Town will be without striker Jon Walters and defender Richard Naylor when Charlton are at Portman Road on Saturday. However, the Blues welcome back Finnish frontman Shefki Kuqi, who is joining on loan from Crystal Palace for the rest of the season.

Walters is continuing to have problems with his knee and looks likely to undergo surgery next week. The operation will keep the Republic of Ireland B international out of action for around six weeks.

Naylor has a neck problem related to the slip disc which kept him out of the side earlier in the year and the extent of the problem will be assessed next week.

Danny Haynes is a doubt with the groin problem he picked up in the warm-up at Barnsley, while full-back Sito is close to a return to action after the ankle injury he suffered in the behind-closed-doors reserves friendly with the Colorado Rapids and which forced him to miss the trip to Oakwell.

Alex Bruce will replace Naylor at centre-half alongside Jason De Vos with no defensive loanee likely to sign in time for Saturday.

Dan Harding is expected to return to the side at left-back with David Wright moving to the right. Sito may also come into Magilton's plans depending on the condition of his ankle.

The Town manager will have to decide whether to stick with keeper Stephen Bywater after his poor performance at Barnsley or whether to hand Nick Colgan his debut for the Blues.

In midfield, Alan Quinn, one of Town's best performers at Oakwell, will start on the left with David Norris likely to continue on the right.

Magilton again has options galore in the centre, but may decide to remain faithful to Owen Garvan and Velice Sumulikoski.

The Blues boss says he expects to start with Alan Lee and Pablo Couñago up front with Kuqi likely to make his second Town debut later on in the game if the paperwork relating to his move is completed in time.

Academy frontman Jordan Rhodes will probably be amongst the substitutes having made his third first team sub appearance at Barnsley on Tuesday.

Magilton says a win against Charlton, currently fifth in the table, five places and three points ahead of the Blues, can reignite Town's play-off push: "We are still in the hunt for promotion and we are one result away from getting our season back on track again.

"A victory against Charlton will see everybody optimistic once more and we will be back on the straight and narrow.”

Charlton boss Alan Pardew says his side haven't been playing too badly despite losing 1-0 at Burnley in midweek: "We were terrific at Sheffield United [when they won 2-1] and without actually getting a result against Burnley, I didn't think we were much different.

"We were solid and strong and controlled the game. Unfortunately we couldn't take one of our chances and perhaps that's where our problem lies - taking the opportunities that come our way.

"We've just got to keep focused on the next game and not get too down or too up. If we win at Ipswich we won't get carried away and if we lose we won't get carried away by that either.

"We need to stay on an even keel and treat every game as a winnable game and we're certainly viewing Ipswich as a winnable game.

"We need to come back on Saturday with a strong performance and a strong mental attitude."

Pardew's side, which defeated the Blues 3-1 at the Valley earlier in the season, will be without defender Madjid Bougherra, a target of Joe Royle when he was Town manager, who has a foot injury.

On-loan winger Lee Cook is still not considered match fit, while Lloyd Sam, Svetoslav Todorov and Chris Dickson are longer-term absentees.

Charlton's squad isn't quite so packed with ex-Blues as it once was, although Matt Holland and Darren Ambrose are still there, while Marcus Bent is on loan at Wigan. In January Alan Pardew signed Andy Gray from Burnley, a player Jim Magilton was very keen to bring to Portman Road.

Blues striker Danny Haynes was an academy schoolboy at the Valley before moving to Playford Road at 16.

Town have a slightly better record than Charlton in games between the two sides, winning 17 times (13 in the league), drawing eight (seven) and with the Addicks victorious on 16 (13) occasions.

The Blues are expecting a crowd of around 24,000 for Saturday's game with Charlton bringing 2,000.

Issue 91 of TWTD, featuring an interview with chief executive Derek Bowden, will be from our sellers around Portman Road (by Sir Alf, next to the Portman Road entrance to the Greene King Stand, by Planet Blue) ahead of kick-off.

If you can't make the game, you can purchase a single copy or six-issue subscription here and have TWTD delivered to your door.

Also in this issue, Gavin Barber uncovers more of Richard Scudamore's plans for the Premier League, the new signings are assessed, there's a feature on following lower league German football and specifically Union Berlin, advice to a newborn Town fan, a piece on women and football and much more.

Saturday's referee is Nigel Miller from County Durham, who has shown 53 yellow and six red cards in 30 games so far this season. His last Town game was the 6-0 home walloping of another promotion-pushing side Bristol City.

Likely squad: Bywater, Colgan, Wright, Harding, Sito, De Vos, Bruce, Wilnis, Casement, Garvan, Sumulikoski, Miller, Legwinski, Trotter, Williams, Norris, Quinn, Lee, Couñago, Kuqi, Haynes, Rhodes.

Photo: Action Images

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