Town boss Mick McCarthy is pleased that his squad now has the strength in depth to allow him to make changes without weakening his team as he did ahead of the 1-0 at Brighton on Tuesday.
In previous seasons McCarthy has been happy with his first XI but has admitted he felt less confident in his squad players, while his options have been limited during recent months due to injuries.
While David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop remain sidelined with hamstring problems, Ryan Fraser is back after a knee injury which kept him out for more than two months and Luke Hyam after almost 11 months out, also with a knee problem, having spent a month on loan at Rotherham.
Luke Varney has signed a contract until the end of the season having recovered from the ruptured achilles he suffered in the play-offs and Kevin Bru (hamstring) and Jonny Parr (calf) are back from more minor injuries.
Prior to Tuesday’s game Town had been unchanged for six matches but Fraser and Bru came into the team for Brett Pitman, who dropped to the bench, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who missed out with a foot problem. The on-loan Arsenal man is over that injury and will travel to Burnley for Saturday’s game.
"Jonny Parr’s been out for a couple of weeks, maybe not quite as long as that but he’s back training, that’s great,” the Town manager said.
"Being able to bring players back is fantastic, to give some of them a rest, a break otherwise you just keep whipping the same horses and you end up with injuries.
"It was nice to have the quality to be able to change it on Tuesday night, certainly Ryan Fraser coming back in doesn’t weaken any team and Kevin Bru coming back in doesn’t weaken any team. It helps with the tactics, the way we set up, as well.”
He added: "It’s remiss of me not to mention Luke Hyam, he’s been great. He had his games up at Rotherham, he played a 90 minutes before there so he was ready to play and you could see that when he came on at Brighton.
"I thought he did a great job, he was terrific. He just gave us the legs and the impetus. They started [the second half] really well and putting him on helped steady the ship.”
Having got back in first team action, Hyam will be hoping to play a big part in the side during the second half of the season.
"I’m not really bothered who plays a big part in it, as long as we’re successful,” McCarthy admitted.
"I’m hoping he’s come back and he’s fully fit and he’s going to be one of the players and he’s going to contribute, and I’ve no doubt he will because he’s such a great character and a great pro.
"I thought he really did well the other night, playing where he did. And then he went and played on the right because they were trying to double up on Chambo and he helped there. It’s great to have him back.”
Mauritius international Bru hit the post twice at Brighton and McCarthy says the Blues staff have been encouraging him to get into the box more often.
"Bru was very unlucky not to score and it’s something that we picked out, as TC and me do, from the analysis that we did, where he runs when he’s playing,” he said.
"He has a tendency to pull out for a shot back or to stay out and we’ve asked him to run in the centre of goal and get in there because he’s got real quality, Kevin Bru.
"It’s getting him in the right areas, but he played further forward on Tuesday night, so that helped him, but he’s got real good quality, he’s a good finisher when you see him in training.”
Meanwhile, he says he’s not yet considered sending any of his more senior fringe players, such as Jay Tabb or Giles Coke, whose involvement has been limited so far this season, out on loan.
"I’ve not given that too much thought,” he said. "I’ve been more concerned with getting players back and I’ll deal with any requests as they may or may not come in. But I’m happy with the squad I’ve got.”