Cook: Changes But Team Will Be Very Competitive Monday, 4th Oct 2021 15:48 Town boss Paul Cook will field a changed but still very competitive side when the Blues face Gillingham in the Papa John's Trophy at the Priestfield Stadium on Tuesday evening and says it’s a chance for those currently on the fringes to make a case for a place in the team which takes on Shrewsbury at Portman Road in League One on Saturday. “We’ll make changes in the game, we’ve got opportunities to give a lot of lads games now that they really need and it will be a strong Ipswich team hoping to win the game,” Cook confirmed, speaking after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Accrington. “I think it’s disappointing because if we had had a good result today, everyone bounces into the Gillingham game. “Unfortunately, we’re on the back of a really disappointing result where we haven’t played well, we haven’t competed and done the bread and butter side of football, and that hurts as a manager.” Despite being set to field an XI probably featuring none of the team which beat Doncaster 6-0 a week ago and lost at Stanley, Cook believes it will be a side well capable of defeating the Gills, who are currently 18th in League One, a point and place ahead of the Blues. “I think when you look at the side we’ll put out on Tuesday night, you’d expect us to be very competitive in the game, I’m 100 per cent sure,” Cook said. “But we’ve seen with the West Ham [U21s] result how difficult the games can be. Obviously you’re going to put a team together that’s never played together but you’d expect them to have enough quality, so we’ll see Tuesday night.” Asked whether it is an opportunity for the players who come in to get themselves into his plans for Saturday, Cook said: “One hundred per cent.” The Blues boss isn’t anticipating keeper Christian Walton, who is out with an adductor problem, or anyone else who has been out with an injury being back - “I wouldn’t have thought so” - and so Tomas Holy is likely to make his third start of the season in goal. Kane Vincent-Young could return at right-back having lost his place to Janoi Donacien in recent weeks, while the out-of-favour Myles Kenlock is understood to be under consideration for a return in the left-back role. The 24-year-old has been training with the U23s since pre-season, although not featuring in games, but could be involved with Hayden Coulson out with a groin problem and Matt Penney needed for Saturday. However, even if he does play, Kenlock's Town career is unlikely to see a renaissance as he is unavailable for League One matches having been left out of the squad submitted to the EFL for the first half of the season. Toto Nsiala and Luke Woolfenden will probably be back at the centre of the defence, although youngster Albie Armin will be hoping for his second senior start after impressing on his debut against West Ham's U21s. In midfield, Idris El Mizouni may be partnered by Cameron Humphreys, as he was in the previous tie against the Hammers' youngsters. Cook may not want to risk Kyle Edwards with Bersant Celina unavailable for the Shrews’ visit as he is away with Kosovo, although the former West Brom man may need a game having been out injured in recent weeks before returning as a sub on Saturday. Rekeem Harper may similarly not be included with a view to taking Celina's number 10 role at the weekend. That could see Louie Barry, Sone Aluko and Conor Chaplin start as the three behind the lone striker, who will probably be Joe Pigott, if the former AFC Wimbledon man is over the illness he suffered last week. Alternatively, James Norwood could start. Kayden Jackson, Jon Nolan and youngster Zanda Siziba, who along with Armin and Humphreys wasn't in the U23s side which won 3-0 at Swansea on Monday afternoon, could well be on the bench. Like Town, the Gills will make changes from the team which lost 2-0 at home to Wigan on Saturday. “I would imagine that there will be opportunities for people,” assistant manager Paul Raynor told their official website. “There will be chances for players to stake a claim to play at Wycombe, and the guys need the opportunity to play. We will take advantage of that.” Former Blues winger Mustapha Carayol is back in training but unlikely to be ready to return to match action after a thigh problem, while Ryan Jackson is in a similar position. On-loan Watford man Dan Phillips remains sidelined, while Vadaine Oliver is unlikely to be risked due to the effects of a rib injury, despite having played on Saturday with Raynor admitting the striker wasn’t “bang on 100 per cent”. Ex-Blues academy youngster Stuart O'Keefe was on the bench against the Latics after a shoulder injury but also may not be risked against his old club. Midfielder Alex MacDonald suffered a deep cut to his leg during Saturday’s game and again could be left out of the side facing the Blues. The rules of the competition oblige League One and Two clubs to field four qualifying outfield players in their starting XI. A qualifying outfield player is someone who started the club's previous match, starts the following first-team game, someone in the top 10 players at the club in terms starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions in the season up to this point, a player with 40 or more first-team appearances over their career or a player on loan from a Premier League or category one EFL side. If clubs transgress that rule they face a £5,000 fine. Given Cook’s intention of fielding a strong team, the Blues should have little trouble in meeting the requirements. Town have received £20,000 for entering the competition and would net a further £10,000 if they defeat the Gills in 90 minutes or £5,000 if the game is drawn at that point. If that is the case, the match goes straight to penalties with the winner of the shoot-out gaining a bonus point.  Town are currently bottom of the group following their 2-1 defeat to West Ham’s U21s in their opening fixture, while Gillingham won 1-0 at Colchester in their ofirst match. Since those games, the U’s have defeated the East Londoners' academy team 1-0, via a goal from on-loan Blues forward Armando Dobra. Historically, Town have the upper hand on the Gills, winning 12 games between the sides (eight in the league), drawing 11 (11) and losing just three (three). In March, Paul Cook’s first game in charge of Town ended in a 3-1 League One defeat to Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium. Jack Tucker gave the Gills the lead in the seventh minute but skipper Luke Chambers pulled a goal back for Town on 65, however, Oliver netted in the 73rd and 80th minutes to see the home side to a deserved first home league victory over the Blues. At Portman Road in October last year, Teddy Bishop’s goal three minutes from time saw Town to a 1-0 victory. The Blues had had plenty of chances in the first half, before the Gills improved after the break but Bishop’s fourth goal of the campaign claimed the points for Town. The teams also met in the Papa John’s Trophy at Portman Road earlier the same month when second-half goals from Dobra and Ben Folami saw a very young Town side to a victory. Dobra struck home from the edge of the box on 57, then Folami turned home the second after good work from Liam Gibbs with 15 minutes left as the Blues deservedly and in the end comfortably defeated the Gills. Blues keeper Holy joined the Blues from Gillingham in the summer of 2019 after the Czech had spent two years with the Kent club, for whom he made 107 appearances. Striker Pigott had a spell on loan with the Kent side in the second half of the 2013/14 season, scoring once in four starts and three sub appearances. The Gills squad includes a couple of players with Portman Road connections. Winger Carayol joined the Gills in the summer after leaving Cypriot side Apollon Limassol. The Gambian international made five starts and three sub appearances for the Blues, scoring once, during a spell at Portman Road in the second half of 2017/18. Gills midfielder O’Keefe, who moved to the Priestfield Stadium from Cardiff in the summer of 2019, was an academy schoolboy with Town. Tuesday’s referee is Trevor Kettle, who has shown 33 yellow cards and two red in eight games so far this season. The Rutland-based whistler’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 home defeat of Crewe in October last year in which he showed yellow cards to Jackson, Andre Dozzell, Gwion Edwards, Alan Judge and one Alex player. He also refereed the 1-0 defeat to Coventry at Portman Road in March 2020 in which he again cautioned Dozzell, as well as Freddie Sears and Will Norris. In August 2019 Kettle was in charge of the 3-0 home victory over Shrewsbury in which he red-carded Shrews midfielder Shaun Whalley in the 38th minute for a second bookable offence and showed yellow cards to three of his team-mates and Flynn Downes. In addition, Kettle awarded the Blues a penalty after Vincent-Young had had his legs taken away from him by Josh Laurent, which was converted by Norwood. He took control of the 2-1 win at Fulham in December 2015 in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout. Before that, he was the man in the middle for the 4-4 draw at Derby in October 2013 in which he booked five Blues and one home player. Kettle also refereed the 1-1 draw at Barnsley in September 2012 when he again booked five Town players. Prior to that, he officiated in the 2-1 win at Burnley in April 2011 when he showed seven yellow cards in total, four to Blues. Squad from: Holy, Hladky, Vincent-Young, Donacien, Kenlock, Penney, Woolfenden, Nsiala, Armin, Edmundson, Burgess, Morsy, Harper, El Mizouni, Humphreys, Nolan, Fraser, Burns, Chaplin, Aluko, Edwards, Siziba, Bonne, Barry, Norwood, Jackson.
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