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McGoldrick Ready to Start, Skuse Fit But Chambers and Knudsen Doubts - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Mick McCarthy says striker David McGoldrick is ready to start and midfielder Cole Skuse should be fit for Saturday’s home game against Rotherham, but full-backs Luke Chambers and Jonas Knudsen are both doubts.

Skuse missed the trip to Newcastle last week having aggravated a toe injury in the 2-0 home victory over Burton but McCarthy says the Bristolian should be OK to face the Millers.

"Skusey’s trained today, he’s fine, hopefully he doesn’t get a nasty reaction and he’ll be fit for Saturday,” he said.

Danish international left-back Knudsen was forced off at half-time at St James’ Park with a back problem and sounds unlikely to be involved on Saturday, while skipper Chambers has also missed training but is considered less of a concern.

"Jonas hasn’t trained, neither has Chambo, to be honest,” the Town boss added. "I think Luke Chambers is more likely to be involved than Jonas. We’ll have to wait and see with Jonas, we’ll find out more tomorrow.

"Luke’s problem is his ankle, he got hit very early on in the game at Newcastle and it definitely affected him to the extent that he hasn’t trained properly yet this week.

"He’s done some rehab with the physio today, so he has done some training and he’ll join in fully tomorrow.

"But Jonas was really struggling, it went into spasm and he’s had a bit of a reaction from that today, so we’ll have to see if it settles down tomorrow.”

If either Knudsen or Chambers miss out McCarthy says he has no qualms about starting Myles Kenlock, 19, on the left or Josh Emmanuel, also 19, on the right of his defence.

"If either of them are not fit then Josh and Myles will be ready to step in and they’ll both play,” he added.

McCarthy says Jonny Williams isn’t quite up to a start but believes David McGoldrick is ready having playing the second half at Newcastle.

"Jonny played 90 minutes in the U23s in the week and I still think he’s getting there, he’s still a bit ring rusty as you can imagine, he’s had a long time off,” the Blues manager added. "He took a couple of knocks on his ankle but he’s certainly getting there.

"Didzy played 45 minutes and I thought he looked good and he’s trained well this week, so I’d say he’s ready to start.”

He added: Luke Varney had 90 minutes for the U23s the other day, he's trained fully and it's good to have him back [from his hamstring problem] and it gives me a few more options."

McCarthy says Luke Hyam (knee), Tommy Smith (back) and Brett Pitman (ankle) are all recovering from their injuries as had been expected.

Midfielder Giles Coke has undergone a further knee operation: "He’s still in rehab as well. The last operation was a very minor one to remove a stitch or something which was just irritating the wound, that’s all. It wasn’t a big thing. I’m hopeful he’ll be training soon.”

Keeper Michael Crowe is also on the sidelines after suffering an ankle ligament injury in the U23s at Colchester last week: "He’s out for 10 weeks with an ankle injury.”

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