Town boss Mick McCarthy says Teddy Bishop will probably miss Saturday’s trip to Blackburn after breaking his nose again in training. Better news for the Blues is that Adam Webster is over his hamstring injury and Jonny Williams and David McGoldrick are closing in on a return to action.
"Teddy Bishop broke his nose again this morning, that’s another bit of good news,” McCarthy said.
"He’ll probably miss the game. I’ve just said to him, ‘You can play, can’t you? You can be involved’.
"I think it was Besty went to kick a ball and he’s put his head in there and he’s just clipped his nose and he’s broken it again.
"He was just getting back, he looked like he could be starting and he’s bust his bugle again, as we say.”
Bishop previously broke his nose in the 0-0 home draw with Aston Villa but came on as a sub in the 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield at Portman Road prior to the international break.
Regarding centre-half Webster, who has missed the last two matches with a hamstring problem, McCarthy added: "He started very well so for him to do his hamstring the way he did and then miss games has been disappointing for him, and for all of us.
"He’s a good player and he’s played well for us and he’s going to get better and better, so to have him back is a real boost.”
McCarthy says Williams isn’t too far away from a return after the ankle injury he suffered during pre-season with parent club Crystal Palace.
"He’s just about there,” he said. "I’ve just walked off training with him. He’d been saying that starting might be different, but I said to him, ‘If you start and have 60 minutes and you’re shattered after that and you have to come off, what do you think?’.
"I think he’s feeling a lot more confident about that now. Tuesday, Saturday to have Jonny involved when he’s fully right. He’s just about there and I think it’s convincing him that he can finally start.”
Williams is in the squad for the trip to Blackburn but may be more likely to make his fourth Town debut when the Blues face Burton at Portman Road on Tuesday.
McGoldrick, who has also been out with an ankle injury, is not too far behind Williams: "Didzy’s been great, he’s trained very, very well today. He’s trained all week, he’s not looking like he’s having any problems with it or any other subsequent problems from anything else.
"But we need him fully fit before he starts. We’ve just had two weeks off, then we’ve got a helluva programme, we go Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday.
"He really needs a game, he really needs an U23s game. I guess as a sub [for the first team] maybe. I think for him and for his own confidence he needs to have that 60 or 70 minutes in a game first.
"But it’s great to see him back on the training ground, we can see what we’ve been missing.
"We were talking about Newcastle before that he’d been back to be involved in. Rotherham we could be looking at him playing.”
Luke Hyam has undergone a knee operation and will be out of action for two months, while Tommy Smith is making the expected progress after his back surgery. Brett Pitman remains sidelined with his ankle injury.