Town boss Paul Lambert says the Blues go into Saturday’s home game against Sheffield Wednesday with “one or two little knocks” but with no new significant injuries, while he played down the chances of Teddy Bishop starting against the Owls, despite netting a hat-trick as the U23s beat Millwall 5-0 on Monday.

“Not too bad, one or two little knocks from last weekend but we’re OK,” Lambert said when asked about the injury situation going into the match.

“Emyr Huws [who has had fluid on his calf] is doing OK but will miss this one.”

While agreeing Bishop didn’t do himself any harm by scoring his treble against the Lions, Lambert says he doesn’t read too much into U23s performances.

“No, but as I said before, there’s a big difference from playing U23s football and first-team football. There’s all aspects of it,” he said.

“I think Bishop’s a really, really good player, but has been out for 14 months or 15 months, which is a helluva long time.

“He’s never going to pick up his fitness over a three or four-week period. He’s doing really, really well, he’s not too far away from my thinking.

“I think there’s an incredible future for the club here with the young players that they’ve got.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll said it again, there’s a few of them in there that if we can keep them all together and they grow, there’s going to be a helluva group of young players here, that’s for sure.”

With Jack Lankester out of action for a few weeks with a back problem, Bishop could be viewed as an alternative given his ball-carrying ability.

“That’s the big thing he’s got,” he said. “I think he’s a really good ball carrier. I think he’s fit, as in playing and training every time, he’s not been in the treatment room, which is great. But he certainly does carry the ball really well. As I said before, he’s not far away from my thinking.”

Grant Ward is out for the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate knee ligament at QPR on Boxing Day and Lambert says the midfielder’s surgery went as planned.

“It went really well. Wardy is doing well so it’s just a matter of rehab with him, time, and see how he does with his rehab,” he said.

Lambert believes his January additions are getting sharper with every match: “I think that was evident last weekend that they were starting to find their feet, which was great, which I knew would happen anyway but I can’t fault the lads for their attitude or the way they’ve come down here and tried to put things right.”

Asked whether they were doing extra work with fitness coach Jim Henry or just relying on games to get them up to match fitness, he added: “A bit of both really, there’s a fine line between the balance of it and the condition of them. They’re getting a bit of everything, which is good.”

The Blues manager switched Dean Gerken for Bartosz Bialkowski in goal last week. Explaining that decision, he said: “The two lads have been in and out, two really good goalkeepers, not much in it at all.

“I needed Bart to be up to speed with things, Deano had done nothing wrong in the games but I decided to make the decision on that. Nothing other than that was the decision I made.”

Photo: TWTD

ITFCsince73 added 15:37 - Jan 31 At any other club in the Championship the likes of Bishop and Dozzell would start every game. Leeds are full with these types of player, age as well. Both Bish and Doz are training daily, can play U23s games. Any other club would have them in there starting 11. Pure and simple.
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blueboy1981 added 15:54 - Jan 31 ...... Huws again - at his best play one, miss five , is all we could expect - has to be off loaded from the payroll. Shame - good player, but yet another sick note. And it will never be any different. Prove me wrong Huws ..... !!
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ITFCsince73 added 16:05 - Jan 31 Blueboy...at his best play 1, miss 40.
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Pilgrimblue added 16:12 - Jan 31 Not sure you're right there. Bish has only just returned from long term injury so doubt other teams would throw him in the deep end so quickly. As for Doz, he looks too lightweight and doesn't seem to be able to dictate at this level. Maybe a loan or summer break will help him toughen up for what maybe his chance to reach the heights we all hoped for.
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ArnieM added 16:16 - Jan 31 ..... and THIS is why Lambert wants to stay ...., I think there's an incredible future for the club here with the young players that they've got. “I've said it before and I'll said it again, there's a few of them in there that if we can keep them all together and they grow, there's going to be a helluva group of young players here, that's for sure.”
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Suffolkboy added 16:19 - Jan 31 For all who understandably want to see more of'our own ‘ coming into prominence , think back to the very start of the season : we looked smaller ,lighter , much less physical than the opposition and our conclusion was that ITFC as a side would only succeed if stamina and youth allied to individual speed was to prove the ‘winning ‘ factor . But other sides have greater all round strength and experience , know how to handle the challenge and most of our home grown players will need to bulk up with muscle and physicality ,and we do need the sort of specimens now being recruited ,not only to sustain our current push for survival ,but hopefully perhaps to form the backbone for future development . Can't really fault PL's judgement and plans . COYB

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Karlosfandangal added 17:00 - Jan 31 Think Lambert is doing the right thing with the young lads. We will needthem from the 1st game in division 1 next season not have them injured at the start of the season. If they play the rest of this season fighting for a lost cause then they will brake down and we will lose them for next season. As for Huws it will take him a year to get fit so he is not the answer for this season

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ITFCsince73 added 17:59 - Jan 31 Karlosfan. We will need them. Trouble is 80% of these younger players aren't being given no game time. Not even the odd 10 mins here or there. Most don't even make the 1st team squad. My point is if Dozzell had a England u20 game tomorrow he would be fit to play the whole game. If we was to loan out Bishop to say Luton for the remainder of this season. He would start every game. These 2 players aren't kids anymore...they are fit. So should start. They are better than we have with one hand tied behind there back. Dozzell needs to beef up?? My god, are we waiting until he's 25 yrs old or what?

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grubbyoik added 18:11 - Jan 31 So what does he see that we don't see.. Bishop has played really well when given the chance... we lack a creative ball carrying midfielder which is what Bishop is and we have nothing to lose! It's not as if the current midfield or team is pulling up trees.. it lacks defensively and creatively. Oh and he's one of our players .. and the so called future of the club.. I thought the future of this club was away from loans. You want to start making up your mind what you want Lambert.

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Saxonblue74 added 19:08 - Jan 31 Success in the championship has come largely from physically strong teams. These guys are not there yet. It's not often that lads this age have both the talent and physical attributes to stand out on the pitch. I have to disagree with itfcsince73 as I don't think Bish or Dozzell would get a sniff at Leeds right now. Nurture them now, keep them together as a group and whatever this season brings, the future is bright.

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Saxonblue74 added 19:10 - Jan 31 .....I meant to add, the last player that looked the real deal at portman rd at a tender age was Connor Wickham.
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grubbyoik added 19:41 - Jan 31 So what your saying is that 1 to 11 have to be physically strong players Saxonblue74.. I don't agree... we have had plenty of brawn at Ipswich with a clear lack of brain..
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Saxonblue74 added 19:51 - Jan 31 Not saying that at all grubbyoik, simply saying it's a very physically demanding league. You can get away with it playing out wide but that's about it in my opinion. Tough, experienced midfields with a strong back four and a 20+ per season target man has been a successful recipe in thd championship.
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muccletonjoe added 19:57 - Jan 31 We disagree on so much Mr Lambert
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ITFCsince73 added 19:59 - Jan 31 Saxonblue74. After that statement I see why we are bottom. And now can't see us picking up another point all season. Even with signings made this month, we couldn't be further from that.
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Saxonblue74 added 20:07 - Jan 31 Perhaps Suffolkboy made a better job of delivering my opinion in his post!
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