Town will be without Luke Chambers, Daryl Murphy, Cole Skuse, Aaron Cresswell and Anthony Wordsworth when they take on Preston in Tuesday’s FA Cup third round replay at Deepdale. Manager Mick McCarthy has included youngsters Byron Lawrence, Kyle Hammond and, for the first time, Matt Clarke in the travelling party.

Chambers came off with an injury late on during the game against QPR and McCarthy says he’ll not make the trip: “He’s struggling with a tight hamstring. Bearing in mind I’ve got five recognised defenders, I’m not going to risk him. He won’t be playing.

“Murph will be training today but he’s not ready for Tuesday, but should be for Millwall. Skusey’s got a dead leg as well, that’s somebody else that won’t be involved.

“Cressy has had a bit of fluid on his knee. He’ll be fine for Saturday but I’m not prepared to risk any of them.

“It’s not about picking and choosing games, I’ve got five defenders and I’d sooner they missed one game. I said that to Murph about the QPR game, if you’re going to miss that, miss that, but be ready for the next 10 or 15 games because he’s been fit all the time. We’ve only got a small squad so I need to make sure they stay fit.”

Midfielder Wordsworth has been ill for the last 10 days and will also miss out: “I haven’t seen him since we played against Preston,” McCarthy said. “He’s had tonsillitis, he’s had a really bad dose of it. I’m hoping he’s in today, but there’s no chance he’ll make the trip.”

Already sidelined was recent signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who suffered a hamstring injury in the first Preston game and will be out for three to four weeks.

Academy second-year scholars Lawrence, who made his senior debut at Doncaster on the final day of the 2011/12 season, and Hammond will again be part of the squad while first-year scholar Matt Clarke, a central midfielder or defender, who has been handed the number 40, will be in the senior party for the first time, having broken into the U21s last season while still a schoolboy.

“They’re both travelling, and Matt Clarke is travelling as well to make up the 18,” McCarthy confirmed. “We’ve got a cross section from about 15 to 35 in the squad.”

McCarthy confirmed that Scott Loach would start in goal, Tyrone Mings would be in the defence and that Stephen Hunt would also be in the side, while Alan Lee again seems set to be part of the squad.

Meanwhile, McCarthy wouldn’t be drawn on whether there is anything in reports that the Blues and Leicester are interested in taking 18-year-old Chelsea central defender, midfielder or left-back Nathan Aké on loan: “I wouldn’t tell you if there was.”

Town and the Foxes are reported to have watched Dutch U21 international Aké, who was a youth player with hometown club ADO Den Haag and Feyenoord before moving to Stamford Bridge in 2011, in action for Chelsea’s U21s against Reading last week.

Aké has made one Premier League start and two sub appearances, in addition to one start and one sub appearance in the Europa League.

Photo: Action Images

thebeat added 18:55 - Jan 13 Loach Hammond, Berra Smith Mings Edwards Tunnicliffe Tabb Hunt Taylor McGoldrick Id only play McGoldrick to try ang give him and Taylor some game time to try and form a partnership.
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jas0999 added 19:30 - Jan 13 Having such a Small squad was always going to prove a problem with injuries at some point, just glad it's for this game! Sounds like ME won't be spending in January, so it's a case of dealing with what we've got! Just hope the boards expectations aren't too high. We need players to be successful and at the moment Mick has only a handful to choose from.
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bluefeast added 20:07 - Jan 13 i hope we get dumped out as our squad is far to thin. I would rather the league game vs reading that an fa cup loss at forrest and possible injuries.
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IvorFeeling added 21:15 - Jan 13 masetheace - i am with you from what i have seen. Think that his attitude will stop him progressing any further imo. Happy to be proved wrong and trust Micks judgement for sure.
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DerryfromBury added 21:33 - Jan 13 Good Luck for tomorrow night Guys. Hopefully the youngster being given the chance tomorrow will have learnt something from the response of the supporters to what we saw a PR 2 weeks ago. Whilst we all want to finish as high as possible in the league, I'm of an age when the FA cup meant a great deal to every team in the football league no matter your club or league position. I'll remember Bob Stokoe running across the Wembley pitch in 73 when Sunderland beat Leeds in the final as long as I live, that was real pride and passion. I'm sure us fans would love a bit of a cup run. Come on Men and Boys make listening to the radio tomorrow night pleasurable not painful. COYB

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Fat_Boy_Tim added 10:38 - Jan 14 Loach Edwards-Smith-Berra-Mings Tunnicliffe-Tabb-Hyam Taylor-McGoldrick-Hunt or Loach Edwards-Smith-Berra-Hunt Tunnicliffe-Tabb-Hyam Taylor-McGoldrick-Anderson
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 10:38 - Jan 14 Taylor was the most exciting player of the field in the QPR game, yes he didn't pick out the right option every time he went past 2 or 3 players bursting forwards but he is a bit rusty, and I'm sure it has been pointed out to him since. The most significant things were the going past 2 or 3 players and going forwards! He was clearly keen to impress and probably wanted a goal a bit too much. Think he'll be in the squad for a while now.

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