Town boss Kieran McKenna says a couple of players have minor issues ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against Championship leaders Burnley at Portman Road but in any case he planned to make changes with promotion from League One this season’s priority.
The Blues host the Clarets having played two games in four days earlier this week, the 2-1 defeat at Oxford and the 4-0 home hammering of Morecambe.
"I think it’s a balancing act as always,” McKenna said when asked about his selection plans for Saturday. "We have a couple of players who have minor issues after the Saturday-Tuesday games that if tomorrow was a cup final or a massively important league game, they might be available for selection, but we have to protect our main priority at the moment, which is progressing in the league.
"We will look after a few players and there’ll be changes in the team from a physical point of view.
"There will be changes in the team from a rotation point of view because we need to have a strong squad fit and ready and available to play in the league games coming up, which are a big priority.
"There’ll be changes, as there were in the last round, of course, and we think that how we train and prepare for games gives the players coming in the best chance possible and we know that it’s going to be tough, but I know that whichever team we put out there is going to be excited for the game and ready to take the challenge head on.”
McKenna says it’s important that all his squad have match minutes in their legs: "We have big games coming up, we have midweek games coming up, Saturday-Tuesdays where we’re going to have to use the squad.
"We’ve got two players thereabouts competing for every position and both need to be ready because things can change very quickly, as we’ve seen in the first half of the season.
"Everybody ready is an important message for us at the moment. A lot of that is training but also game-time is invaluable and when there’s a chance to have that in such a high level game we have to use that, while also giving ourselves a good chance to be competitive in the game. We’ll try and find that balance and that will be the thinking going into tomorrow.”
One player who won't be involved is new defender Harry Clarke, who is cup-tied having played for Stoke City in the third round.