Camara Set For Debut But McKenna to Name Young Squad For Cambridge Tie Monday, 17th Oct 2022 11:01 Midfielder Panutche Camara looks set to make his Town debut but boss Kieran McKenna says it will be a younger Blues team and squad which takes on Cambridge United in Tuesday’s final Papa Johns Trophy group game with his side all but qualified for the next stage (KO 7pm). The Blues top Southern Group H by three points from Arsenal’s U21s having taken maximum points by hammering Northampton 6-0 and then the Gunners’ youngsters 2-0, both at Portman Road. Unless Town fall to a defeat and there is an implausible nine-goal turnaround between the Blues and both the U’s and Arsenal U21s, then they will go into the round of 32. The Cobblers host the North Londoners’ academy side at the same time as Town are facing the U’s. Since their earlier two matches, the Blues have lost the likes of Sone Aluko, Greg Leigh and Cameron Burgess to injury, while Dominic Ball is suspended having been booked twice in the competition, limiting the number of senior non-regular League One starters available to manager Kieran McKenna. Town have a big League One game against Derby County in front of Sky’s cameras on Friday and McKenna won’t want to take any risks ahead of that match.  “We have to find the right balance, that’s clear,” he said, speaking after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Lincoln City. “The priority is, of course, Friday night. We have some players who could do with the minutes so they will play. “And we have to make sure that we put them in a team that’s strong enough to make the game of value to them and of value to us as a squad, but the priority has to be Friday night. “We will look at the balance of the team over the next 24 hours and try and get a team out that gives minutes to those who need and would benefit from them and enough strength around them to be close to how we would want to look. “But it’s also a chance maybe to look at some of the younger players who have been training with us and put them in a team that hopefully will give them a chance to do well as well. “The team and the squad will certainly be younger than it has been for the first two games.”
On Friday, McKenna said he expected Camara to be involved for the first time having joined the club from Plymouth on the final day of the transfer window suffering with a groin problem. He says the Guinea-Bissau international continued his progress on the training field on Saturday: “Hopefully, he trained again this morning with no problems, so he should be one who will benefit from the minutes.” Regarding the game being all but a dead rubber, he added: “I think it would take a big swing in terms of the scorelines, but I don’t go into any game worrying about how many we’re going to lose by. “If we’re putting a team on the pitch that’s representing Ipswich, we want to the team to be strong enough to be credible in the game and ready to compete, and we’ll look to make sure we’re doing that. “And also the players who we feel that we need to rest or protect a little bit more, we’ll make sure we’ll protect them for Friday night.” Vaclav Hladky looks set to start in goal, although it isn’t impossible McKenna might look to give youngster Nick Hayes his senior debut. At the back, Richard Keogh seems likely to be one of the centre-halves with 18-year-old Albie Armin, who made his one senior appearance in the competition last season, potentially joining him. Kane Vincent-Young also seems likely to be included, either on the right or left, while young left-back Max Hudson, 18, or Republic of Ireland U18 international right-back Edwin Agbaje, also 18, could come into McKenna’s thoughts. In central midfield, Camara may start alongside Cameron Humphreys, a regular in the Trophy for Town this season, with Tyreece John-Jules perhaps one of the number 10s, maybe alongside Tommy Hughes, who made two sub appearances in the competition in 2019/20, Zanda Siziba or Tawanda Chirewa. As the lone striker, Kayden Jackson might be among those McKenna believes needs first-team minutes. A number of other U21s, such as centre-half Cameron Stewart, midfielder Fraser Alexander, who made his debut as a sub in the Cobblers tie, forward Matt Ward, striker Gerrard Buabo, who made his senior bow against the young Arsenal team, and Harley Curtis, another frontman, are likely to be among those on the bench.
Cambridge, who need a better result than Arsenal’s U21s to go through to the next stage, are also planning to field a young side along with fringe players. “It gives them an opportunity to stake a claim,” assistant manager Gary Waddock told the Cambridge Independent. “The biggest thing is they have to perform. “If they’re waiting and waiting and they have the opportunity to start and they don’t turn up or don’t perform, it doesn't give them the chance to play in the league games. They have to make sure they take their opportunities when it crops up.” Among those set to come into the side are Fejiri Okenabirhie and Saikou Janneh, summer signings who are yet to cement a place in the League One line-up. “Both of them are getting closer,” Waddock continued. “Again it goes back to the opportunity. They’ll be involved tomorrow evening and they’ve got a chance to stake a claim for the weekend. “Both are in a position where they’ve trained really well and really hard so now it’s a match situation and in many respects that is where you’re judged.” Keeper Will Mannion is also expected to start for the U’s, who were beaten 2-0 at home by Arsenal U21s in their opening game, then won by the same scoreline at Northampton. Waddock added: “We want to win the game, that’s for sure. Any competition or any game we go into we want to win so that’s our main focus at the moment. “We would like to perform well [and] we would like those players who do go into the team to play well to give us a headache for the weekend. We’re approaching it in a positive way to try and win it.” 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. The Blues should have no trouble in meeting the requirements for tomorrow's match. Should the tie remain level at full-time, it goes straight to a penalty shootout with the winner given another point in addition to the one gained for the draw over 90 minutes. The winners of the group will be handed a home tie in the round of 32, against a runner-up from a group in the same region other than their own. Last season, Town topped their group but only after West Ham U21s had been docked points for fielding an ineligible player. They exited the competition in the first knockout round, losing 4-3 on penalties to Arsenal's U21s following a 2-2 draw at Portman Road. Town have only met Cambridge competitively on eight occasions with the Blues winning three, the U’s three and with two games ending in draws. The Blues' only victory against Cambridge at the Abbey Stadium was back in 1993/94 in the League Cup when they won 2-0, having been 2-1 in front from the first leg. A fortnight ago at Portman Road, Town recorded their first ever league win against the U’s. Kyle Edwards scored his first two goals for the Blues and Tyreece John-Jules his second of the season as the Blues won 3-0. The visitors frustrated Town until the 72nd minute when John-Jules came off the bench to make the most of a Cambridge slip, then fellow sub Edwards added the second three minutes later with a cross-shot, before completing the victory with four minutes left on the clock with his second of the evening. Last time at the Abbey Stadium in October last year, Joe Ironside scored an 88th-minute leveller as the U’s came from two goals behind to draw 2-2 with the Blues at the Abbey Stadium. Town looked to be coasting to victory after Sone Aluko had netted on 10 and 36, his first Blues goals, but James Brophy pulled one back for the U’s before half-time and the home side completed a deserved comeback when Ironside headed home two minutes from the end. The Cambridge squad includes ex-Blue Jack Lankester, who joined them in the summer of 2021 from Town. Lankester, a boyhood Blues fan, came through the academy ranks at Playford Road and went on to make 13 first-team starts and 17 sub appearances, scoring three goals. Centre-half or midfielder Paul Digby moved to Town from Barnsley in January 2016 before making the switch permanent the following summer. He made a total of seven starts and five sub appearances without scoring. Cambridge midfielder Shilow Tracey, who moved to the Abbey after being released by Spurs in June 2021, had a trial at Town in 2015 when a 17-year-old with Ebbsfleet United's academy and featured for the Blues’ U21s. Town midfielder Ball spent a spell on loan with Cambridge in the second half of 2014/15, making nine starts and two sub appearances. Blues striker Joe Pigott, who is on loan for the season at Portsmouth, spent 2016/17 on loan with the U’s, scoring once in nine starts and eight sub appearances. Midfielder Idris El Mizouni, currently on loan at Leyton Orient, has had two spells on loan at Cambridge, the first more successful stint in the second half of the curtailed 2019/20 season and the second in the first half of the following campaign. In total, the Tunisian international made 12 starts and 10 sub appearances for the U’s, scoring one goal. Tuesday’s referee is Thomas Parsons from Rochdale, who has shown 38 yellow cards and one red in eight games so far in 2022/23. Parsons is in his first season as an EFL official, having taken charge of National League and FA Cup matches for the previous four campaigns, and will be in the middle for a Town game for the first time. Squad from: Hladky, Hayes, Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Keogh, Armin, Stewart, Burns, Vincent-Young, Davis, Hudson, Agbaje, Morsy, Evans, Camara, Humphreys, Alexander, Harness, Edwards, Humphreys, Chaplin, John-Jules, Hughes, Ladapo, Jackson, Buabo, Ward.
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