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Miller a Big Doubt
Miller a Big Doubt
Thursday, 22nd Apr 2004 14:17

Tommy Miller remains Town's big doubt ahead of Saturday's home game with Nottingham Forest at Portman Road. The midfielder has a hamstring injury and will be assessed on Friday.

Miller is yet to train this week and manager Joe Royle concedes that he will
need a massive improvement if he is to face Joe Kinnear's side.

Royle says Miller won't be risked if playing is likely to worsen the problem: "It's a tight hamstring but it's not torn, and we're very careful that, with important games to come, we don't want to turn it into a pull.

"We won't take any chances. It's certainly not our last game of the season and there's no need to take any big risks."

Chris Bart-Williams also didn't train on Thursday as he had a reaction to his back problem after playing for the reserves against Portsmouth on Tuesday. He will also be assessed on Friday.

Bart-Williams and want-away Dutchman Martijn Reuser are the two most likely candidates to replace Miller should he fail to make it.

Spanish striker Pablo Couñago remains on the sidelines due to his groin injury but is back in training. He is targeting a return in the final home game of the season against Cardiff.


Royle says that Saturday's match is the Blues' most vital of the season: "It's our most important game to date as we can more or less cement our place in the play-offs. There's no guarantee with it, but it will give us a big chance.

"It's a hard game, they're a decent side, far better than their position and they've only had two defeats under Joe Kinnear. They'd like nothing more than to come here and tweak us.

"Andy Reid's one of the best players in this division and Marlon King is starting to show the form he showed at Gillingham. We know that they have danger but we know equally that we can score goals.

"Our defending lately has mostly been better.Apart from the game against West Brom, the defending as a team has been a lot better. We're in a good run ourselves and there's no need to fear anybody but we certainly do respect them."

Royle is hoping his side can keep their momentum going: "It's not a time to be faltering, hopefully, we've had our falters behind us seven games ago when we lost three in a row. I'm pleased we're in good form with the six wins out of seven and we've a chance to make it nine out of 10. That's the target as I'd love to win third place."

The Town boss has praise for his side's strength of character: "This team has gone through a lot this season. After six games they were the worst team in the club's history, then we were going to do it, then after three defeats in a row we were failures again. I can only marvel at their spirit and their togetherness."

Forest will be without Gareth Taylor who has had knee surgery, while defender David Tarka is missing after picking up a virus while away with the Australian U23 squad.

Right-back Matthieu Louis-Jean is rated at 50/50 after missing Forest's last match with a leg injury. If he fails to recover Andy Impey will continue in his place.

Former Town striker David Johnson is set to return to the starting line-up having recovered from the broken leg which saw him miss six months of the season.

Ex-England international Des Walker is back in contention but is likely to be on the bench.

Midfielder Danny Sonner is a former Town player, while loan keeper Paul Gerrard played for the Blues at Forest last season during a month at Portman Road, a game in which David Johnson scored twice in a 2-1 win for the Tricky Trees. The Portman Road fixture last season ended 4-3 to Forest as both sides went after a play-off place.

New Forest boss Joe Kinnear's priority this season is avoiding the drop: "I was very glad when we reached 50 points because that's the first landmark you always want to get to.

"Now I'm even more pleased we've managed to go beyond that because you wouldn't want to go into the last game of the season still stuck on 50 points.

"But we now go into a very difficult period because we play Ipswich, Wigan and West Brom in our final three fixtures and they're teams who all have something to play for, whether it's the championship, automatic promotion or reaching the play-offs.

"Having said that though, we've played our best football when we've been up against the better teams in the division and if we can get to 53 points, I reckon that will be OK."

Saturday's referee is Grant Hegley from Bishop's Stortford. He last refereed Town when they beat Morecambe 4-0 in the FA Cup last season. He has shown 68 yellow cards and three red in 28 matches this season.

Squad: Bent, Bowditch, Davis, Diallo, Elliott, Kuqi, Magilton, McGreal, Naylor, Price, Reuser, Richards, Santos, Westlake, Wilnis and Wright. Miller could be added if fit.


Photo: Action Images



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