Town Face Canaries In Sickness And In Health

It is a case of in sickness and in health for the Ipswich Squad ahead of the live televised derby on Sky Sports 2 on Sunday?

Captain Luke Chambers and midfielder Toumani Diagouraga have both been ill this week and Freddie Sears is suffering with a groin problem but it is fingers crossed that all three will regain their health and fitness before the game at Carrow Road this weekend.

Manager Mick McCarthy explained the state of play. ‘Chambo was ill earlier in the week, but was in today. Toums – he`s poorly and he`s gone home and we`ll have to see how he is – there`s been a bit of a bug going around. All the others are little bumps and bruises and tired limbs, I`ll think they`ll all be OK.’

Let us hope so because we could do without any more absentees because our injury list at the moment is still extensive and with Tom Lawrence unavailable through suspension the Blues will be relying on a McGoldrick/Sears partnership to provide a cutting edge if we are to get anything from this match at all.

McCarthy went on to say that Freddie Sears has not trained as a result perhaps of coming back from bench warming duties and getting a full shift in. He is however optimistic that Sears will pull through in the end.

Norwich City boss Alex Neil was less than impressed with their last performance, when they went down 2-1 to lowly Burton Albion and blamed individual errors for the defeat.

‘It’s hugely disappointing. We got into good areas at times but the final ball wasn’t good enough when we got it in there.’

And as For Burton Albion’s winning goal he was equally scathing, ‘ We gave the ball away in a stupid area from our own throw-in and then didn’t defend well enough. This was a bad defeat.’

But let us not forget that we are facing a Premier League squad on Sunday and the main threats may well be Cameron Jerome, who is already on 11 goals for the season and Howson, Lafferty and Wes Hoolahan are all very capable in the goal scoring department.

This game might not mean much for Town in terms of football progression but beating our fiercest rivals is a rare thing these days and our bragging rights would be restored in front of a live television audience, as the Canaries hopes of a play off place would be surely gone without trace in the process!

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich