x

Three Miss Millwall Game - Ipswich Town News

Town will be without Chris Bart-Williams, John McGreal and Pablo Couñago when they take on Millwall at Portman Road on Saturday. Bart-Williams continues to rest his back, while McGreal has a knee injury and Couñago a strained hamstring.

Both Bart-Williams and McGreal are likely to be available next week.Couñago is having a scan today which Town expect to show that he will be out for two to three weeks. Long-term absentee Chris Makin sees a specialist tomorrow regarding his still troublesome hip.

Better news is that skipper Jim Magilton is fine, after picking up a minor foot injury against Norwich at Carrow Road on Sunday.

The absence of three first team regulars means that the Town squad is more than usually stretched with Scott Mitchell, Scott Barron and Dean Bowditch all involved in first team training late this week. Manager Joe Royle says that two of those three will be in his 16 facing the Lions.

Millwall's visit means a return to Portman Road for on loan keeper Andy Marshall. The stopper will be allowed to play against Town, something Royle says was down to finance: "It's something we preferably would have avoided, but they're paying a substantial amount of his wages and we couldn't really enforce anything with this deal.

"Andy's a good keeper, he's just had a bad time here. It just hasn't worked for him here, which sometimes happens, but I believe he's doing exceptionally well at Millwall.

"He'll be keen to do well here, to show people what he can do — myself included. Let's hope he doesn't come back to haunt us.”

Royle feels his side have played well without reward recently: "We need a break. We've played exceptionally well in two games last week and came away with nothing.

"I can't even say that we've defended badly apart from one or two individual errors. I thought we defended very well at Norwich, there were few problems at all until we went down to 10 men.

"I would settle for a repeat performance that we had at Norwich but with one or two more breaks around both goals; thinner crossbars and a bit tighter marking at corners and freekicks.”

The Town boss is not expecting the prospect of a potential FA Cup final to affect Dennis Wise's men: "I've been in that situation with Oldham when we were going for the FA Cup and the League Cup, as well as promotion.

"There're running high on adrenaline and they won't be training. I don't think that will be too much of a problem to them and they're in the top six. They got in the top six without playing a game this week, so they'll be thinking the luck's in for them at the moment.

"They're doing well. I predicted at the beginning of the season that they'd be up there. They've got a good blend of youth, some good players, they got strength and they've bought Dichio who's been a good signing for them. I'm not surprised by Millwall.”

The Lions have doubts over central defender Darren Ward and player/manager Dennis wise. Ward has a medial ligament injury and Wise took a blow to the knee during last week's FA Cup match with Tranmere.

Saturday's referee is Premiership official Mike Riley from Leeds. He was last at Portman Road in January when he took control of Town's FA Cup loss to Sunderland.

Squad: Davis, Price, Wilnis, Richards, Santos, Diallo, Naylor, Magilton, Miller, Wright, Westlake, Reuser, Bent and Kuqi, plus two from: Mitchell, Barron and Bowditch.

What to read next:

TWTD Questionnaire 2024/25
Welcome to the annual TWTD Questionnaire, your chance to look back in judgement on Town's 2024/25 season
Town Fans Take Total Raised For Food Bank to £20,000
Town supporters donated more than £6,000 to Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks in 2024/25, taking the overall total raised since the group began their monthly matchday collections in January 2023 to £20,000.
International Round-Up
While Town’s club season is now over, the Blues saw six first-team players get minutes for their countries over the last week during the June internationals. Here is a round-up of how they all fared.
Blues Duo Win Caps as Ireland Draw
Dara O’Shea started and Jack Taylor came on as a sub as the Republic of Ireland were held to a disappointing 0-0 friendly draw away against Luxembourg.
Burgess's Australia Confirm World Cup Qualification
Cameron Burgess’s Australia confirmed qualification for the 2026 World Cup by beating Saudi Arabia 2-1 in their final qualifier in Jeddah this evening.
Mauge Signs Pro Deal
Blues youngster Jamie Mauge has signed the professional deal offered to him at the end of the season.
Ex-Blue Kennedy Rejoins Birmingham Staff
Former Town full-back and academy coach Mark Kennedy has returned to Championship new boys Birmingham City as U21s professional phase coach.
Former Blues Striker Knights Named Stourbridge Boss
Former Blues striker Darryl Knights has been named the manager of Southern League Premier Division Central Stourbridge.
Burgess's Australia Set to Confirm World Cup Qualification
Cameron Burgess’s Australia should formally confirm their qualification for the 2026 World Cup finals when they take on Saudi Arabia in their final qualification group game in Jeddah this evening, while Dara O’Shea and Jack Taylor will be in friendly action with the Republic of Ireland.
Hirst Nets First International Goal in Scotland Victory
Town striker George Hirst bagged his first international goal as Scotland beat Liechtenstein 4-0 in a friendly in Vaduz this evening.