McCarthy Keeping Cards Close to His Chest Friday, 9th Jan 2015 16:04 Boss Mick McCarthy is keeping his cards typically close to his chest regarding his team selection for Saturday’s second-v-third live Sky game against Derby County at Portman Road (KO 12.15pm). McCarthy, who has a full squad to pick from aside from loan striker Conor Sammon, who is unavailable against his parent club, made six changes to his team for last week’s 1-1 FA Cup draw at Southampton, but wouldn’t be drawn on whether he would go back to his more regular line-up against the Rams. “You can have a fairly good guess at that but I’m not going to tell you, of course, as is my normal pre-match policy,” he said. “What was great was that the lads that came in did really well. They gave us a good performance and earned us a replay on Wednesday and showed that I’ve got really adequate back-up in a number of positions.” He added: “It’s good when you look at the bench and you know you can put players on who are going to be as good as the ones that are playing. “Hunty went in and I know he could come in. Tabby’s been great, those two are terrific together. “If I haven’t got Bish, I’ve got Kevin Bru, he’s a really good replacement. Then there’s Skusey and Hyam and I thought Darren Ambrose was excellent. He had a tough start to it, but got his goal and got better. “And of course the keepers were changed as well. There’s really good competition for places with about 18 of the lads, it’s terrific.” Town will go to the top of the table if they beat the Rams, albeit for only a couple of hours if Bournemouth defeat Norwich at home in their game later in the afternoon. “It’s a huge game,” McCarthy continued. “It’s a fantastic game. Second versus third and the media interest it has created has been enjoyable. It’s better than being at the bottom and seeing the same old faces in here! “It’s a huge, huge game for both clubs, but we’re not at the must-win stage or anything like that. “I think we must perform every week, just keep your performances going and results will take care of themselves.” McCarthy says he expects Derby to be amongst those challenging for promotion come May: “I said at the start of the season that they’d be in the top two and they will be in the shake-up but I don’t know what people will do in terms of what will happen with signings, although they look to be signing players. “And also with people’s momentum, can they keep it going? Bournemouth are there at the top, I think they’re the best side. “I think Derby are certainly up there, Middlesbrough, Watford and we’ve proved ourselves that I think we should be mentioned with those teams as well because of the way we’ve got to second spot and have stayed there. “And there are a few others behind, Wolves are still nipping away, I think Norwich will be there changing their manager. Who knows what will happen there, they play Bournemouth tomorrow. “But Derby will be there. Whether we finish above them and finish in the automatic places, who knows?” He says the Rams were unfortunate not to go up via the play-offs last season when they were victims of a QPR smash and grab in the play-off final at Wembley. “They’ve got good players, they’ve got a good manager,“ he added. “I know Paul Simpson well and he’s a good coach and Steve McClaren’s a good coach as well, an experienced coach. “Will Hughes has been around the place for a while now, Craig Bryson hasn’t scored as many this year, I hope that doesn’t start tomorrow but he was a real threat last year, he got double figures, 16 goals. “They signed Jordan Ibe from Liverpool, who is a real threat, Johnny Russell is a threat, they’ve got good players, Jeff Hendrick is a good player in the Ireland squad. “They’re a good mixture, a good balance of experience and a bit of youth, a bit like our team in that respect, a couple of young ‘uns but in people like Jake Buxton and Richard Keogh they’ve got good experienced players.” Former England boss McClaren has hinted that the loan signing of ex-Blue Darren Bent - who could make his debut on Saturday - might lead to a change of approach. “I just saw some of his comments and he’s saying that having signed Darren Bent he now has a go-to plan, they can go to 4-4-2 and they might have to start that way," McCarthy said. “Maybe he’s thinking of that this weekend. They’ve had one up front [Chris Martin] and had a fairly rigid formation with two-up behind and wide players. Who knows, whatever he does we’ll be ready for it.” McCarthy seems likely to largely go back to the team which beat Charlton 3-0 at home in their last league outing. Bartosz Bialkowski will return in goal behind a back four of skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence. The most likely change from the XI which faced the Addicks is Tyrone Mings retaining his place having returned at Southampton and Jonny Parr being amongst the subs. In central midfield, Cole Skuse and Teddy Bishop look set to come back into the team with Paul Anderson on the right and Jay Tabb on the left. Championship Player of the Month Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick will be up front. Noel Hunt is likely to come back into the 18 having re-signed on Thursday after leaving Leeds a day previously. Derby have no new injury problems, however, midfielder George Thorne is still sidelined with a knee injury. Loanee Leon Best has returned to his parent club Blackburn. Historically, Town have had the better of Derby, winning 33 games (31 in the league), drawing 21 (19) and losing 24 (23). In August at the iPro Stadium, Berra nodded home his third goal of the season to secure the Blues a deserved point as the game ended 1-1. The Scotland international headed home Anderson's freekick on 52 to level Martin's 13th minute goal for the Rams. At Portman Road in March, a dramatic Berra goal in injury time saw the Blues come from behind to beat the Rams 2-1 and move to within two points of the play-off zone. Derby went ahead through Patrick Bamford in the opening minute, Jonny Williams equalised with a brilliant second half strike before Berra’s last-gasp winner. In addition to former Blues striker Bent, who looks set to make his Derby debut, Rams centre-half Richard Keogh was an academy schoolboy and Portman Road ballboy during his formative years. No current member of Town squad has previously represented the Rams, aside from loanee Sammon who is unavailable against his parent club. Saturday’s referee is Kevin Wright from Merseyside, who has shown 54 yellow cards and three red in 17 games so far this season. Wright’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 defeat at Blackburn in February 2013 in which he booked only one Rovers player. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Mings, Parr, Berra, Smith, Clarke, Skuse, Bishop, Hyam, Bru, Ambrose, Anderson, Tabb, S Hunt, Stewart, Murphy, McGoldrick, N Hunt, Bajner.
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