Town boss Jim Magilton will be forced into at least one change when Watford are at Portman Road on Saturday. Winger Luciano Civelli has joined Jon Walters, Moritz Volz and Tommy Smith on the sidelines.

Civelli is out for the season with knee ligament damage, while Walters could return to action before the summer after rupturing ankle ligaments at Wolves. Volz underwent groin surgery last week and will be out for a month, while Smith won't get back to action until pre-season after breaking his ankle back in August.

The Argentinian's place on the left of midfield is likely to be taken by midweek goalscorer Giovani Dos Santos.

Magilton may be considering one or two other changes with Owen Garvan perhaps coming back into the side for Tommy Miller, while Alan Quinn will be looking for a recall after being left out of Tuesday's draw with Burnley.

David Norris will probably continue on the right, where he started Tuesday's game before switching to allow Dos Santos to move to a wider role.

Up front, Pablo Couñago could come in for Kevin Lisbie, who is still to replicate his impressive away form at home. Jon Stead looks set to partner the Spaniard.

At the back, Iván Campo replaced Pim Balkestein for Tuesday's game and will probably again get the nod ahead of the Dutch youngster alongside skipper Gareth McAuley. Richard Wright will continue in goal with David Wright on the right and Ben Thatcher on the left.

Former boss George Burley will be at the game keeping an eye on full-back Wright, who qualifies for Scotland through his mother, who was born in Glasgow. Burley is in Suffolk primarily for this evening's annual players' reunion being held in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite.

New loan keeper Bartosz Bialkowski will take his place on the bench for the first time having joined from Southampton for the remainder of the season while Shane Supple spends a similar period with Oldham.

Assistant boss John Gorman says the Blues need to put a winning run if they are to make the play-offs: "The one point is sometimes good, but three points is what we're aiming to achieve every match.

"It seems like because other teams beat each other, it's always changing. That's the one good thing - when we draw we feel disappointed but see the table hasn't moved.

"We're still seven points behind but it means that we've really got to start winning games and getting ourselves in a position where we've got a chance."

Watford will be without experienced defender Jon Harley, who is suspended after picking up his 10th booking of the season.

Striker Grzegorz Rasiak is out for a month with a groin injury, while keeper Mart Poom is a long-term absentee with a should problem.

Midfielder Gareth Williams has also been sidelined for some time due to a cruciate knee ligament injury.

The Hornets are currently in 16th place on 46 points, nine points and six places behind the Blues. Watford have lost 13 of their 16 away games this season, drawing three and winning three.

Town have had the better of the Hornets over the years, winning 24 games (21 in the league) between the sides, drawing 14 (14) and losing 19 (18).

In August, Watford beat Town 2-1 at Vicarage Road, Pablo Couñago putting the Blues ahead early on before John Eustace and John-Joe O'Toole scored for the home side.

Last season, the Hornets ran out 2-1 winners at Portman Road with Smith and Nathan Ellington netting the visitors' goals and Jon Walters pulling one back for the Blues.

No one in the Watford squad has played first team football for Town or vice versa, although Hornets keeper Scott Loach was an academy schoolboy with the Blues and counts Richard Wright as one of his heroes.

Watford manager Brendan Rodgers was a young coach at Reading while John Gorman was working with the Royals during Alan Pardew's time as manager at the Madejski Stadium.

Watford were keen to sign Veliche Shumulikoski a week ago in a swap loan deal with Town probably looking to land defender Adrian Mariappa in return.

TWTD issue 96 will be on sale from our sellers around the ground (by Sir Alf, next to the Portman Road entrance to the Greene King Stand, by Planet Blue) ahead of the game.

The latest issue includes an interview with new academy manager Sammy Morgan. The former Northern Ireland international talks about the changes to the Blues' youth set-up and future first teamers such as Connor Wickham and former team-mate George Best.

Elsewhere, Jake Sweetman looks at the Europe-wide 'Against Modern Football' movement, as echoed by a Town banner at Chelsea, Roger Hermiston writes about his day at Stamford Bridge and there's a fair bit about Jim's future and factionalism amongst supporters.

If you're not at the game, you can buy a single copy or six-issue subscription here. Subscriptions can also be obtained for free if you sign up to one of our affiliates.

Additionally, the new Ipswich ‘Til I Die book will be on sale at the TWTD stall next to Sir Alf from Ipswich Town Ist. This is also available for purchase online from TWTD here.

Saturday's referee is Colin Webster from Tyne and Wear, who has shown 67 yellow and three red cards in 34 games so far this season. Webster's last Town match was the 1-0 away win at Blackpool in which he booked three players, two Tangerines and David Norris.

Last season, Town manager Jim Magilton was fined for using abusive and/or insulting words to Webster at Burnley after the official had disallowed Pablo Couñago's late winner.

Probable squad: R Wright, Bialkowski, D Wright, Thatcher, McAuley, Campo, Balkestein, Bruce, Garvan, Miller, Quinn, Norris, Shumulikoski, Dos Santos, Stead, Couñago, Lisbie, Haynes, Bowditch.

Photo: Action Images

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