Town manager Joe Royle has few injury worries ahead of Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie with Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday. Aside from the longer term knocks, Alun Armstrong and Richard Naylor picked up minor problems in the reserve game on Wednesday night.

Richard Naylor, again impressive at centre-half in the second string, has a sore Achilles and won't be training on Friday, but Joe Royle does expect him to be OK for Saturday's trip. Alun Armstrong has a tight hamstring and has already been ruled out.

Regarding the longer-term injuries, central defender Mark Venus has had a scan and may have a muscle tear which will require minor surgery. Royle says he will know more once they have received a more comprehensive report from the specialist early next week.

John McGreal is continuing his recovery from a bad knee ligament injury picked up at Brighton. Royle says McGreal is doing well, but is taking things slowly and is still two-to-three weeks away from returning to action.

Despite the knocks to Naylor and Armstrong, the manager says he won't be adding anyone to the squad as he feels it is pointless taking players to games they aren't involved in: “I don't believe in taking disgruntled players just to leave them in the stands. If they're not involved then they might as well be here training.”

Martijn Reuser and Matt Richards will both be in the squad, although it looks likely that the starting eleven will be unchanged from the one which faced Preston last week.

Royle has made Justin Miller, Steve Burton and Lee Beevers available on free transfers, feeling that a move is more likely to gain them first team football: “All three are made available on free transfers to give them a chance really. They're all held up a bit here, all in the 19-22 age group and not first team players, so they might as well try elsewhere.

“I'm sure there'll be something for all of them and we wish them all the best. It's just part of the ongoing pruning and reorganisation that we've got to do.”

Royle doesn't feel that Sheffield United's Worthington Cup extra-time at Anfield on Tuesday will have too much of an effect on them: “When things are going well for you, you're high on adrenaline anyway, so there's no problem. Rest's important and I'm sure Neil will be giving them plenty of it.

“He might be smiling and saying on the television that Ipswich will be loving the extra-time but I don't think it will be a major problem, although I must admit I wasn't disappointed that they went to extra-time.

“If they'd had extra-time and then had to come all the way back to East Anglia then that would have been different but Sheffield's an hour-and-a-half from Merseyside and I don't think it will be a problem.”

United have Nick Montgomery definitely out after breaking his ankle on Tuesday while keeper Paddy Kenny is also rated as a doubt. However, the player they will miss most is likely to be suspended midfielder Michael Tonge.

Royle says this is not something which has really concerned him in the build-up to the game: “He's a big miss, but that's for them. I don't want to go too much on them. They're going well and they have to be respected for that.

“I know it's not a league game but we're playing someone from our league, and I feel that when we're at our best we can impose ourselves on anybody in our division. We have spoken about Sheffield United for five minutes this morning, but we spent an hour-and-twenty-five minutes talking about us.”

Town will come up against Steve Kabba who terrorised the Blues' defence when he was on loan at Grimsby earlier in the season. The recently signed striker is available to Neil Warnock in the FA Cup, unlike Dean Windass, a recent acquisition from Middlesbrough. Warnock could give a debut to new signing Richard Edghill, a man well-known to Joe Royle from his Manchester City days.

The Blues and Blades fill the top two places in the Division One form table and Royle expects a tough game: “Both us and Sheffield United are feeling confident and very progressive and they're now looking at a top two position. I suspect that both myself and Neil, much as we think of the FA Cup, would have the three points from the league game in two weeks given the choice.”

Likely squad: Ambrose, D Bent, M Bent, Couñago, Gaardsøe, Holland, Hreidarsson, Magilton, Makin, Marshall, T Miller, Naylor, Pullen, Reuser, Richards, Wilnis and Wright.

Photo: Action Images

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