Boss Roy Keane was delighted to see midfielder Luciano Civelli return to action after 16 months out during last night’s 9-1 win at Newmarket. The Argentinian has been sidelined since March 2009 when he damaged knee ligaments in the 1-1 home draw with Burnley.

Keane said: “We’ve got an important player back for us again. We’ve not seen too much of him at the club. He’s been out for 16 months and that’s a long, long time, so it’s great for him to have half an hour.

“He might get another run-out on Friday [at Histon] as long as there isn’t any reaction from the injury after tonight.”

Keane says it's important not to expect too much from the former Banfield man at this early stage: "It was good to see Luca back playing football again but we have to be careful with him. He's only had 25 minutes, so we don't want to get ahead of ourselves.

"It was great for the fans to see him again. He came to the club with big expectations but had a really bad injury and had setback after setback.

"Sixteen months is a long, long time out and it's not just about the physical side of recovering from that injury but the mental side as well."

The Histon match has been arranged to replace the planned Southend game which was cancelled earlier in the week as the Shrimpers were unable to field a side, something which disappointed the Blues boss: “That’s football, it lets you down.

“I spoke to their manager [Paul Sturrock] on Monday. They’d arranged the friendly, I’m sure he’s got his reasons and excuses but it’s not great professionalism from their club just to cancel a game like that.

“It’s not fair on our supporters, but we’ll get on with it and we’ve got more important things to worry about than Southend.”

Town’s remaining pre-season games can be seen here.

Photo: James Ager

Photo: Action Images

Solly added 10:20 - Jul 7 Great to hear Keane is going to give him a chance. Here's hoping he can revolutionise are midfield; natural width and balance, getting us passing the ball. As soon as he starts playing well, people will forget about Colback.
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PablosRightBoot added 10:22 - Jul 7 Who is Colback?
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Solly added 10:42 - Jul 7 Predictable.
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IpswichElvis added 12:54 - Jul 7 Wait until Luca is late and Keane will bomb him out as well.
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generalpublic added 13:27 - Jul 7 is this bloke any good ?or is he like the rest of them
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IpswichElvis added 13:30 - Jul 7 Town beat off competition from no other clubs to buy him. I think he played 8 times. But with that knee injury, I think he is finished and won't be the same again. Cleggy, get that insurance claim form ready !!!!
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SiBo added 14:05 - Jul 7 Nice to see both GP and IE posting their positive thoughts on here as usual... IE how can you possibly know if the injury has finished him or not? Pure speculation, calculated to fit in with your renowned negative attitude and no more. Yes you are correct he played 8 games for us before the injury and in my opinion was starting to show some real promise towards the end of that 8 game stint. I use the word promise as I believe it takes more games than that for players to settle and even more so for those from Foreign lands... Let's see over the coming weeks/months how the injury has affected him long-term, as it will take a while for him to get back to full fitness from such a long layoff. Reports on him from those that attended last night are promising and it may have actually done him a favour missing the whole of last season rather than coming in late in the season and never really finding his fitness... This pre-season should help him regain that fitness level... As far as town beating off competition from no other clubs to get him, so what? We spotted his talent and moved before others had a look in... Or is that too positive a thought for you to contemplate?

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StavangerBlue added 14:08 - Jul 7 Here's hoping RK has learnt from his mistakes last season. I think one of his biggest mistakes was trying to run the team with a stick rather than a carrot.
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SiBo added 14:11 - Jul 7 I partly agree with that StavangerBlue... these days I think you need a combination of stick, carrot and cuddle... Just one of these doesn't work with all the players, you need to understand the needs of the individual and act accordingly. Can't be easy.... but then again that's what he's paid for isn't it?
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IpswichElvis added 14:14 - Jul 7 Apparently Luca's knee is almost as bad as Alfie Haagland's.
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Redmond added 14:52 - Jul 7 thank god he is back he works hard and has some pace welcome back Luciano
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Skip73 added 15:20 - Jul 7 Elvis, if you haven't got anything constructive to say just shut up, its nice to have Luca back playing so just be happy for him. All you ever do is find an excuse to have a go no matter what the article is about.
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pitseablue added 15:30 - Jul 7 Well said Skip73.....Ipswich Elvis you have got very predictable and very boring.....
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IpswichElvis added 15:32 - Jul 7 Feel free to ignore me Skip & Pitsea. I rarely read your crap so don't read mine. Simple !!!
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WickedBlue added 15:48 - Jul 7 'The Blues went ahead in the 10th minute when great work from Tamás Priskin played Martin in on goal and the former Manchester United man slipped the ball into the net.' um who to believe...decisions decisions........
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tom_the_blue added 16:34 - Jul 7 IpswichElvis, are you sure you actually can read? Its just you sprout the same negative rubbish at every article.
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RetroBlue added 16:54 - Jul 7 ipswich elvis is obviously a narwich scummer.
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IpswichElvis added 16:57 - Jul 7 Haters gonna hate !!!
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RetroBlue added 18:10 - Jul 7 scummer !
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WadzillaBhoy added 20:44 - Jul 7 IpswichElvis - both of Haaland's knees were messed up so how could it be the same? Also have you given up the impersonating and become a doctor, your diagnosis is not valid otherwise.
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ShefTractor added 18:32 - Jul 8 "Haters gonna hate !!!" You're the dimwit hater, you literally have nothing positive to say. Civelli was fantastic in the game @ Preston when he first arrived... The knee injury will heal, it will be fine, the new technology for this makes it stronger than the previous ligament after 2 years of training on it - trust me.
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