Summer signing Elliott Hewitt is in the Town senior squad for the first time for Mick McCarthy’s Portman Road bow against Burnley on Saturday. The 18-year-old right-back impressed the new Blues boss in the U21s in midweek having been out since his move from Macclesfield after undergoing hip surgery while still with the Silkmen.
"He’s in the squad tomorrow," McCarthy confirmed. "He’s just had operations on both hips. The temptation when you see something is to say ‘We’ll have a bit of that’ and he played 90 minutes on Wednesday, but he’s in the squad.
"I really enjoyed watching him in the U21s. He was a player we looked at when we were at Wolves, I think most people were watching him, he got in the Wales U19s.
"I was really pleased with him in the U21s, it was a good athletic performance, but I thought they all had a go.
"And, I might add, in both games at Birmingham and Palace there’s been no lack of effort, none of that, they’ve always had a go and while they do that they’ll always have a chance with me.”
Hewitt is most likely to be amongst the subs after playing the full game for the U21s as they lost 1-0 to Swansea on Wednesday with McCarthy keeping his cards close to his chest regarding his team selection.
Stephen Henderson is likely to continue in goal with skipper Carlos Edwards at right-back and Aaron Cresswell probably staying at left-back, despite being switched into midfield late on at Palace.
Luke Chambers and Danny Higginbotham will probably continue to keep Tommy Smith out of the side at centre-half, while McCarthy has decisions to make in midfield.
Lee Martin misses out as he is suspended for one game having picked up his fifth booking of the season at Palace, while Guirane N’Daw is likely to return to the XI having been on the bench at Selhurst Park after suffering cramp in the closing stages of the 1-0 victory at Birmingham.
The Senegalese international looks set to come in for Andy Drury with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas perhaps the favourite to take over from the banned Martin wide on the right.
Richie Wellens, who plays the final game of his loan spell, and Nigel Reo-Coker are likely to keep their places in midfield.
Daryl Murphy will probably move up front alongside DJ Campbell - although Michael Chopra may instead be paired with the on-loan QPR man - with McCarthy likely to switch back to the 4-4-2 which saw his team to their win at St Andrew’s.
The new boss will be out to mark his inaugural game at Portman Road with a win, which would be the Blues’ first since March: "I’m very much looking forward to my first match at home. I’ve enjoyed the two away games and I’m looking forward to playing at home.
"It’s a home game and home territory has got to count. If we can get a win it’ll be a lot easier to work [with the players in training] next week.”
Turning his thoughts to Burnley, McCarthy says Town need to make the most of the Clarets’ defensive frailties on the road, where they have won two and lost five so far this season: "Look at the stats, they’ve scored 29, have conceded 29 and they’ve conceded most of them on their travels [19, two more than Town away from home].
"We complain about this being a place that we have to travel from to everywhere, but they all have to come here and we’ve got to make the most of that. It’s not a good trip to come here from anywhere.
"Charlie Austin’s scoring all the goals. I know Sean Dyche, he’s a good guy and he’ll make them solid and hard to beat.”
Former Watford boss Dyche took over at Burnley last week and has overseen home victories over Wolves (2-0) and Leeds (1-0) since then.
The 41-year-old says he’s delighted with that start but isn’t getting carried away: "It’s been great, even more so when you just have had two clean sheets, scored three goals and have the top goalscorer in Europe [Charlie Austin]. There is some pretty good news out there.
"But I have said it many times, not many teams are, and we are certainly not, the finished article. We want to develop further, become more consistent, become more of a force and see where that takes us.
"We are not complacent as a staff and I want to make sure the players aren’t complacent, which I don’t think they are. They haven’t given me that impression.
"But it’s been a really, really good week for my staff and we are looking to continue that at Ipswich on Saturday.”
He says Town will be looking to react to Tuesday’s hammering at Palace: "They will be smarting from an awkward result for them in the week. We are well aware of that and the players will be aware of that.
"You have to be aware of the opposition but you have to focus on what you do ourselves. We are in good form, we have good confidence and there is a good group and a nice feel about it."
In terms of injuries, defender Ben Mee is a doubt with a foot problem he picked up in the Leeds game.
No current Blue has been a Claret, although scout David Hamilton was at Turf Moor as a player in the early nineties and Town targeted Austin when he was at Swindon soon after Paul Jewell took over as manager in January 2011.
The 23-year-old, who was at Portman Road for talks but failed to agree personal terms with the Blues after the Robins accepted a fee, has netted 20 times in 17 games in all competitions so far this season.
Tony Loughlan, Roy Keane’s assistant manager during his time at Portman Road, is Dyche’s number two at Turf Moor.
Last time at Portman Road, in March, Michael Chopra’s goal in the 54th minute saw the Blues to a 1-0 victory over the Clarets, their fifth home win in a row.
After an understated first half, Town dominated the second and in the end should have won more comfortably, despite having Grant Leadbitter red-carded in the closing moments.
In November last year at Turf Moor, Town’s run of defeats stretched to six games as the Blues were thumped 4-0 at Burnley with manager Jewell slamming his side’s performance after the game.
Sam Vokes opened the scoring from a header from a corner, then Chris McCann added the second just before the break. The Irishman grabbed his second and the Clarets’ third, before Rodriguez completed the scoring.
Overall, Town have won 17 of the games between the sides (16 in the league), Burnley 10 (10) with a further 10 (10) ending in draws. The Clarets are currently 10th on 23 points, 14 places and 13 points above the Blues, who have lost only one of their last nine games against the Lancastrians.
Saturday’s referee is Mark Brown from East Yorkshire, who has shown 34 yellow cards and four red in 12 games so far this season.
Coincidentally, the only other Town game Brown has taken control of was Paul Jewell’s first home match in charge of the Blues, the 3-2 victory over Doncaster at Portman Road in February 2011, in which he showed yellow cards to Gareth McAuley and Connor Wickham and one opposition player. That fixture was Brown’s first as a referee at Championship level.
Brown was also an assistant at Elland Road in April 2007 when Leeds fans invaded the pitch after the Blues had all but confirmed their relegation to League One.
Squad from: Henderson, Loach, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Hewitt, Cresswell, Ainsley, Chambers, Higginbotham, Smith, Mohsni, Hyam, N’Daw, Reo-Coker, Wellens, Drury, Carson, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Chopra, Campbell, Scotland, Ellington.