Boss Mick McCarthy warns that it won’t be easy for his Blues side to claim their third successive victory against Huddersfield at Portman Road this afternoon. The Terriers are on a decent run themselves, having won their last three games.

“They beat Burnley, which is no mean feat, and they beat Sheffield Wednesday and I thought they were considerably on top in those games,” McCarthy said.

“Then they beat Bolton the other night. I watched the first half of that and I thought they were the better side. I know they scored with a wonder goal for the winner.

“They are flying as well. And when you look at their squad they’ve got a really good squad of players.”

He has been impressed with the job manager Mark Robins has done both with Huddersfield and at his previous clubs: “He turned Coventry around.

“We went to watch David McGoldrick playing for Coventry when he was playing for Mark playing his 4-3-3 and he was excellent, so he’ll get his career back on track, that’s for sure. He’s a good guy, I like him.”

Town’s back to back wins have given McCarthy a number of selection dilemmas having made four changes from the side which beat Charlton ahead of Blackburn’s visit.

He says he felt he needed to rest players with matches coming thick and fast: “It was one eye on the fact that we’d got three games in a week and they are physically demanding.

“Our stats show we outrun every team we play, there’s only one we haven’t. Our lads put a right shift in and it’s looking after them.

“When you tell them, nobody wants to be left out for any reason, but I thought it was the right thing to do. Thankfully it worked out.

“This is a different game, these will play a different system [3-5-2]. I know what I’m going to do, so come tomorrow, three o’clock, see what I’m going to do because I’m not going to tell you anything else.”

McCarthy says that when he makes changes as he did on Tuesday the players coming in are as good as those he’s leaving out: “I should be able to pick teams like that.

"I shouldn’t lose anything by playing Carlos instead of Ando or Hunty instead of Tabby, any of the midfield players I shouldn’t lose anything and likewise with the frontmen.

“I ought to be able to pick those players comfortably knowing that they’re all first team players, which they are.

“I think Ando’s been different class and I think Tabby was when he was in. Carlos did really well the other day and Hunty was excellent.

“I fancied doing something else and having fresher legs because they have to work hard, especially if you’re playing against a system where they’re trying to play through the middle and the wide players have to tuck in and do a helluva shift. It’s great we’ve got a few more of them.

“[New loan signing] Jordan Graham’s a different one altogether. He’s got unbelievably quick feet and skills.”

The Town boss was delighted that Carlos Edwards and Luke Hyam got on the scoresheet on Tuesday after he had said he wanted goals from midfield. Now he wants goals from elsewhere in his side.

“We need goals from the goalkeeper now!” he joked. “Luke Hyam didn’t have a great first touch when he got it, but he still got his shot off and he scored with it.

“I thought Carlos’s goal was terrific because he composed himself, he could have had a lash at it as he was falling over. It was great. It’s lovely to get goals from different areas.”

Having reviewed the match, he thought Town were deserved winners: “It was another really tough game. I thought Blackburn had the better of the latter part of the first half and they went in with the momentum.

“And we got another early goal in the second half, which really helps, it calms everybody down. It’s funny, when I was watching it on the night I was more anxious than [I ought to have been].

“I’ve watched it this morning again and actually we were pretty comfortable. I don’t think Gerks has had too many saves to make. We deserved to win. But I thought they were a decent Championship outfit.”

He hopes today’s match will be somewhat better than the 0-0 draw at the John Smith’s Stadium when the teams last met in February.

“That was turgid, what an appalling game that was but it was a good game for us, we took something out of it, it was a point away from home.

“It was needs must, neither of us were wanting to lose that game. Having said that we went there and played 4-4-2 against them, but nevertheless we were still keeping it tight and being solid.

“To have lost and given them three points and us got none, that would have been a really bad day for us. It was an awful game, it was rubbish. The pitch was dreadful as well, it was hard on play on it.”

Photo: Action Images

bluefeast added 09:03 - Dec 7 I reckon we will play 451 today in order to give Huddersfield something to think about ,either that or we will match their system. We have the players. Hope to see Jordon on the pitch ,he looks like a player that could cause havoc to the opposition.
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irishtim added 11:08 - Dec 7 Tough game. I think we will win it. Take the game to them.
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