 Friday, 29th Oct 2010 14:51 Town manager Roy Keane is able to call on striker Connor Wickham and full-back Mark Kennedy when Millwall visit Portman Road on Saturday, the pair having made swifter than expected recoveries from their injuries. Loan midfielders Jack Colback and Jake Livermore are also available again having been ineligible for the Carling Cup tie victory over Northampton. Keane says Wickham, who picked up an ankle problem in training last Sunday, and Kennedy, who has been out with a hamstring injury, will be back in his thoughts, if not necessarily his team: “Mark Kennedy and Connor have done well for the last couple of days and are both available for tomorrow. “Whether they’re going to be involved or not is the gamble we’ve got to weigh up. The benefit of leaving them out is that we’ve got a clear week next week. But from a medical point of view, they’re available, whether I pick them or not you’ll see tomorrow. “It’s good that they’re available, as well as Jack and Jake, so we’ve got good options, particularly if we’ve got concerns about one or two of the lads like Grant, who took a bad knock the other night. It’s a good position to be in.” Keane says neither Leadbitter, who suffered a knee injury in the Northampton game, nor David Norris, who picked up a dead leg, want to miss out: “They’re feeling it but you have to look at the players and their personalities and they both want to be involved as you’d expect. The injuries are nothing long term.” Despite the Blues winning their first game after three defeats on Tuesday, the Town manager says he could still make changes to his team: “The players did well the other night, but people like Jack and Jake did well [in the previous games], so do I just not bring them back? We’ll see what we think we need on the day. We’ll certainly need energy and tenacity to try and get a result against Millwall.” Defender Darren O’Dea is expected to be out for another couple of weeks having undergone knee surgery, while Alan Quinn and Luciano Civelli are unlikely to be considered for first team involvement quite yet. Keane will probably stick with Márton Fülöp in goal, while Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney will continue at the centre of the defence. Tommy Smith is likely to get the nod on the left, despite Kennedy’s return to fitness. Tom Eastman looks set to keep his place on the right ahead of Jaime Peters. In midfield, the Blues boss will probably continue with the four-man midfield he utilised in the Carling Cup ties at Millwall and Northampton earlier in the week. Carlos Edwards and Andros Townsend are likely get the wide roles, while Jack Colback may come into the side if Leadbitter or Norris are unfit. Jake Livermore should be on the bench unless both regular central midfielders are out. Jason Scotland and Tamás Priskin impressed in the match at the Den and on Tuesday and will probably keep their places up front, the Trinidadian playing just behind the Hungarian, with Connor Wickham and Ronan Murray on the bench. For Millwall, who sit ninth in the table a point ahead of the Blues, Kevin Lisbie is unavailable under the terms of his loan from Town, but fellow frontman Neil Harris back in training after an ankle problem. Defender Andy Frampton has joined Swindon on loan in order to get games, also after an ankle injury. Millwall manager Kenny Jackett says his side go into the match in decent form: “Ipswich had a good win in the week and gone into the last eight of the Carling Cup, a competition in which they beat us along the way. “I’m sure Ipswich have expectations to try and get into the Premier League and look like they have a squad who can try to do that. “We want to build on a good performance against Derby and a great win at Palace in our last away game, where we were gritty and determined in a local derby. “These are good things which we can capitalise on and we need to reproduce on Saturday at Portman Road to get a result.” Liam Trotter moved to the Den from Portman Road during the summer, while Lisbie is on loan with the Lions for the season. Another former Blue, full-back or midfielder Scott Barron, recently signed a new three-year-deal with Kenny Jackett's club and like Trotter will be back at Portman Road for the first time. Mark Kennedy started his career with the Lions, making 46 starts and eight sub appearances and scoring 12 goals between 1992 and 1995. Jaime Peters had trials at Millwall and then-boss Dennis Wise was keen to sign him before the Canadian joined the Blues in 2005. The sides are level pegging historically, Millwall having won 15 games (14 in the league) and Town 15 (12), while 12 (12) have ended in draws. In September the teams met in the third round of the Carling Cup at the Den, the Blues winning 2-1. Tamás Priskin and Gareth McAuley put Town 2-0 in front at half-time with Lions’ frontman Steve Morison netting the home side’s only reply early in the second period. Millwall were last at Portman Road for a league match in March 2006, the game ending 1-1. Owen Garvan opened the scoring for the Blues in the sixth minute but David Livermore hit back for the home side with five minutes remaining. Lions defender Tony Craig was red-carded in injury time for a second bookable offence. Earlier that season at the Den, Darren Currie and Sam Parkin scored for the Blues and Ben May for the Lions as the game ended 2-1 to the Blues. Richard Naylor was sent off just prior to Town's 80th minute winner. Adnams are handing out vouchers at Saturday’s match for a free pie and pint at the Derby County home fixture on November 9th, full details here. The Southwold-based brewery are also running an offer for a free scarf with a pint of Adnams Bitter at the Swansea game on 4th December, details here. Saturday’s referee is Fabian Wilnis’s old mate Kevin Friend, who these days is somewhat surprisingly in the Select Group of officials taking control of Premier League games. Leicestershire-based Friend has shown 26 yellow and two red cards in seven matches so far this season. Friend is best known by Town fans for sending Wilnis off twice in successive years at Plymouth and needlessly booking several more Blues on each occasion. His last Town game was the 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough last season in which he booked eight players, including Blues quintet Alex Bruce, Jack Colback, Damien Delaney, Grant Leadbitter and Lee Martin. Squad from: Fülöp, Murphy, Eastman, Peters, Smith, Kennedy, O’Connor, McAuley, Delaney, Leadbitter, Norris, Livermore, Colback, Hyam, Healy, Townsend, Edwards, Lambe, Priskin, Scotland, Wickham, Murray.
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