Town will again be without striker David McGoldrick when they take on Reading at Portman Road on Saturday. The Irish international is not expected to return from the thigh problem which has forced him out of the last two matches until the derby at Norwich a week on Sunday.

“Didz, I was hoping he’d be OK but it’s just taking longer than we thought,” manager Mick McCarthy said.

“Norwich, I’d keep my fingers crossed for that one. We’re certainly not going to rush him back and we’ve got Luke Varney in now, so we’ve got three strikers.”

While Dean Gerken is fine after suffering a minor hand injury, Luke Hyam remains out with his knee problem and Darren Ambrose and Stephen Hunt are also sidelined. Earlier today Town confirmed that Noel Hunt is out for up to 12 weeks.

“Gerks is OK, Luke Hyam’s not fit and Darren Ambrose has a tight hamstring still," he added.

"Having played against Sheffield Wednesday on the Tuesday, I think he thought he had a chance of the Saturday and it was probably remiss of me not to say to him after he passed himself fit on the Friday that he wasn’t going to play against Fulham and he came out and he just overstretched it.

“That’s sad that because he did really well against Sheffield Wednesday. And Stephen Hunt has got a tight hamstring, but we’re OK, everybody else is fit.”

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich_Loyal added 14:22 - Feb 20 Jay Tabb is alright to play then? Looks like Ando could get another chance tomorrow, hope he takes it. Fancy Freddie to get on the scoresheet tomorrow too.
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Gazelle added 14:51 - Feb 20 Have a horrible feeling that Didzy might have played his last game. Not been the same player this season since we refused to let him go, hope I'm wrong.
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CustardCream added 14:51 - Feb 20 He's been poor recently so no problem there and we've looked better without him in truth.
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ArnieM added 15:04 - Feb 20 Gazelle, quite agree with you. In truth he has looked a pale shadow of the player he was last season. Thats NOT saying he isnt skillful. But hes in danger of slipping doan the pecking order for strikers, like it or not, ourely due to his niggly injuries now and poor form. No player has a divine right to start games and sadly sometimes top players never quite recaputure their pre injury form. Didzy is looking like the latter. I hope he can recover fully but this season for him may just have to be accepted by him as being well below par. Next season will show whether he has overcome the original injury, or not. Fingers crossed for him.

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brian_a_mul added 15:07 - Feb 20 We need Didz in the team, he creates alot for Murphs and keeps defenders on the backfoot. With Noel & Didz out, MM did well to get an experienced back up striker in at short notice. having said that, looking forward to seeing Freddie Murph-ury (hehe) on Saturday, our new strike combo
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Geoff added 15:43 - Feb 20 Lets hope Murph and Freddie do not get injured.
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paulthebluealien added 15:49 - Feb 20 McGoldrick is still being missed. Seems to me as occasionally people were blaming him personally for some of the poorer results. A class act - with him, Sears and Murphy as options it is indeed a pretty fruitful looking strikeforce that we have right now. As for perhaps being back for Norwich? I am now torn between him and Skuse to net the winner.
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Green_Army added 15:56 - Feb 20 AS much as people are saying we don't miss McGoldrick, in the long term we will. He is a spark of creativity which is it short supply within the team. Freddie has done excellent since coming in, but once fit again I'd love to see McGoldrick playing in the role William's played when we was on loan with Murph and Sears up top.
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jas0999 added 17:17 - Feb 20 Not good news. He may have been out of form but he can score goals. Unlike Varney. I hope we are in front, but don't have too many goal scoring options on the bench.
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RegencyBlue added 17:58 - Feb 20 To me its beginning to look as if McGoldrick's current injury is more serious than first thought. Agree he is not the goal threat he was but what we do miss at times is his ability to keep hold of the ball.
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Warkys_Tash added 18:43 - Feb 20 McG is always a miss, although not scoring as many as last season & his shooting looks off, he still has many assists & great link up play. Was on form right up until after the Derby game in Jan. let's hope he comes back soon. The silence surrounding him the last few weeks is worrying though & I hope you are not right Gazelle but I was also wondering if the whole Leicester transfer saga is having an affect?

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