Manager Mick McCarthy says first-year professional Jack Marriott is better off staying and playing with loan club Woking rather than returning to Portman Road and being on the fringes of the first team squad. Yesterday, the Blues agreed to extend the 19-year-old's spell with the Cards until January 2nd.
McCarthy says he was happy to allow Marriott — who scored four in four during his first month — to remain at the Kingfield Stadium: "I’ve got a 24-hour recall. He’s playing at Woking, he’s playing against teams in the Skrill Premier and he’s not playing here.
"I want him to have more experience and I’ve got him to come back at the drop of a hat, 24-hour recall.
"If I brought him back, I might stick him on the bench, I wouldn’t play him. He’s better off playing there. That’s my view, and I’m going to watch him on Tuesday night [at home to Kidderminster Harriers] myself.”
With Marriott absent and Paul Taylor out with a shoulder injury, former Huddersfield striker Alan Lee could come on to the bench against his old club on Saturday.
Woking and Marriott are in action at Halifax on Saturday afternoon, while young left-back David October and his loan club Histon are facing Stalybridge Celtic in the Skrill North at the Glassworld Stadium.