Too little too late I hear you say and you are probably right. The news that both David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop could be on that bus heading to the Midlands is encouraging but little more.
If they play any part at all on Saturday against Wolverhampton Wanderers, it will be from the bench and with Daryl Murphy definitely out of contention, it may mean that that attack will consist of Brett Pitman and Freddie Sears once again.
The other bit of hopeful news from Mick McCarthy’s Thursday press conference is that Kevin Bru is back in training and could also be travelling with the squad. He was injured with Mauritius but has made a speedier than expected recovery.
McCarthy explained, ‘Kevin Bru`s trained this morning, he`s done some work with Matt Byard the physio and Lids (Andy Liddell the blues fitness coach) and they both say he`s OK. We`ll see if there`s any reaction but if not he`ll be training and on the bus to Wolves with the rest of them.”
Town simply cannot afford to lose this one because if they do, the season is effectively over. Even in this crazy league there would be nothing more than a mathematical chance of overhauling the play-off candidates and we all know that theory rarely equates to reality in the football world at least.
In fact, a draw would probably not do us much good either but I guess a lot depends on what happens elsewhere? If we want to stay on the coattails of the leading pack, we really must be going all out to win it and this of course is a very big ask.
It will also go against the credo set by McCarthy which is not to lose and that a draw away is always a good result. In this context it is probably not so he will have to approach the game much more positively than usual and we MUST take our chances when and if they arrive!
McCarthy also warned that winger Ryan Fraser is still with his parent club Bournemouth as he continues to recover from his hamstring injury.
Sadly there is no time-scale for his return, if ever at all?
The game at Molineux is all-ticket but The Tractor Boys could be close to a thousand strong for what could be the last hooray of the season if we fail to win it.
Liam Feeney I would hope would be in from the start in the absence of Fraser and there may be a place on the bench for Andre Dozzell again, as he has excelled with the young England team of late.
The games to look out for are a tricky away game for Sheffield Wednesday who travel to Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield whilst fifth placed Derby County are away to 7th placed Cardiff City and I guess a draw here would probably be our best result here.
All in all it promises to be another nerve-tangling edition of the Sky Bet Championship and if the blues could sneak a win then who really knows what the future holds?
Frank Weston – editor of Vital Ipswich
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