Town Could Be Unchanged at Blackburn Friday, 4th Apr 2014 12:12 Mick McCarthy could name an unchanged side when the Blues take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday with Jonny Williams having extended his loan from Crystal Palace earlier in the week. The 20-year-old, who had seemed set to return to Selhurst Park after the final game of his initial month last week, looks set to continue in his role behind main striker Daryl Murphy and ahead of central midfielders Cole Skuse and Luke Hyam. If McCarthy is looking at making changes of personnel, wide men Paul Anderson and Stephen Hunt could be the ones to drop out. Anderson could make way for Paul Green on the right, while Jay Tabb may come in for Hunt on the left. The Town boss will stick with his usual back four of skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Aaron Cresswell on the left and Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith in the centre. Dean Gerken will continue in goal. Frank Nouble and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake are again likely to play a part from the bench having impressed their manager in the last two games. Aside from striker David McGoldrick, who is out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage, Town have a fully fit senior squad. McCarthy says play-off outsiders Blackburn, who are 11th, five points behind the eighth-placed Blues, have become more stable since Gary Bowyer took over as boss initially on a caretaker basis a year ago: “They’ve got good players, they’ve got a good squad of players. “We know they’ve had trials and tribulations over the last couple of years but I think Gary Bowyer’s settled all that down and he’s got a nice, steady team that maybe if he’d had it for longer and not had all the problems that have gone on in the past might be better placed and be in the top six. “It’ll be a hard game, a really tough game. I’ve not had an easy one at Blackburn. I thought they played well down here. I know we beat them [3-1], but I thought they were a good side down here.” The Blues boss believes that if his side performs as they have done in recent matches then they are well capable of gaining a positive result: “We’re doing OK. I can talk about the opposition all day long until I’m blue in the face, but we’re doing OK and it’s more important to me how we’re doing. “We always have a look at the opposition, how we can play against them, how they’ll try and play against us. But the reality is that if we play like we did in our last three games, we’ll be OK.” With a trip to Huddersfield on Tuesday, he says he did consider staying in the north for a few days between the matches before opting against the idea. “I think it’s counterproductive,” he added. “If you win, Saturday night we can all sit down and have a beer and a chat and then have a cool down the following day and everybody’s feeling good about themselves, it’s not so bad. “But if you get beaten and you have to stay up there, you’re in the hotel and you’re all looking at each other with sour faces. People miss their kids, they want to come back. “I think sometimes it can be counterproductive. We’d be away for four nights. I did think about it but we’ll come back.” Rovers manager Bowyer is frustrated that his side has drawn their last four games: "We've said it a few times now, we aren't far off. “We ran the league leaders [Leicester] very close, we had the away performance against a Watford side who were in the play-off final last year. Brighton [who they drew 3-3 with on Tuesday] are challenging up there as well. "So the manner of the performance is almost very pleasing. So we've got to keep that going and channel that frustration straight at Ipswich." Midfielders Corry Evans and Lee Williamson are expected to be fit despite having picked up knocks against Brighton but Jason Lowe, Ben Marshall and Adam Henley are all out with ankle injuries. Centre-half and captain Grant Hanley is available having had his red card against Millwall overturned. Town have had the upper hand on Rovers over the years, winning 17 games (14 in the league), losing 12 (11) and drawing 15 (14). However, the Blues are without a win at Ewood Park since the 1-0 FA Cup replay victory over the then Premier League champions in 1996. In the league, the Blues haven’t won on Blackburn soil since winning 2-1 in the early stages of the 1991/92 Second Division championship campaign. In December at Portman Road, Luke Hyam, Carlos Edwards and Frank Nouble were on target as Town beat Blackburn 3-1. Hyam netted in the fourth minute but former Blue Jordan Rhodes equalised on the half hour, however, Edwards scored three minutes after the break and Nouble added the third four minutes from the end. Last time the sides met, at Ewood Park in February last year, Rhodes netted his inevitable goal in his first game against his old club just after the hour to see Town to a 1-0 defeat in a scrappy affair. There was little between the teams in a poor game with the only goal somewhat fortunate, Aaron Cresswell clearing off the line from Grant Hanley and Rhodes stabbing it over the line off Blues keeper Stephen Henderson. Rhodes, the son of former Town keeper-coach Andy, came through the academy ranks at Playford Road. The striker made 10 sub appearances and scored one goal for the Blues first team before being controversially sold to Huddersfield by then-manager Roy Keane in the summer of 2009 for a fee which, after top-ups and a sell-on following his £8 million move to Rovers in August 2012, climbed to just over £1 million. Former Town loanee DJ Campbell joined the Lancashire club on a permanent basis in the summer having been on loan there during the second half of last season but is currently on loan at Millwall. Another ex-Blues loan player, Bradley Orr, is also still a Blackburn player but is currently on loan at Toronto FC. No one in the current Town squad has played for Rovers. Saturday’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, who has shown 144 yellow cards and seven red in 33 games so far this season. Stroud’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 home victory over Birmingham last month. Squad from: Gerken, Loach, Chambers, Richardson, Cresswell, Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Wordsworth, Hyam, Anderson, Green, Hunt, Tabb, Williams, Murphy, Nouble, Ebanks-Blake, Taylor.
Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 295 bloggersIpswich Town Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
