Boss Mick McCarthy says he could look to freshen his side up at Yeovil on Tuesday but has ruled out making wholesale changes. Anthony Wordsworth is again set to miss out with a back injury, while Frank Nouble is a doubt with a minor hamstring problem.
"There’s a thin dividing line between freshening it up and having too many players in the team [short of match sharpness], like in the League Cup when you’ve got five or six in who haven’t been playing,” McCarthy said. "I’m not about to start doing that. But there’s the potential for freshening it up.”
The Town boss says Wordsworth is likely to miss out, while Nouble aggravated the injury which forced him off just after half-time a week ago: "Woody’s been struggling with his back and still is, he’s got a very sore back. Frank has got a bit of a hamstring, I think from the Birmingham game.
"He played the 45 minutes [on Saturday] and it didn’t look like it was bothering him then, but maybe sitting on a bus for five hours coming back’s caused a problem with it, so he’s got a tight hamstring this morning.”
He says centre-half Christophe Berra is fine despite requiring treatment for a foot injury following a solid challenge with George Friend at the weekend: "Surprisingly he’s OK, it was a real crunching tackle. Nothing in it, by the way, it was just a physically tough tackle and he’s fine.”
McCarthy says striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is now up to be included from the beginning of a match - "Yes, he’s ready to start” — although as usual was keeping his cards close to his chest regarding his team selection.
He confirmed that 17-year-old midfielder Teddy Bishop would again travel and that skipper Carlos Edwards would be making the trip having been left behind at the weekend: "He’s coming, so he’s got a chance [of being involved].
"That wasn’t so much me leaving him behind as him asking to stay behind to train. It’s not a nice trip if you’re not playing but at least he trained, otherwise you don’t train and you end up doing a little Friday, nothing Saturday, a little bit on Sunday. Fair play to him, he wants to keep himself sharp.”
The squad will undergo cryotherapy after training this morning before leaving for Somerset at lunchtime.
Meanwhile, McCarthy laughed off claims in one of this morning’s national newspapers that he had been told his budget must be cut by £3 million.