Skuse Fine to Face Leeds Friday, 23rd Aug 2013 15:23 Manager Mick McCarthy says midfielder Cole Skuse will be fit to take his place in the Town midfield when Leeds visit Portman Road on Saturday afternoon. The 27-year-old was forced off at half-time at QPR last week due to an Achilles’ injury. McCarthy said: “Skusey’s fine, we’ve got a clean bill of health apart from Tyrone Mings. We’ve got 19 fit players who have all trained today. “Ty’s going to be back [from his knee injury] after the international break. Everybody else is fine.” Second-choice keeper Dean Gerken missed the trip to Loftus Road with a dead leg but looks set to return to the bench. Having praised his side in defeat against QPR, McCarthy could opt to name an unchanged line-up against the Whites, the club he supported as a boy. That would see Scott Loach continue in goal with Elliott Hewitt at right-back, Aaron Cresswell on the left and Tommy Smith and Luke Chambers at the heart of the defence. Skuse is likely to continue to be partnered by Luke Hyam, who signed a new contract this week, in the centre of midfield with skipper Carlos Edwards on the right and Jay Tabb on the left. Up front, Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick will both be looking to get on the scoresheet for the first time this season. McCarthy isn’t the only member of the Portman Road staff with Whites connections with Terry Connor having played for his hometown club, while fitness Andy Liddell also hails from Leeds, where his father was a briefly a player in the 1970s. The Town boss recalls facing his assistant: “I played against Terry when he was at Leeds. Actually I didn’t play against him, I kicked him all round Oakwell, so he tells me anyway! I think he embellishes it slightly.” But McCarthy says any history with another club is forgotten when it comes to a Saturday afternoon: “Whoever I’m working for, whoever’s sending me the money every month, that’s where my loyalty lies. I’m a professional, I do this for a living, it’s my job. “When I’m playing against Wolves, Sunderland, any of them, there’s nothing comes into it except me wanting to win. “Terry’s just the same and so is Lids. That’s not being mercenary, that’s just being professional, that’s how it is.” The Town boss says he knows his Leeds counterpart and rates him highly: “I get on very well with Brian McDermott. “He did a fantastic job at Reading having come through the ranks and earned his stripes there, through the youth team and all that to get them promoted. “I thought it was a sin when they let him go from Reading, to be honest, after what he’d done. But it happens, as I know too well! I’m sure Leeds will be the beneficiaries of that.” The visitors are set to be without promising right-back Sam Byram due to a long-standing hip injury, while midfielder Paul Green is fine despite suffering a back problem last week and Stephen Warnock, Lee Peltier and Tom Lees are over minor knocks. Defender Scott Wootton, a midweek signing from Manchester United, is expected to be amongst the subs. McDermott told the Leeds official site that he’s happy with one win and two draws in their opening three games: “I think our team has done really well. We’ve looked like a solid unit, we look like we are difficult to play against and difficult beat. “We’ve got resilience and desire, we’ve been down a goal in every home game and got back and got a result. “I’d say it’s been a solid start but I know the Championship. You have to hang in there and pick up points. “You have to keep going, we’ve got 43 games to go, lots of games to play, you just have to hang in there. The more we play together the better we will get.” McDermott is well aware that his side are in for a tough afternoon: “I know Mick’s teams. They will work hard with a high tempo and they will work really hard for the shirt. “You know that with Mick’s teams but we will be no different. We will go down there with a good following and we’ll try and get the right result.” Historically, Leeds have the superior record in the fixture, winning 28 (27 in the league) clashes between the teams. Town have been victorious on 24 (19) occasions and 19 (16) games have ended in draws. The Whites were last at Portman Road in March when David McGoldrick scored twice and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas once as Town beat 10-man Leeds 3-0. The visitors had been on top until defender Tom Lees was red-carded for a reckless challenge on Jay Tabb just after the half hour, McGoldrick netting either side of the break and sub Emmanuel-Thomas completing the scoring. Lees’ dismissal was the Whites’ fourth in successive matches at Portman Road, Kevin Nicholls, ex-Blue Alex Bruce and Aidy White having seen red in each of their previous three games. Leeds went on to lose all four games. In December, goals from Jerome Thomas and Paul Green saw Leeds to a 2-0 win at Elland Road. The home side had the better of the first half with Thomas’s backheel giving them the lead at the break. The Blues dominated possession for much of the second period but were unable to get on terms before Green added the second. Keeper Scott Loach had a trial with Leeds in the summer of 2007, playing a number of friendlies, but a potential loan was scuppered by a transfer embargo following the Whites’ administration. Assistant manager Terry Connor was with his hometown club between 1979 and 1983, scoring 22 goals in 108 games. Former Town skipper David Norris is the only man in the Leeds squad to have played for the Blues. Norris left Portman Road on a Bosman for Portsmouth in the summer of 2011 after making 114 starts and four sub appearances, scoring 16 goals. He joined Leeds in the summer of 2012 but has made only one Capital One Cup appearance so far this season. Ex-Blues defender or striker Richard Naylor is the U18s coach at the Leeds academy. Leeds striker Ross McCormack was close to joining the Blues from Cardiff in the summer of 2010 but the move broke down despite the Scot having held talks with then-manager Roy Keane at Portman Road. Saturday’s referee is former FIFA official Mike Dean from the Wirral, who is yet to take control of a game this season. Last year he showed 145 yellow and five red cards in 41 games. His most recent Town match was the 0-0 draw at Huddersfield in February in which he booked only Terriers’ striker James Vaughan. Squad from: Loach, Gerken, Hewitt, Veseli, Cresswell, Smith, Chambers, Berra, Skuse, Hyam, Wordsworth, Tunnicliffe, Edwards, Anderson, Tabb, Murphy, McGoldrick, Nouble, Taylor.
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