Town will be without sent-off full-back Fabian Wilnis when they take on Reading at Portman Road on Tuesday evening (KO 7.45pm). Boss Joe Royle will celebrate his 1,000th game as a manager and may make two other changes to his side with two-goal hero Shefki Kuqi and Ian Westlake likely to return.

Wilnis is expected to miss three games after receiving a straight red card for a foul on Plymouth's Keith Lasley in the first half of Saturday's game. Royle says the club are awaiting confirmation of the length of the suspension: "I have not seen the referee's report yet but we expect Fabian to be missing for three matches. He will be fined - as every player is - for being booked for dissent."

Matt Richards will replace the Dutchman on the left side of defence with young central defender Jerrome Sobers taking over on the bench.

The former Ford United player has made big strides in the reserves this season and was previously on the bench for the Brentford match in the Carling Cup.

Shefki Kuqi is expected to come into the starting line-up in place of Pablo Couñago having scored twice when coming off the bench on Saturday.

Ian Westlake had complained of tiredness after last Tuesday's game at Doncaster and was rested against Plymouth. The youngster is likely to return in place of loanee Tony Dinning against the top of the table Royals.

Reading boss Steve Coppell went to school with Joe Royle and the Town boss says they are still good friends: "Steve is an unsung hero. He is my closest managerial friend. He does not court publicity and gets on with the job with very little money to play with.

"We were at junior and senior school together, although Steve was in the university group and I was in the football stream!"

Coppell has winger Glen Little back after a hamstring injury but the Irishman is not expected to make the trip to Portman Road. The Royals have a fully fit squad and no suspensions.

The former Manchester United and England midfielder says he was pleased his side got back to form with a 1-0 win against Watford on Saturday, the Hornets having defeated them in the Carling Cup a few days previously: "We were beaten 3-0 by Watford in midweek and that probably strengthened our resolve.

"It's not nice to get beaten 3-0 especially if you are hammered, but really we felt we'd played quite well and hadn't done much wrong. So it was good to bounce back."

Tuesday's referee is Michael Jones from Chester. He has shown 11 yellow cards and two reds so far this season, including the harsh sending off of Burnley's Michael Duff for handball on Saturday. He last refereed Town in the 1-1 draw at Wolves in March 2003.

Squad: Davis, Price, Diallo, Richards, De Vos, Naylor, Sobers, Magilton, Miller, Westlake, Horlock, Dinning, Bent, Kuqi, Couñago, Bowditch.

Photo: Action Images

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