Judge Could Return as Blues Face Cambridge in Final Friendly Saturday, 27th Jul 2019 05:06 Alan Judge could make his first appearance of pre-season when the Blues face Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium in their final friendly (KO 1pm). Judge, who broke a wrist while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland last month, trained with the rest of the squad at the Open Day yesterday having seen a specialist earlier in the week. Asked whether Judge might be involved on the opening day of the season at Burton in a week’s time, manager Paul Lambert said he is currently unsure. “I don’t know, I really don’t,” the Blues boss said. “Obviously he’s training with us, he’s not done anything games-wise. I’ll see how this coming weekend is and then I’ll decide from there.” Quizzed on whether he would be fielding a team which would be close to the one which lines up at Burton the Blues boss said he wouldn’t. Lambert implied it would again be an XI designed to give players, both those likely to start and those on the fringes, minutes rather than one into which too much should be read: “You’ll never pick it.” The Blues manager has said he’s not particularly concerned by pre-season results: “I said it before, I’ve been involved in pre-seasons where we’ve won every one and we’ve lost every one and the reverse has been the case at the start of the season. “I don’t pay too much significance to the results. For me the main thing is to get through without any injuries.
“I’ve mixed and matched to give lads game time because you never know when you might have to use them. “If we can win on Saturday, then great, if we don’t then we’ll be ready for Burton regardless of what happens.” Questioned on how close he is to knowing his team for the Burton match, he added: “I’ve a rough idea. I think anybody knows you’ve got a rough idea and then we’ll see.” In addition to Judge, two more of Town’s lengthy injury list, Gwion Edwards (groin) and Jon Nolan (calf), are both closing in on returns but aren’t expected to be involved against the U’s, who finished 12th in League Two last season.
Town were last at Cambridge in pre-season ahead of 2016/17 when the teams drew 1-1 with Andre Dozzell on target for Town. The Blues will face former winger Reggie Lambe, while ex-Norwich City midfielder - and one-time Town target - Wes Hoolahan has joined Cambridge this summer.
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