Town will again be without striker David McGoldrick when they take on Reading at Portman Road on Saturday. The Irish international is not expected to return from the thigh problem which has forced him out of the last two matches until the derby at Norwich a week on Sunday.
"Didz, I was hoping he’d be OK but it’s just taking longer than we thought,” manager Mick McCarthy said.
"Norwich, I’d keep my fingers crossed for that one. We’re certainly not going to rush him back and we’ve got Luke Varney in now, so we’ve got three strikers.”
While Dean Gerken is fine after suffering a minor hand injury, Luke Hyam remains out with his knee problem and Darren Ambrose and Stephen Hunt are also sidelined. Earlier today Town confirmed that Noel Hunt is out for up to 12 weeks.
"Gerks is OK, Luke Hyam’s not fit and Darren Ambrose has a tight hamstring still," he added.
"Having played against Sheffield Wednesday on the Tuesday, I think he thought he had a chance of the Saturday and it was probably remiss of me not to say to him after he passed himself fit on the Friday that he wasn’t going to play against Fulham and he came out and he just overstretched it.
"That’s sad that because he did really well against Sheffield Wednesday. And Stephen Hunt has got a tight hamstring, but we’re OK, everybody else is fit.”