Town boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that left-back Jonas Knudsen will miss Saturday’s home game against Cardiff with the hamstring injury he suffered at Nottingham Forest last week, but midfielder Cole Skuse is over the ankle problem which forced him off at the City Ground and Jay Tabb is back in training, also having been out with a hamstring injury.
"Jonas is injured, he’s been out training, to be fair to him, he’s done his rehab but we’ve got matches Saturday, Tuesday and Saturday,” McCarthy said. "He’s strained his hamstring so we’re not going to risk him on Saturday."
He says the Danish international could be involved on Tuesday when Bolton visit Portman Road, while Jonny Parr, a scorer at Forest having come off the bench, seems certain to come into the team facing the Bluebirds.
As for his other injury concerns, McCarthy added: "Skusey’s fine, he trained Thursday and Friday. Everybody else is fine, Tabby’s back training as well, which is good. All the others were fine.”
The Blues boss was pleased to see Teddy Bishop get a full game under his belt for the U21s on Monday, the midfielder’s first match at that level for a month having suffered with shin splints and hamstring problems this season.
"He got his 90 minutes in, which was terrific, but we’re just trying to manage him and making sure we don’t rush him forward with it,” McCarthy continued.
"We’ll take as long we need to get him back in the first team because it is different. Training in the U18s and playing in the U21s is not like full speed with the first team. It’s great to see him back though, fingers crossed he gets through it all right.
"It’s been sad for all of us that he’s been missing. Sad for the supporters when he’s such a good player and one of the homegrown ones.
"Sad for me because I can’t pick a really talented young player and sad for him because his career’s been halted at a very young age already with quite debilitating injuries, shin splints at the start and then a hamstring.
"We’d all love to see him back. For him, being a young player, it’s devastating when you’re injured. I feel for him, he’s had a frustrating time of it.”
Regarding Ryan Fraser the Town manager says he’s heard nothing new regarding the winger, who is undergoing his rehab from his medial knee ligament injury with parent club AFC Bournemouth.
"I spoke to Ryan a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t spoken to him since. He’ll just be cracking on and trying to get himself fit,” he said.
"We got the prognosis a week after he’d been injured when we thought it might be six to nine months if he’d done his cruciate ligaments, but he hasn’t.
"It was always going to be two months, maybe 10 weeks. If it’s three or four weeks since he did it that’s not going to change, he’s going to be as long as it takes.”
Meanwhile, he says Luke Varney and Luke Hyam are getting closer to making their returns to action.
Hyam has been out of action since January with a knee injury which ultimately required surgery in the summer, while Varney ruptured an achilles in the play-offs.
Former Blackburn loanee Varney is expected to sign a permanent deal with the Blues once fit, which McCarthy says is now not too far away.
"He’s been out training today,” the Town boss said. "He and Luke Hyam were out kicking balls about today. It’s great to see them back on the grass and working.
"They’ll be back playing for the U21s in November, maybe two weeks in. But they’re getting very close now. They’re at that last bit where they’re going to get let loose into the training sessions.
"They’ve both had long-term injuries so it will be when the physios decide between them and the patient that they’re absolutely fine to go.”