Town skipper Matt Holland is hopeful that he will be fit to line-up for his 170th consecutive game for the Blues on Saturday. Holland's ankle was injured by a challenge from Gary Neville just before half-time and he was eventually substituted, for only the second time in his Town career, two minutes into the second half. The man signed from Bournemouth said: "It is still puffy and swollen but not as bad as I thought it might be. It is not the best but I'm not going to rule myself out of Saturday." Martijn Reuser and James Scowcroft will be standing by to take his place in midfield should Holland be missing.

Jim Magilton has been called up to the Northern Irish squad for their match with Malta at Windsor Park on September 2nd. Magilton, who captained the Ulstermen in their previous game against Yugoslavia, will hope they get their World Cup Group 3 campaign off to a decent start. Full squad: Carroll (Wigan), Taylor (Fulham), Nolan (Bradford), A Hughes (Newcastle), Williams (Wimbledon), Taggart (Leicester), Griffin (Dundee Utd), Murdock (Preston); Lomas (West Ham), Lennon (Leicester), Gillespie (Blackburn), Johnson (Blackburn), Horlock (Man City), Mulryne (Norwich), Magilton, Elliott (Motherwell), Healy (Man Utd), Quinn (West Brom), McKnight (St Mirren) and Gray (Burnley).

Town reserves lost 2-1 at Chelsea last night in a game which saw John McGreal show that he is now ready to fight for a first team place. The Town centre-half missed much of pre-season with a foot injury, but this now seems to be much better. Town's scorer was Neil Midgley who deflected an Ashley Nichols shot home in the 76th minute. The Blues gave a game to trialist Lopez Evaldo. He is a 28-year-old defender from Portugal. Town line-up: Salmon, Evaldo, Nichols, McGreal (Moffat), Mowbray, J Miller, Abidallah, Niven, Logan, Midgley and Friars. Unused subs: Graaven, Pullen, English and Artun.

Town's new artificial pitch is being laid as we speak. The pitch will be installed in sections over the next few days with the job probably completed in the next two weeks or so. The pitch plays far more like grass than the pitches at Loftus Road, Kenilworth Road, Deepdale etc a few years back.

Photo: Action Images

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