Despite the disappointment of Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat to Brighton knocking his side off the top of the Championship, boss Mick McCarthy isn’t too downbeat going into the international break.
The Blues are now third in the table, having taken 10 points from their first five league games, with the Seagulls loss their first of the campaign.
"It’s disappointing but how long I dwell on it is another matter,” McCarthy said. "I tend to think about the other side of it. If we’d won [on Saturday], if we’d been on seven points and we’d won and we're finishing on 10 points but had lost somewhere else, we’d all be feeling great. But defeats just make you feel bad.
"But I don’t feel bad about my squad or how things are going here or the place. We’ll come back and we’ll take Reading on when we get back.
"We’ll have a break, all of us. Seven games in 21 days has been a tough old schedule. They’ve had the same I might add, so I’m not making that as an excuse. We need a break.”
McCarthy gave a surprise debut to new Polish signing Piotr Malarczyk at half-time, the Pole’s international clearance having come through in time for him to be included in the squad.
"He did some good things,” McCarthy said of the 24-year-old defender, who was recruited from his hometown club Korona Kielce.
"The pace of the game was really hard for him. He said it’s 50 per cent quicker than playing in Poland, but he’s got the tools to play at that level.
"And he did all right. He did fine. We were winging it and leaving two-v-two at the back and I would have thought that anybody that was doing that would have had a pretty tough time.
"And the last three days he’s been driving about, planes, trains and automobiles. He only came in here on Friday night, so if he looked a bit under par that’s probably my fault for putting him on the bench. But I wanted him there and it gives him a good start.”
The Blues confirmed the signing of Australian winger Tommy Oar on a two-year deal with an option for a third season on Saturday and the 23-year-old is one of a number of players on international duty over the next fortnight.
Oar, who has previously won 25 full caps, scoring two goals, and the rest of the Socceroos play World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh in Perth on Thursday and against Tajikistan in Dushanbe the following Tuesday.
Loan winger Ryan Fraser and recently signed keeper Jonathan Henly are in the Scotland U21 squad for their Euro 2017 qualifier against Northern Ireland at Mourneview Park, Lurgan next Saturday (KO 2pm).
Town’s other on-loan winger, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, will be with the England U19 squad for friendlies against Germany in Bergisch Gladbach on Friday and Croatia in Zagreb the following Monday.
Defender Josh Yorwerth and keeper Michael Crowe will be away with the Wales U21s for their Euro 2017 qualifier in Luxembourg on Friday, while winger Dylan Connolly is in the Irish U21 squad for a friendly against Qatar on Friday and a Euro 2017 qualifier in Andorra four days later.
Midfielder Adam McDonnell will be with the Republic of Ireland U19 squad for a friendly against Italy in Cava de’ Tirreni on Monday 7th September.
Strikers David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy have been forced out of Ireland’s games due to groin and calf problems respectively, while Christophe Berra misses Scotland’s games due to his hamstring injuries.
Midfielder Kevin Bru was named in a provisional Mauritius squad for their African Cup of Nations qualifier at home to Mozambique but the midfielder won't be involved having been out with a hamstring injury.
Tommy Smith was left out of the New Zealand squad for their friendly against Myanmar in Yangon.
"With injury, squad balance and travel distance also considerations for this one-match trip, we opted not to include Chris [Wood], Ryan [Thomas] and Tommy for this game,” coach Anthony Hudson explained.
Jonny Parr, who is on the way back from the thigh problem he suffered in pre-season, wasn't in the Norway squad, while Jonas Knudsen was left out by Denmark.