Boss Mick McCarthy says Nigel Reo-Coker’s hamstring injury could give Luke Hyam the chance to show he is worth a regular place in his line-up. The 21-year-old looks likely to replace Reo-Coker, who is out for two or three weeks, when Nottingham Forest visit Portman Road on Tuesday.
McCarthy said: "It gives Luke an opportunity. As one door shuts, it opens up for somebody else. It would appear that [from the reaction when] he came on, he’s club man and he got a good, warm welcome, so it would be good to see him play.
"He has impressed me in the U21s, which is the reason he has been on the bench and he’s been around [the first team].”
The Blues boss says that ideally he’d like to bring some stability to his side, but feels that’s not always possible when a team is struggling: "When things aren’t going well you just keep changing players, ‘I’ll move him, I’ll move him’, but they get no continuity at all, never a chance to play together.
"Nigel Reo-Coker and big Guirane N’Daw have done fine, they’ve done all right in most of the games. I could have changed 11 last week, that’s how ordinary we were.”
He added: "The longer players play together, they get a feel for each other, they know where they are, they get an understanding of each other’s game.
"You try and get that but if you get beat often you can’t keep that continuity, you’ve got to make some changes. But we’ll keep cracking on.”
N’Daw received a cut to the head in the first half against Peterborough which required treatment on several occasions as well as a change of kit, something his manager felt was wholly unnecessary: "That didn’t help, having him coming off the pitch. We went down to 10 men three or four times, for quite a while at one stage.
"The rule is just unbelievable. I see rugby players swathed in blood and they’re grappling with each other. He got a speck of blood on his shorts and he had to come off and have his shorts changed. It’s beyond me.
"It’s a nasty cut, it’s right on his eye line, which was why it was difficult to patch up. I thought he was excellent in his approach to the game.
"At times he can pass it better, but if you get that commitment out of all the players, we’ll be all right.”
McCarthy was impressed with centre-half Tommy Smith - "I was pleased with Tommy, I thought he did well again” — and feels new loan signing Tyrone Barnett, who was unavailable against his parent club, will benefit from the type of balls which were going into Posh’s box in the second half on Saturday: "If we get service like that in to him he’ll thrive on that, that’s for sure.”
After what had been a woeful first period, McCarthy said he had rather simple instructions for his team at the break: "I did ask if it was at all possible that we could pass it to someone in the same colour shirt. I’m deadly serious.
"The passing was that bad. It was nervy, it was awful at times in the first half. In the second it was much better and I was pleased with the response.
"Both teams are languishing in the bottom three, but I thought both tried to pass it and play.
"The more games you win, the further up the league you are, the better it gets. That’s what you have to strive for, and we’ll keep trying.”