Town boss Mick McCarthy will be out to continue his remarkable record against Sheffield Wednesday when the Blues take on the play-off-chasing Owls at Portman Road on Saturday.
McCarthy has gone 14 games without losing to Wednesday since a 2-0 League Cup defeat at the Den while in charge at Millwall in 1995, his only managerial loss to his fellow South Yorkshiremen.
"I said that maybe they should give me the job!” McCarthy laughed recalling his post-match comments after Town’s 2-1 November win at Hillsborough, where he has never lost as a manager.
"I had a good record at Portman Road as well for a while, by the way. I’d like that one to improve and get better.
"It is a strange stat that one. It’s a good one, actually. I like being the holder of that one.”
Particularly so as he’s from Barnsley? "Yes, I don’t think they’d like the fact that I’m holding that record, I can assure you. It would only be worse if I was the manager of Barnsley, that would really irk them!”
McCarthy says the win at Hillsborough was "arguably” Town’s best away victory of the season as well as the game in which loanee Tom Lawrence really began to make his mark with the Blues by scoring a brilliant opening goal.
"It was a great goal, was that the first one that he scored like that? Probably was, wasn’t it? He’s scored a few since, it’s been the Tom Lawrence Goal of the Season competition.”
What a run! 😮 @Official_ITFC and @FAWales midfielder @TomLawrence99 runs half the half of the length of the pitch to score. pic.twitter.com/uScRaWAqfg– Football On 5 (@FootballOn5) November 5, 2016
The Town manager wants to end what he admits has been a disappointing home campaign by repeating the display and win from the 3-1 victory over Newcastle the last time the Blues were at Portman Road.
"I’d love to go out with a performance and a result like that,” he said. "And we’ve been at pains to make that clear this week, certainly TC did in the session this morning, to protect the integrity of the league and everything else.
"We can’t go up and can’t go down but Sheffield Wednesday still need the points, they could be caught, it’s unlikely, but they could be and we’ve got to make sure that we perform.
"And every day they train and play and want to win, so Saturday’s going to be no different. It is a really important game for us because it’s our last game, it’s in front of our fans and we’d like to leave a good taste in their mouths.”
But McCarthy says that won’t be easy against Carlos Carvalhal’s side, which he believes has the division's strongest options up front.
"He’s got a fantastic squad, he arguably got the best six strikers that you could ask for,” he said. "Stats will tell you who scores them, but Steven Fletcher and Gary Hooper, Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall, Atdhe Nuhiu and Fernando Forestieri. Not bad, is it?”
He added: "They’ve got a good squad of players and I’d expect them to be riding high.”
Former Blue Rhodes was added in January as the Owls sought to strengthen their play-off bid as the season went into its final months.
Does McCarthy believe Town missed a trick by not similarly pushing the boat out when similarly in the play-off hunt in January 2015 and 2016?
"Well, we didn’t, did we, so what’s the point in me bringing that up now?” he added. "And we got into the top six [in 2015].”
McCarthy has said that having made nine changes at Rotherham last week he’ll return to the team which beat Burton Albion and Newcastle United.
That would see Bartosz Bialkowski in goal with Jordan Spence at right-back, Myles Kenlock on the left and skipper Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence.
In midfield, Cole Skuse will be joined by Emyr Huws and Grant Ward with Tom Lawrence and Freddie Sears either side of David McGoldrick up front.
Lawrence returned to training on Thursday having been out with an ankle problem and is expected to be OK to face the Owls but if not Danny Rowe, who impressed against the Millers, may keep his place in the starting line-up.
Wednesday are currently fifth on 78 points, five ahead of seventh-placed Leeds with the Owls’ goal difference better by one.
Fulham, who are sixth on 76 with a very much superior goal difference, visit Hillsborough for what could be a huge final day game.
The Owls could still potentially finish as high as third with Huddersfield three points ahead of them and Reading in fourth only a point away. Wednesday have a better goal difference than both the Terriers and the Royals.
Owls boss Carvalhal wants his side to confirm their place in the top six at Portman Road.
ðŸŽŸï¸ | Saturday's clash with @swfc has been made 'all-ticket'. No tickets will be available to purchases on the gate.https://t.co/paM78SdIu0– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) April 24, 2017
"We depend only on us and it will remain that way for the next two games,” he told the Owls official site.
"We want to achieve three points this weekend in a stadium where only four teams have done this.
"We focus completely on this weekend, it will be very difficult to the both teams and we’ll have very good support.”
Wednesday, who beat Derby 2-1 at Hillsborough last Saturday to end a run of 17 games without a victory over the Rams, could be without midfielder David Jones, a member of Blues boss McCarthy’s Wolves side.
Jones has missed training this week due to a virus which forced him out of the Rams match when he was replaced by Kieran Lee. Defender Sam Hutchinson could return to the squad after a calf injury.
Historically, Town have the edge having won 19 games (18 in the league), Wednesday 17 (16) and with 12 (11) matches having ended in draws.
The Blues’ last defeat to Sheffield Wednesday was the 3-0 loss in Chris Hutchings's one game in charge in October 2012 following Paul Jewell’s departure.
At Hillsborough in November, skipper Luke Chambers headed an 87th minute winner to see the Blues to a 2-1 victory.
In the first half Tom Lawrence had put Town ahead with a brilliant first goal for the Blues but Gary Hooper had hit back almost immediately with what looked to be an offside goal for the Owls.
At Portman Road in the opening home league game of last season, Tommy Smith nodded the winner from close range eight minutes after the break as the Blues came from behind to beat Wednesday 2-1.
Ross Wallace had put the Owls in front in the 19th minute but Freddie Sears equalised two minutes later.
Blues midfielder Giles Coke, who is moving on at the end of the season after not featuring in 2016/17 due to knee problems, spent five years with Wednesday having signed from Motherwell in July 2010. While with the Owls he made 77 starts and 24 sub appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Town in the summer of 2015 having been released by Wednesday.
David McGoldrick spent a month at Hillsborough during the early part of 2011/12, scoring once in three starts and one sub appearance, while Leon Best - still a Blues player despite being told he will never play for the club again - was on loan with Wednesday for three months at the end of 2013/14, scoring five goals in 12 starts and three sub appearances.
Jordan Rhodes, who joined the Owls on loan from Middlesbrough in January with a view to a permanent deal in the summer, came through the academy ranks at Playford Road having moved to the Blues’ youth set-up in March 2005 for £5,000 from Barnsley after his father Andy joined the club as goalkeeper-coach.
The striker made 10 sub appearances and scored one goal for the Town first team before being controversially sold to Huddersfield by then-manager Roy Keane in the summer of 2009 for a fee which, after top-ups and a sell-on following his £8 million move to Blackburn Rovers in August 2012, climbed to just over £1 million.
The Blues are understood to have received a further £20,000 when Rhodes joined Boro from Rovers for £9 million in January 2016.
During his time at Ewood Park, former Kesgrave High School pupil Rhodes scored six goals in six games against the Blues, the team he still supports, while he failed to find the net as Town drew 0-0 with Boro at the Riverside in April last year.
Rhodes senior is currently head of goalkeeping at Hillsborough, while ex-Blues left-back Neil Thompson coaches in their academy.
Defender Morgan Fox was a schoolboy at Town's Playford Road academy before being released at 11.
Following the match, the squad and staff will be attending the Supporters Club's Player Awards Evening where the winner of the Player of the Year will be announced.
Saturday’s referee is James Adcock from Nottinghamshire, who has shown 87 yellow cards and two red in 27 games so far this season.
Adcock’s last Town match was the 1-1 draw with Cardiff at Portman Road in December, in which he red-carded Bluebirds defender Sol Bamba for his second-half temper tantrum. He also booked Jonas Knudsen, Tom Lawrence and four Cardiff players.
Prior to that he was in charge of the 3-0 defeat at Newcastle in October in which he again booked Knudsen and two home players.
He also refereed the 1-0 win at Leeds United in September 2015 in which he booked Jonny Parr and three home players.
Prior to that he took control of the 1-1 home draw with Blackburn in October 2014 in which Matt Kilgallon was red-carded for a second bookable offence and Cole Skuse and former Blue Ryan Tunnicliffe were both also cautioned.
Before that he officiated in the 2-0 loss at Wigan in September 2013 in which he booked Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra.
Adcock’s first Town game was the 3-0 home victory over Leeds earlier that year in which defender Tom Lees - now a member of Saturday's visitiing Owls squad - was red-carded for a wild challenge on Jay Tabb midway through the first half. Three other Whites, Luke Chambers and Aaron Cresswell were also yellow-carded during that match.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Emmanuel, Spence, Berra, T Smith, Digby, Skuse, Huws, Dozzell, Bishop, Douglas, Bru, Ward, Rowe, McGoldrick, Lawrence, Sears, Pitman, Samuel, Moore.
