Town will be without Tommy Miller and Hermann Hreidarsson when they travel to Crystal Palace on Tuesday night. Better news is that Pablo Couñago and Darren Ambrose both return to the first team squad.

Miller has a swelling on his hamstring, although the club are not yet sure quite what the problem is. The Town medical staff are confident it is not a tear and suspect it may be scar tissue. Manager Joe Royle says they will know more about the injury in a week or so.

The Town boss says he now expects Hermann Hreidarsson to be out of the side for six weeks after receiving a gash above the knee on Saturday. The Icelander had an operation on Saturday night but is now out of hospital.

Pablo Couñago, back after suspension, and Darren Ambrose both come into the squad. Ambrose missed out on Saturday due to the knock to the knee he sustained against Norwich but has recovered sufficiently enough to be involved in training. He will need a fitness test ahead of the game.

Ambrose or Martijn Reuser look the favourites to take Miller's role in the midfield while Matt Richards seems set to take over from Hreidarsson at left wing-back.

It appears likely that Pablo Couñago will start on the bench at Palace. Royle says the Spaniard is keen to be involved again: “Pablo's desperate to get going again, desperate to play. He never lacks enthusiasm for football does Pablo.

“He needs games to get him match fit again now. When you have a four-game ban and it's spread over three weeks, you miss a lot. But he's a fresh player coming back for us.

“We're just getting stretched a bit in midfield where I thought we were over-full at one stage. With Jamie Clapham gone, Hermann injured and now Tommy Miller out, we're getting a little bit stretched there.”

Crystal Palace beat Town at Portman Road earlier in the season and deservedly so according to Royle: “I think they are the only team which has truly beaten us. Sides have beaten us with results, but they beat us and deserved it on the day.

“It was my first league game here and I found out a lot about us in that game. They haven't quite gone on from that game and we've improved.

“We know what we've got to do now; we've got to win a lot of games, we've got to make up two wins on Wolves to start with, but I still believe we are capable of it.”

Royle admits his side have not picked up the points against the division's strugglers: “Our record against the bottom sides is poor, we drew at Brighton, we lost to Bradford twice, Grimsby have taken four points off us, Stoke have taken four points off us and that tells a tale. We haven't put the struggling sides to the sword when we should have done.

“We've now got two hard away games, Wednesday are battling for their lives and Palace are still hanging on to the belief that they can out a run together. Right down to seventh or eighth bottom are sides who are still only three or four points behind us in seventh from top, so the league is closer than it's ever been.

Despite the disappointing performances against some of the league's lesser lights the Town boss feels his team has moved forward: “We have made progress, we have taken ourselves from fourth bottom to seventh top, we've just got to move on from here. But our record against the lesser lights has been poor, although I wouldn't classify Palace as amongst them.”

Royle says that although the players aren't too concerned by the club being in administration when they are out on the pitch, it has affected his ability to add to his squad when he has needed to: “Administration itself hasn't been a problem to us but the fact that we haven't been able to loan players has been a problem, particularly at the moment when we're stretched both form-wise and injury-wise. It would have been nice to have brought somebody in, but we can't and we live with it.”

Town's manager says that some of the players currently on the sidelines would have got their chance had they been fit. One of those, Finidi George, is now back from Spain where his girlfriend gave birth to a baby last week and is training as he recovers from a hip injury.

Palace manager Trevor Francis, a perennial anti-hero to Town supporters, has a few injury worries of his own ahead of the game, Andy Johnson is a doubt with ligament trouble while fellow striker Dele Adebola is definitely out with a groin problem.

Finnish midfielder Aki Riihilahti has a thigh injury and is also out, while Tommy Black and Dougie Freedman are both hoping for recalls to the starting line-up. Loan striker Noel Whelan will also be hoping for a start.

Town squad: Ambrose, D Bent, M Bent, Bowditch, Couñago, Gaardsøe, Holland, Magilton, Makin, Marshall, Naylor, Pullen, Reuser, Richards, Wilnis and Wright.

Photo: Action Images

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