-of-profit clause, taking the overall fee they have received from the Terriers from the striker’s controversial 2009 move to about £1.5 million.
Jewell was anticipating that the West Yorkshire club might have added a replacement striker to their squad ahead of the game, however, in the end a move for Leicester’s Jermaine Beckford wasn’t completed, although Wolves winger Adam Hammill joined on loan and is available for today’s match.
But whoever was to come in, the Town boss said they wouldn’t have been an unknown quantity: "Whoever they bring in we’ll know about them.
"Whether they bring in Beckford, an outstanding goalscorer, whether it’s DJ Campbell, who is a top player, whether it’s Hammill, whether it’s Billy Sharp [who joined Forest], we’ll know they’re good players.”
Huddersfield boss Simon Grayson, who says he had been planning ahead for Rhodes’s exit, is expecting a tricky afternoon: "It is going to be a tough game as Portman Road is always a difficult place to get a result.
"We have been delighted with the way that the players have started the first three games of the season and we want to continue the progress that we have made.
"It was important that we got our first win under our belt last weekend [2-0 against Burnley] — you don’t want to let the wait drag on too long.
"The manner of the victory and the overall performance was the most pleasing aspect for me. We know that we need to carry on working hard to keep up the high standards that we have set ourselves. "
He says wideman Sean Scannell is expected to miss out: "Sean Scannell is a doubt and we have pretty much ruled him out for the weekend, so we will have to make a change in his position. When a team wins in the manner we did last weekend you don’t have to make too many changes.”
Historically, Town have won 19 games (including the only cup tie between the sides), the Terriers 11, with five ending in draws.
The teams last met at Portman Road in February 2000 when goals from James Scowcroft and a home debut strike from Marcus Stewart, who had only joined the Blues from Huddersfield for £2.75 million earlier in the month, saw George Burley’s side to a 2-1 victory. Between those goals Dean Gorre netted for the visitors.
No current member of the Town side has represented the West Yorkshiremen, although assistant manager Chris Hutchings captained the Terriers during three years and more than 100 games at Leeds Road.
While ex-Blues Jordan Rhodes, Tommy Miller and Gary Roberts have all left Huddersfield this summer, Alan Lee and former Blues reserve keeper Nick Colgan remain in Grayson’s squad.
The Terriers manager played under Paul Jewell during a loan spell when the Town boss was in charge of Bradford.
Today’s referee is Mick Russell from Hertfordshire, who has shown a conservative eight yellow and one red card in five games so far this season.
Russell took charge of Town’s pre-season friendlies against Colchester and Southend, but his most recent competitive game involving the Blues was the 3-3 home draw with Middlesbrough in which he booked only Mark Kennedy.
Squad from: Loach, Lee-Barrett, Ainsley, Edwards, Cresswell, Whight, Chambers, Smith, Luongo, Hyam, Drury, N’Daw, Murphy, Emmanuel-Thomas, Taylor, Carson, Martin, Chopra, Scotland, Murray.