Midfielder Luke Hyam looks set to be one of a number of young players coming into Roy Keane’s squad for this evening’s Carling Cup fourth round tie against Northampton at Portman Road (KO 7.45pm). The Blues are without cup-tied duo Jake Livermore and Jack Colback, while an unnamed player is a doubt with an injury suffered in training on Sunday.

Boss Roy Keane says Hyam is very much in his thoughts having been left out of the last couple of games: “Luke can come back into it, he’s been a bit unlucky to miss out the last week or two but I think he needed that break. One or two other players will get an opportunity.

“We used a lot of the younger players in the earlier rounds because we were forced to by injuries, we didn’t even have enough players on the bench for one of the games.

“We’ll look at the squad in the morning and we’ll play it by ear. It’s a game that we want to win but the younger boys haven’t let us down, so if we play Reggie or Luke instead of Jack or Jake, I’ll be very comfortable with it.

“Reggie did very, very well in the last game at Millwall. Young Ronan Murray came on in the first round and scored an important goal for us.

“We want to get a victory but we also want to give these boys an opportunity. If you don’t throw these boys in you’ll never learn about them. You can watch them every day in training or in the reserves but we’ve got to give these boys a chance.”

Keane says a couple of players suffered injury problems over the weekend with an unnamed player considered a significant doubt: “There’s one, I don’t want to say who it is, he picked up an injury in training on Sunday.”

The Town manager says his team won’t take the League Two opposition lightly: “We’re expecting a very tough game. They’ll come and they’ll deal with the ball, they like to play. It’s set up for a good game but we certainly have to take our chances if we get them because if we don’t we’ll get punished.

“I’m not sure about outside the club, but amongst the players, myself and the staff we’re quite upbeat. We don’t like losing football matches but you’ve got to take your medicine sometimes and we’ve got a couple of home games coming up and a chance for us to bounce back. I’m looking forward to the game.”

Keane says his side have had a difficult Carling Cup campaign up to now with matches at Exeter and Crewe going to extra time, then a 90-minute victory at Millwall in the last round: “We’ve had some tough games so far. We’re glad to have a home tie and we’re looking forward to it. It’s a chance to bounce back from three league defeats.

“It’s an opportunity to get to a quarter-final and our younger players in particular should enjoy the challenge. We can talk about the pressure, but if you want to become a top player or manager you’ve got to deal with that, you’ve got to deal with the expectations and the disappointments.”

Keane says Northampton boss Ian Sampson will be pleased to have a rest from league fixtures after five successive defeats which have seen his side drop to 91st in the league: “I’m sure he’s enjoying the cup run because both teams are going into the game glad to have a break from the league as their form has been disappointing. But as everyone knows, you don’t take your league form into cup competitions.

“It’s about getting through to the next round and if we scrape through tomorrow night then we’ll accept it, but we’re hoping to put on a better performance particularly for our supporters because our last couple of home games haven’t been great.”

Keane has Brian Murphy is in his thoughts to return in goal having been unlucky not to keep his place at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Murphy has so far been between the sticks in all Town’s Carling Cup matches and the Irishman will probably line-up against the Cobblers.

Depending on whether he is the mystery injured player, Gareth McAuley is likely to continue in his regular centre-back role with Keane weighing up whether to rest Damien Delaney after two games in a week following his spell out with a thigh injury.

The Blues boss may decide to leave his fellow Irishman out, allowing Tommy Smith to return to centre-half with Shane O’Connor perhaps coming in at left-back. Troy Brown, Jaime Peters, Tom Eastman or even Jack Ainsley are in the running for the right-back role.

Keane will have to decide whether to continue with the central midfield three or move to a four-man midfield for the visit of the League Two side. With his options short due to Colback and Livermore being unavailable, the Town manager may choose to pair Hyam with one of David Norris or Grant Leadbitter in a central two.

Reggie Lambe, back early from his spell away with Bermuda’s U20s, could be handed a wide role with one of Carlos Edwards or Andros Townsend dropping to the bench.

Up front, Jason Scotland may be rested with Keane perhaps pairing Connor Wickham and Tamás Priskin, although Ronan Murray has impressed his manager with his performances from the bench in recent weeks. However, the Town boss may not feel the 19-year-old is yet ready for a start.

Keane has confirmed that Argentinian midfielder Luciano Civelli won’t be involved but will be in the reserves side at Stevenage on Wednesday, while Alan Quinn is back in Ireland dealing with a family matter.

Mark Kennedy (hamstring) and Darren O’Dea (knee) are sidelined for at least another few weeks with the on-loan Celtic man having seen a specialist last week and received the thumbs-up regarding his progress after his operation.

The tie is Keane’s first home cup match with the Blues after seven away draws in succession in both cup competitions, five in the Carling Cup. Going back to Jim Magilton’s time as boss, the Blues had had eight away draws in a row starting with the Chelsea FA Cup trip in January 2009.

Northampton, who sit second bottom of League Two ahead of Hereford only on goal difference after five successive defeats, expect to bring around 3,000 supporters to Portman Road.

The Cobblers, who overcame Liverpool in the last round, have Dean Beckwith suspended after a recent sending off, while an appeal against John Johnson’s dismissal at Oxford United on Saturday has been unsuccessful.

Strikers Tadhg Purcell (knee) and Courtney Herbert (leg) and midfielder Abdul Osman (calf) are all currently sidelined with injuries.

Northampton boss Ian Sampson says the match is much-needed respite from their league woes: “I think in terms of having a couple of injuries and suspensions we could probably do without it but I think it’s the perfect game for us now.

“There’s no pressure on us to do anything at all in this game, all the pressure is on Ipswich to go and get a result.

“They’re a Championship team and they’ll be fully expected to beat us, so it’s a nice distraction from the pressures of the league that we’re under.”

The last meeting between Town and Northampton was in the 1987/88 season, also in the League Cup, on that occasion at the second round stage.

The Cobblers came away from the first leg at Portman Road with a 1-1 draw, Romeo Zondervan having scored for the Blues, but Town won 4-2 at the County Ground, Mich D’Avray (2), Graham Harbey and David Lowe netting for John Duncan’s men in a game which went to extra time.

In the 1977/78 season the Blues won another second round tie, Trevor Whymark (2), Eric Gates, Paul Mariner and Clive Woods scoring the goals in a 5-0 win.

Overall, the Blues have won 11 games between the teams (nine in the league), 10 (seven) have been draws with Northampton winning 10 (10).

While Keane was the manager of Sunderland a Black Cats side including Márton Fülöp, Carlos Edwards and Grant Leadbitter almost lost a September 2008 second round Carling Cup tie against the Cobblers at the Stadium of Light.

Two late, late Anthony Stokes goals saved the Premier League side’s blushes, before they won a penalty shoot-out 4-3.

No current Town player has been with the Cobblers, while no one presently at Sixfields has played for the Blues, although their squad does include one-time Canary Leon McKenzie.

Tuesday’s referee is Eddie Ilderton from Tyne and Wear, who has shown 24 yellow and two red cards in nine games so far this season. Ilderton’s last Town match was the Blues’ 2-1 FA Cup win at Blackpool in January in which he red-carded Tangerines pair Rob Edwards and Ian Evatt, as well as booking their team-mate Neal Eardley and Blues duo Arran Lee-Barrett and Connor Wickham.

Squad from: Murphy, Fülöp, Lee-Barrett, Peters, Eastman, Brown, Ainsley, O’Connor, McAuley, Delaney, Smith, Hyam, Norris, Leadbitter, Healy, Townsend, Edwards, Lambe, Wickham, Priskin, Scotland, Murray.

Photo: Action Images

bluelady added 12:10 - Oct 26 bi polar fan base
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sonian_blue added 12:19 - Oct 26 Typical of todays 'I want success now' fickle fan.
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whoppit added 12:24 - Oct 26 I am expecting a win tonight but I don't think the roof will be lifted. Our crowds have been very silent for a while now - maybe it's got something to do with the product on offer??? Anyway, 3-0 tonight will do nicely and that might give us a timely boost for Millwall.
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im_marcacus added 12:42 - Oct 26 Would like to See Smith & Hyam back in the starting 11, we looked a lot more solid before they got rested for the last few games. Connor's got to start too, been looking tasty in his Sub appearences. COYB, QF here we come!
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Thetruth added 12:44 - Oct 26 Atmosphere has not been there for a long time, not like the Burley years. Thats the difference Portman Road crowds only buzz when there is something to sing about, my point is that dosent help when the team needs lifting, crowds can change games, at Forest the 2000 there may as well have not been there. Even Section 6 gave up, they tried but no one joined in, really and truly we have lost the fear factor for teams coming to Portman Road, and as fans we have let the club down when it comes to noise. Tonight will be the same......sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh

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vulcher added 12:48 - Oct 26 bluelady, why have u spelt priskin with an E when it has two 'i's? :-). concentrate on your spelling before you make rash comments about superfranz team. ;-). COYB
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Thetruth added 12:49 - Oct 26 And one other point, if Connor Whickham is as good as people say then why is he not doing more in front of goal. I think he has been talked up, if anyone believes he is worth 8 million, then where is that figure based from?? This lad needs to score goals, he didnt look a threat against forest, so lets not keeping talking like he is some kind of goal machine hero, i think he is a million miles from being what people hope he will be. And on the subject of noise, maybe the club should take a leaf out of the italians books and start playing crowd noise through the pa system!!

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brian_a_mul added 13:12 - Oct 26 To be fair to Wickham he hasnt been fully fit until now and has not been able to geta run of games. He needs a start and to finish 90 minutes. I think his inflated transfer value is a combination of factors. One is the fact that he is a young English player. Also the Euro U-19 which England won (+ Connor starred) also raised his profile and value. PL clubs are under pressure to have a min number of home grown players thus pushing the values of young lads up a bit further. Throw in the fact that he is a physically big striker, 17, very competitive and capable fo playing up front on his own (alot of PL teams like doing this tactic but not many suitable strikers around) and he looks interesting/appealing to the bigger clubs. For tonights game I would like to see an energetic, pacy team. Murphs Peters, Mcauly, Smith, O'Connor Lambe, Norris, Hyam, Townsend Wickham Murray

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RetroBlue added 13:19 - Oct 26 Interesting that RK might now start with two up front. Why's that then Roy? Any chance you might do this for a league game ?
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bluelady added 13:24 - Oct 26 vulcher i was did not make a rash comment, i questioned some of his choices and was hoping he would come back with his reasoning, i may then agree with his choices. May i suggest you concerntrate on supporting your team rather than being what can only be described as petty.
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dirtydingusmagee added 14:00 - Oct 26 fickin hal wots it matar abowt thur spellin vulcher Get a grip man .
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ITFCOYB added 14:01 - Oct 26 Vulcher is pulling your leg, Bluelady. :-) I'm not sure about the last three defeats being as bad as we might think. Sure, they make the table uglier for an ITFC fan, and i am speaking from afar as i have not made it to the games and rely more on highlights/radio, but it feels like we have actually been far more threatening in these games than earlier in the season when we were more successful. We haven't been scoring, granted, but have we been creating more chances? That is how it seems from the limited understanding of Radio/highlights. The point is that earlier in the season we were battling and holding out and you wonder if we could respond/have an extra gear, if we shipped one or two. The dynamic of the last couple of games has been different- we have been chasing for long periods, and, barring end product, have been a bit livlier and more incisive. Football is a confidence game, and believing that we will create chances will improve our mentality and then it just takes a couple to go in and we might, just maybe, start to look more convincing. We are desperately in need of turning over a league team by 3 clear goals and making that statement and instilling that belief. I'm not at all pessimistic. It is a tough league and we are not a massive club from a football heartland. We are all on a very long road to get to the heights of the (much romanticised) Burley era (temporary though they were), and slowly establish ourselves as a 21st century top-division club. There are no short-cuts worth taking. Our best hope is to mature this current crop of youth players and enjoy enough success to keep them at PR. For now, a decent cup run and mid-table/play-off excitement will do the trick. In 4/5 years time when they are maturing well, maybe- just maybe, if they are still the heart of the team and have been supplemented by some PL journeymen, we can aspire to mid-table Premiership and start talking about the next five years- 30,000 gates and Marcus trying to tempt some decent Internationals with fat wage packets. If we keep changing managers this won't happen. RK has benefitted from the current crop of youth players here from before his arrival, but has used them well and brought some good Premiership attitudes to training facilities and squad rotations. I never liked him as a player, nor loved the idea of him as a coach here, but he has some excellent qualities for ITFC right now. We should all think a bit longer and relax. Would like to see the two youngsters up front tonight. :-)

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brian_a_mul added 14:15 - Oct 26 Hey RetroBlue, lets hope we see 2 up front more often, especially at home! I think the penny has dropped with RK. After weeks of saying we are not scoring enough he will hopefully give two up front a go more ofter. But I do think his options up front were limited though. Tonight at home to League Two opposition on a poor run with injury issues is the ideal team to get a few goals and confidence back. I was very surprised to see two up front at Watford last week (and x3 towards the end) but at least he is giving it a go more often now. I think with Wickham not fully fit from the start diddnt help matters and RK doesnt seem to trust Priskin which only really left Scotland to plough the lonely furrow up front. Murray looks good and Lambe too but I think RK diddnt want to push them too soon in the first team. And to be fair the 4-5-1 did work well at the beginning and helped Hyam integrate to the first team quickly. The cup games so far has shown us that Murray and Lambe are very capable players and with some more experience and confidence they can play a part in the second half of the season. Give Wickham and these two lads a full game and hopefully we will see a few goals! If they do well I would definately feel more confident about playing them in league games and using two up front more often!

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vulcher added 14:18 - Oct 26 ITFCOYB, thank god you noticed lol. Lighten up peepz :-D. Coyb let's get ourselves in the next round!!
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del45 added 14:42 - Oct 26 Thetruth Would you go and watch the same boring stage show in the cold and pay more then £25? that is why people are staying away.
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BlooooCD added 15:19 - Oct 26 Yeah, I agree with those that say we should field a strong team tonight... I don't see this as a whatever game! We have to win for the fan's and to re-start a winning momentum! I hope all the fans sing and cheer loudly tonight! Lets lift the roof off! COYB's
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Thetruth added 15:48 - Oct 26 dEL45 Words of a true supporter, you must love this club. Did you see Man City / Newcastle or Leeds fans vanishing when the chips were down.... And tonight is £ 23 so stop bleeting and if you love your club get down and support it. If the entertainment is not up to your standards then you may as well find another club!
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runaround added 16:30 - Oct 26 I'm really hoping for a Wickham/Murray frontline tonight and the team really fired-up to go at Northampton from first whistle. The cobblers having nothing to lose and will really be going for it but if we can take the initative and get a lead I think we can overcome them. You could see the disappointment in their faces when draw was made that they only got us, that added to their poor recent form means they may lose heart quickly if we get a goal or 2. Many players and fans might find a league cup tie against lower league opposition difficult to raise them selves for but for me its a chance to win, hopefully score a few goals and build confidence. As for the injured player, the fact its un-named leads me to believe its an important player, my guess is McAuley

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onlyone added 17:38 - Oct 26 Wickham is not playing; he is the one that picked up an injury on Sunday! Gutted :-(((((((((((
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Ipswich24 added 18:37 - Oct 26 Team for tonight should be Murphy Mcaulay Eastman Delaney Edwards Hyam Norris Lambe Oconnor Wickham Priskin
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kerryblue added 18:45 - Oct 26 GET INTO THEM FROM THE OFF AND GET OUR SEASON BACK ON TRACK.
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fourth added 19:42 - Oct 26 I appreciate what you say,Thetruth. But it seems to be the case that the managerial mind lacks flexibility. Firstly Ipswich Town is just a hobby for Keene, he does not need to work as most of us DO.Secondly he seems to be an isolated person, finding it difficult to take good advice. Then, he seems to lack reasonable understanding of the fineness, the quality of others in his management team. Can we hear about his real management team rather than "this boy" and "the youngsters" ? We need rounded individuals in our lives whether managers of football teams or our closest.

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Back_The_Boss added 08:04 - Oct 30 Great win lads. Here's hoping for a good draw in the quarters, COYB!
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