Blues boss Paul Cook hinted that right-back Kane Vincent-Young could return at Charlton tomorrow but gave few details regarding the fitness of his squad ahead of the trip to the Valley, and admitted it’s been a tough few days since the 3-0 defeat at AFC Wimbledon.

Cook has shown a reluctance to talk about players’ injuries in his pre-match press conferences since he came to Town and has said he’d prefer the club to release that information to the media.

“We can't be going from game to game speaking about individual players because results are bad in general or the results are not great,” he said.

“The reality is we speak about injured players more and more. You know, we've had a lot of injuries this year from game to game, we've been chopping and changing the team.

“So while Kane Vincent-Young has come through the U23s on Tuesday, he's come through it fine, the reality is he's been training now for nearly a couple of weeks and is very much to the fore of what we're thinking about doing tomorrow. But I don't want to go through every individual player if that's OK.”

Asked how the players have been since Tuesday, Cook responded: “I don't really care.”

But he needs a reaction from that performance? “Since the relegation two and a half years ago, Ipswich Town fans have probably had false dawns, players playing well for two games, the inconsistencies, people flattering to deceive, going on four-game runs and not scoring a goal and having clean sheets for three.

“I'm bored of it. Successful clubs sustain what they do. Successful clubs have high energy, big tempo, flair players, creative players that create chances and score goals.”

Keeper Tomas Holy has started all of Cook’s games so far, would he like to take a look at Dai Cornell in competitive action before the end of the campaign? “Again guys, I fully understand the questions you have. Since Wimbledon away, we've had a tough couple of days at the club, as you can imagine.

“Every player who is not playing should be wanting to play, every player who wasn't on the starting sheet at the start of the game at Wimbledon becomes a better player because we get beaten 3-0.

“But the brutal reality is they haven't become better players and they are the same players. What happens at clubs like ours when you go through periods that we go through, we're all clamouring for something that works.

“Sometimes the solution isn't in the building and the solution isn't around the club. The solution has to come from outside the building.

“This club now has had a period of non-success for too long. Whether it lasts another six games is not really to the fore of my mind. The downward spiral has to stop soon and an upward spiral has to begin.

“So I'm not going to carry on discussing players individually and who starts and who doesn't start. The brutal reality for us, and I'm the manager of the club and leader of the football team at the minute, is we’re not happy, we're licking our wounds, we're going to Charlton tomorrow desperate to make our supporters happy. But I'm sure our supporters fully understand what's going on.”

Josh Harrop will be unavailable for tomorrow's game and the following two for his red card at Wimbledon.

Photo: PagePix

floridaboy added 11:10 - Apr 16 So KVY starts tomorrow and would hope Nydam does as well. Hawkins up front, Downes in midfield. Struggling with the rest I am afraid!
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Radlett_blue added 11:14 - Apr 16 Will be interesting to see the reaction from the players as Cook has rightly accepted that this season is over & come out with all guns blazing. Am I the only one who suspects the reaction tomorrow might not be positive? That in itself doesn't matter & Town are going to undergo the long awaited clear-out. That's the easy bit. The hard bit will be getting the right players in & moulding them into an effective team, but that's what we want & what Cook was brought in to do.

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90z added 11:19 - Apr 16 Need to drop some of these players that have been starting each week! Especially in defence you know who I mean.. 😉
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PortmanTerrorist added 11:26 - Apr 16 KVY as a winger given lack of full/wing back options? Might get injured less if not having to do all the running of a Full Back and stay a bit higher up the pitch and cause some damage; would certainly frighten defenders which only Norwood does currently and Edwards when he fancies it ! PS: Dozzell has another 3 years on his contract so he may become our Ozil unless Mr Cook can train him into a position on the park where he is more effective than he is at the moment.

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Gforce added 11:31 - Apr 16 Will we score again this season? Don't really matter who plays tomorrow, there all crap.
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Sixto6 added 11:34 - Apr 16 I like the sound of - Successful clubs sustain what they do. Successful clubs have high energy, big tempo, flair players, creative players that create chances and score goals.” I'd love us to sign a real flair player whose name you instantly look for on the team sheet or a captain that you know is going to pull the team through a tough away match!
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muccletonjoe added 12:03 - Apr 16 He is saying exactly what we are thinking.
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dirtydingusmagee added 12:10 - Apr 16 asked how players feeling after Tuesdays game ? ''i dont really care'', priceless, say it as it is Paul. Dont think anyone else cares either, they dont deserve to be treated any other way. Hopefully their p45's are in the ''out'' tray waiting for them tp collect .
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mojo added 12:57 - Apr 16 Is the writing on the wall for Cornell? Just one of those players who is not good enough? One of those players likely to have his contract terminated?
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johnwarksshorts added 13:36 - Apr 16 Looking forward to next season.
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BotesdaleBlue added 15:08 - Apr 16 I think it is fair to say that this morning's press conference is the most honest and brutal given by any Ipswich manager in the post-internet "modern era". I must also say that I have agreed 100% with every word and sentiment he has uttered and believe that we have the best possible manager we could reasonably have hoped for, in charge of us right now to deliver what needs to be done with the backing of the new owners. I can't wait for the changes to happen and look forward to the new ITFC news stories every day now, hoping to hear the latest positive changes and developments that will start happening to the squad and to the wider club in general from this point forward. COYB

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51blue added 16:55 - Apr 16 Botesdale Blue You've nailed it,spot on!!
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KernewekBlue added 17:21 - Apr 16 It has got so that I can't see anything better than a defeat against Charlton tomorrow. The Addick's sit one place above us, 2 points better off and with a game in hand. They're coming into the game off a 2 - 1 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Sunderland, while we're approaching it after a 3 - 0 capitulation to relegation threatened Wimbledon. I think we're going to get a bit of a pasting at The Valley, just to hammer home how inept and out of their depth our team really is. I don't see what Paul Cook can do to put a winning team on the pitch. It's all very well throwing KVY into the fray if he's fit enough but the poor bloke can't work miracles on his own and win a game singlehandedly. Watching, reading about or hearing about Town's games for the past several years has been tortuous, to say the least, but last season and this season have been the two most demoralising, gut wrenching, downright pathetic I, or indeed probably anyone who supports this club, can remember. If the promises of finance to fund a rebuild of this club don't come to fruition, I fear we are headed in only one direction... non-league obscurity. I really, REALLY hope that the new owners and the backers are deadly serious and that their intentions are proven come the summer, when a much-needed clear-out of the dead wood in the squad can be actioned and fresh, hungry, gifted talent can be ushered in to Portman Road. Another, dreadful, write-off of a season is coming to a close with a shockingly bad Town side failing to reach the play-offs and going out with a whimper. They ought to be ashamed of themselves!

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billys_boots added 18:08 - Apr 16 Does it have to be an upward spiral. Can it just go up in a straight line please?
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brian_a_mul added 21:44 - Apr 16 KVY, Norwood, Downes, Wilson plus a good crop of youngsters (Dobra, Lankester, Ndaba, Baggot, Nydam etc). Could be a youthful team tomorrow. Lets hope we see some fight in them!
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Linkboy13 added 11:49 - Apr 17 We haven't got any outstanding youngsters im afraid that's the reality. Most of them are not even good enough to go out on loan to league clubs or good standard non league level. Dobra's showed one or two nice touches but they are few and far between and Lankesters never lived up to all the hype he gets on here needs to go out on loan if anybody will take him. Ndaba is on loan at Ayr United and by all reports has done quite well. When Cook strengthens his squad these underperforming youngsters will be even further down the pecking order.

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