McKenna Keen to Progress in Carabao Cup Monday, 8th Aug 2022 12:47 Town boss Kieran McKenna says he will make changes when the Blues face Colchester United in round one of the Carabao Cup at Portman Road on Tuesday but is keen to make progress in the competition (KO 7.45pm). The Blues boss is planning to field players who haven’t started the club’s first two League One matches but, speaking after Saturday’s 2-1 win at Forest Green Rovers, he hadn’t decided precisely who would start and who would be left out. “We’ll have a look at it,” he said. “We wanted to get through the game today, see how the group is looking, see what minutes were on the pitch today and we’ll have a look at it with the staff over the weekend. “There will be changes but just how many we’re not sure. It’s important to put out a team that we think that’s going to be strong enough to win the game, so we’ll have a look at that over the weekend.” He says there are players who need to start a match, although not in order to get a full game under their belts. “Not necessarily 90 minutes because the players who have started the last two league games who aren’t playing 90 minutes,” he said. “So it’s not 90 minutes but it’s about that feeling of starting a game, getting your adrenaline right and playing a first half and coming out in the second half and pushing for as long as you can. “Ninety minutes with the five substitution rule is going to be less frequent for a lot of positions in football but it’s really important to get match minutes into some players who have worked hard through pre-season and we’re going to need over the course of the season, so we’ll use Tuesday for that as well as trying to progress in the cup.” McKenna is looking for a Carabao Cup run in order to give players on the fringes further matches. “We want a lot of games at the moment, to be honest,” he said. “It’s a busy August, I think we’ve got eight games guaranteed but nine if we go through against Colchester, so we want a lot of games at the moment. “If you have a good bill of health in your squad, we’ll have Dominic Ball back with us next week and Corrie [Nbada]’s not a million miles away, so when we have such a bill of health you want a lot of games so people can get opportunities and we can get momentum as a group. “We hope to go through in the cup and that gives us the opportunity to play another round.”
League Two Colchester drew 1-1 at home to Carlisle on Saturday having been beaten 3-2 at Northampton the previous week. “They’re two games into the season as well and are building up. I’m not sure what they’ll do with their squad but it’s early days for everybody,” McKenna told iFollow Ipswich. “It’s a local team and lots of ex-Ipswich players in their team, so that brings an extra little bit to the occasion. “I’m sure they’ll want to come to utilise their squad but also try and win the game and we’ll look to do the same. I’m sure it’ll be a tough and competitive game and we need to be ready for that.” Regarding his squad’s fitness, McKenna says no one picked up anything significant at the weekend but one or two might be omitted from Tuesday’s squad. “We have a few little niggles and knocks but hopefully nothing major,” he added. “We’re awaiting the report from the medical team, but no major injuries, so certainly everyone should be available through the week, there might be a few who need to be protected a little bit tomorrow night but we’ll assess that over the next 24 hours.” McKenna seems likely to start Vaclav Hladky in goal, while the back three could again include Cameron Burgess, who replaced the ill Luke Woolfenden at Forest Green. Ndaba picked up a hip flexor problem last week but could also be involved if over that injury, while McKenna seems likely to field at least one of his regular League One centre-halves. At wing-back Greg Leigh and former U’s man Kane Vincent-Young could get the nod on either flank having come off the bench at Forest Green. Kyle Edwards is another option on the right with Vincent-Young potentially being used as one of the three centre-halves. In midfield, McKenna seems likely to rest skipper Sam Morsy and Lee Evans with Ball making his debut if over his ankle problem. If not, Idris El Mizouni could well be partnered by Cameron Humphreys with Rekeem Harper, who was also ill at the weekend, another option. Tyreece John-Jules could start as the lone central striker with Kayden Jackson and Sone Aluko in the other forward roles. Tawanda Chirewa and Tommy Hughes could be among those included on the substitutes’ bench. The game will go straight to penalties if the sides are level after 90 minutes. The draw for round two takes place live on Sky Sports following Wednesday’s Sheffield Wednesday-Sunderland tie. The second round, which sees the 13 Premier League clubs not in Europe enter the competition, takes place in the week commencing 22nd August. Colchester head coach and former Town defender Wayne Brown is similarly likely to make changes with ex-Blues striker Frank Nouble, John Akinde, Cameron Coxe and Ossama Ashley among those potentially in line to come into the XI, while another of the U’s one-time Town players, Alan Judge, Luke Hannant, Ryan Clampin and Alex Newby could be among those to drop out. Former Blues Emyr Huws (ankle) and Tommy Smith (foot) are both sidelined with injury but the likes of Luke Chambers, Cole Skuse, Freddie Sears and Tom Eastman could all face their old club. “The aim is to try and get through to the next round,” Brown said. “They're all difficult challenges, as was Carlisle, as was last week [at Northampton]. “Ipswich is going to be no different. There's obviously a little bit of a stigma behind it as well with it being a local derby and they're just down the road. “I'm sure that we'll take many fans and they'll be in good voice. which will be massive for us to try and achieve what we want to achieve in the game. “We're ultimately going there to do all we can to get a result. That's the business that we're in.” In addition to the eight ex-Blues players and Brown, there are plenty of one-time Portman Road employees on the U’s staff. Goalkeeper-coach Darren Smith left the same role with the Town academy to join the U’s in the summer of 2019, having had a stint as the Blues’ first-team keeper-coach during Paul Hurst’s brief spell in charge at Portman Road. Colchester's director of football is another ex-Town defender, Tony Humes, while Richard Hall - a Town supporter and youth player as a youngster - and Sean Thacker both work in their academy having previously coached at Playford Road. Former Blues midfielder David Gregory is Colchester's press and communications officer.
Town striker Freddie Ladapo was an academy player with Colchester and went on to make six senior sub appearances for the U’s without scoring before moving on to Kidderminster in January 2014. Full-back Vincent-Young joined the Blues from the U’s in August 2019 for £500,000 having made 105 Colchester starts and 21 sub appearances, scoring four times. Blues keeper-coach Rene Gilmartin was a U’s player between July 2017 and July 2019 making 26 starts. Town academy keeper-coach Carl Pentney is also a former Colchester goalie, although without making a senior appearance, and hails from the north Essex city. Blues U21s coach John McGreal managed the U’s between May 2016 and July 2020 having previously been caretaker boss for a spell in 2015. Historically, Town have the edge over the U's having won 11 of the games between the teams (the most recent on penalties) and the U’s five, while another four have ended in draws. The U's last won at Portman Road in October 1951 in Division Three (South), a 2-0 victory. In November last year in the Papa John's Trophy, Town beat Colchester United 4-3 on spot-kicksat Portman Road after a 0-0 draw. Joe Pigott came closest to scoring in the 90 minutes when he hit the bar with the Blues eventually winning the shoot-out after U’s sub Chay Cooper found the post with his side’s final spot-kick. Tuesday’s referee is Sam Purkiss from London, who has shown six yellow cards and no red in his two games so far this season, all in the opening day 1-1 draw between Sutton and Newport. He kept his cards in his pocket throughout during Saturday’s Crawley-Leyton Orient match which the O’s won 1-0. Purkiss’s most recent Town match was the 0-0 FA Cup draw with Barrow at Portman Road in December following which manager Paul Cook was sacked. Morsy, El Mizouni, Conor Chaplin and one Barrow player were shown yellow cards in that match. Prior to that Purkiss was in charge of the 2-1 defeat at Burton in August last year in which he booked two Brewers and awarded both teams a penalty. Scott Fraser missed Town's following a foul on Louie Barry, while Lucas Akins converted to win the game for the home side on 86 after Matt Penney had tripped Joe Powell. In March of the same year, Purkiss took charge of the 1-0 home victory over Plymouth in which he showed no cards. Before that he had previously only taken charge of EFL Trophy games away from home involving Town. The 2-0 loss at Crawley in 2020/21, in which he booked Keanan Bennetts and one home player, and the 1-0 defeat at Colchester the campaign before in which he yellow-carded James Wilson and two U’s. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Leigh, Davis, Penney, Morsy, Evans, Humphreys, Harper, Aluko, Harness, Edwards, Chaplin, John-Jules, Ladapo, Jackson, Chirewa, Hughes.
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