Town boss Paul Lambert says the Blues will have to adapt to a surface at Tranmere on Saturday which he expects to be even worse than the one at Oxford on Tuesday. As things stand, Rovers are confident the match will go ahead with a tent on the pitch and blowers drying out the surface.
Tranmere’s FA Cup replay with Watford was postponed on Tuesday and pictures on social media suggested that Town’s trip to Prenton Park might also be in doubt, however, the Birkenhead club have been bullish on the prospects of the match being played.
Asked whether he’d had any assurances the game would take place, Lambert said: "I don’t know, I don’t really get involved with too much of this stuff.
"Some of the staff members showed me some pictures of the pitch and things like that and if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is.
"I’ll go up there and play, it’s not something I’ll sit and worry about. What you don’t want to do is go up there and the Ipswich fans travel on the Saturday. I think that’s important that the decision is made whether it’s on or off on Saturday morning.”
Lambert says he’s played on worse pitches during his career: "Yes, of course I have. But it’s men’s football, that’s the way it should be. That’s the way it is.
"We have to go and play it. If the referee says it’s on, it’s on and you have to go and play, you can’t make an excuse that the pitch isn’t great, you have to go and try and win a game.”
Might Town have to adapt their passing approach to the conditions? "You might. As I said before, the pitch will play a good part of where we’re going to be and what it’s going to be like. If it is the way I think it’s going to be, after a minute that will cut up, that’s for sure.”
Could he be forced to leave out players not long back from lengthy injuries, the likes of Emyr Huws, Teddy Bishop or Freddie Sears?
"The way the lads have been playing I’ll go with what I think is the strongest side and if they’re feeling good, then we’ll ask the guys to go again,” he insisted.
"I don’t think you’re going to sit here and protect anybody, the guys are in good form at the minute and they’ll go again.”
Quizzed on whether the pitch at Oxford will have taken a lot out of his players and might come into his thinking when he names his XI at Tranmere, he added: "It was, but you can never blame the pitch for the way the game’s going to go, it is what it is.
"There’s no point in saying the pitch was like that or had water on it or whatever, you have to play the conditions and, to be fair, the Oxford groundsmen, they went out there when the stoppage happened and did a good job. It was heavy, yes, but I don’t think it was as bad as it will be on Saturday.”