Stephen Hunt, Chris Wood and Teddy Bishop are amongst the starters for the U21s in this afternoon’s game against Colchester United at Playford Road (KO 1pm). The U’s include on-loan Town striker Jack Marriott and ex-Blues midfielder Byron Lawrence.
Hunt is on the way back from the hamstring injury which has sidelined him in recent weeks, while Bishop is working on his fitness having been out with an ankle problem. Similarly, Wood was out with an ankle injury shortly before joining the Blues on loan from Leicester.
Town once again include West Brom defender Reiss Greenidge, as they did in the 1-0 defeat at Brentford a fortnight ago and in the 1-1 draw at QPR last week.
The 18-year-old is a 6ft 5in tall centre-half or left-back who recently spent four months on loan at Port Vale with a view to making a permanent switch but was unable to break into their first team.
U21s: Crowe, Hammond, Hunt, Bishop, Greenidge, Clarke, Stewart, Benyu, Wood, Connolly, Henshall. Subs: McDermid, Wyatt, Guldbrandsen, Patterson, McQueen.