Martijn Reuser is set to make his home debut this evening in Town's crunch clash with Crystal Palace. The midfield man was one of Town's more impressive players during the 3-1 defeat at QPR on Saturday when Town's inability to defend against teams trying to catch them on the break was once again shown up.

Reuser looked good running at QPR's defenders down the left but may find himself playing on the right hand side of a 4-4-2 formation.

Meanwhile Marcus Stewart, whose private life was the subject of a call to a TalkSport phone-in call at the weekend, is once again missing with his back problem.

Town manager George Burley was hoping to have him return tonight, but the problem is clearly more serious than previously thought. With the rumours about his off-field activities reaching the national media the time has surely come for the club and/or Marcus to make some statement on the subject.

Centre-half Mark Venus is still having ankle problems but looks likely to take up a place on the bench. John McGreal remains absent.

Town squad: R Wright, Croft, Wilnis, Mowbray, Brown, Clapham, Magilton, Holland, Reuser, Scowcroft, Johnson, J Wright, Naylor, Thetis, Stockwell, Venus and Branagan.

Richard Wright beat Steve McCall's consecutive appearance record on Saturday at QPR. Wright has now made 176 consecutive appearances. The last time he didn't appear in a Town game was February 1997.

Tonight sees voting begin on the ITFC Supporters' Player of the Year. James Scowcroft is the front runner after winning the TWTD Half-Season Player of the Year in November and a host of other lesser awards as the season has progressed.

Others in with a shout are Tony Mowbray, Mick Stockwell (the usual Churchman's bloc vote usually sees Micky get a high total in these polls), Matt Holland and Richard Wright.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls