Town boss Mick McCarthy is keeping his fingers crossed that his senior players away on international duty come through their games unscathed ahead of the final eight matches of the Championship season, starting with a trip to his old club Wolves a week on Saturday.

Daryl Murphy is away with Ireland, Christophe Berra with Scotland, Jonas Knudsen with Denmark, Kevin Bru with Mauritius and Ainsley Maitland-Niles with the England U19s.

While those five will be away with national squads, the other players are being given some time off during the break after a busy spell of fixtures in recent weeks.

“Most of the players will not be back with us until the middle of next week so we will have to wait until then to see who comes back fit and well,” McCarthy told the club site.

“The international break is what it is though. We will get on with it. When we’ve got the squad back, we will regroup and go again.

“It’s always the challenge to react after a defeat and a poor display like on Saturday and we’ve got to wait two weeks to do it. That's what we’ve got to do though at Wolves on April 2nd.”

Town have confirmed that striker David McGoldrick came through Monday’s U21s game against his old club Nottingham Forest without a problem and the 28-year-old could play for Mark Kennedy’s side again in next Wednesday’s match at home to Crewe Alexandra (Playford Road, KO 1pm).

Also away on international duty at present are keeper Michael Crowe and defender Josh Yorwerth with the Wales U21s, keeper Jon Henley with the Scotland U21s and midfielder Andre Dozzell and striker Ben Morris with the England U17s.

Photo: Action Images

Mark added 12:44 - Mar 23 It doesn't matter too much as we won't catch the required five points on Sheff Wed with trips to Wolves, Sheff Wed, Middlesbrough and Derby to come. I'm still feeling very disappointed after Saturday, the lowest in a long time regarding Ipswich.
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jonbull88 added 12:54 - Mar 23 Beat Wednesday mark and that's half the job done!
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TR11BLU added 13:08 - Mar 23 Ive got mine crossed you wont be here next season...
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SouperJim added 13:31 - Mar 23 Slightly daft thing to say there Mark. Clearly we need to come back after the easter break, find our groove again and if at all possible win at Hillsborough to have a realistic chance. You just never know in this division though and it's never over until it's over.
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dirtyboy added 15:13 - Mar 23 However unlikely it is (feels a million miles away at the moment) football is a strange game and can change in an instant. Win away at Wolves (certainly not inconceivable) beat Sheffield Wednesday and i'd bet my pet sparrow that we'll be back in the mix. Like a boxer losing on points with a couple of rounds left, you don't dip your head and feel sorry for yourself, you get your chin up (metaphorically speaking, in the literal sense you're even more likely to lose!) and start throwing some bombs and hope for the best. Time for McCarthy and the players to start throwing some haymakers.

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blueherts added 15:39 - Mar 23 McGoldrick Bru Skuse and Feeney with Sears and Murphy up top would be a decent start Nothing to lose all to gain Start taking games to teams Mick and maybe , just maybe people will start believing you actually want to go up then - Douglas , Skuse and Hyam - just watch
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tractorboybig added 16:12 - Mar 23 Hope springs eternal. Most of you must be young. You stand more chance of your summer holiday on mars than this set up reaching the play offs.
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TimmyH added 20:09 - Mar 23 I'm keeping my fingers crossed McCarthy wakes up and starts picking our best performing midfield players...if he continues to 'mix and match' as he has done for the last month forget about the play-offs!
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Bert added 23:27 - Mar 23 What matters more than securing a play off place is that we see a team that has energy, attacks the ball, passes it and wins back the despondent thousands who just want to be proud again of their team and club. Remaining outside of the play offs would not, in the context of the last few months, be so terrible. Limping along until May with no improvement would be a disaster and turn the screw leading to many lost season ticket holders next season.

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footyblue added 23:35 - Mar 23 it doesn't really matter what MM says he plays his favourites meaning there is no competition for places so no desire from the fringe players to perform knowing no matter what they won't play. We need to play football and I'm sure this won't happen while MM is here so none of the academy will get a look in either because they are taught to play a passing game, Paul Cook summised Matt Clarke would wasted back at down as he is a footballing CB.

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muccletonjoe added 10:07 - Mar 24 People for who the penny hasnt dropped yet - the seasons over.
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