Town Go To Derby With No New injury Worries

Dominic Iorfa was suffering from cramp and nothing more, when he was pulled off against Aston Villa.

McCarthy explained in his press conference today that he expects the player to be in contention for tomorrow.

‘He cramped up. Everyone was asking me afterwards if he had damaged the muscle and whether he had done his hamstring and I said ‘I don`t know`, but it was more cramp than anything else.’

Manager Mick McCarthy was relatively upbeat after that defeat at Villa at the weekend and explained that he had no new injury concerns and that both Teddy Bishop and Emyr Huws should be all the better for their time on the field at the weekend.

It is particularly pleasing for Teddy Bishop who has had a torrid time over the last two seasons, and is only now free of those torturous injuries that have blighted his career to date.

He broke into the first team at just 18 and was quickly receiving rave reviews for his composure on the ball and those silky skills.

Then the injuries started to set in and it has been one frustrating setback after another for the 21 year old.

“It`s been really tough. Mentally it just drains you. You don`t know when you`re going to be back – or if you`re ever going to be back. The hardest thing was coming into work every day and watching everyone else go out to train. I`ve had a lot of comebacks before, but hopefully this one is for good,’ Bishop explained.

Tomorrow Town face Derby County, who are in hot form at the moment. They defeated title pre-season title favourites Middlesborough 0-3 on Saturday, thanks mainly to a hat trick from Matej Vydra but they also have in their ranks of course Ipswich nemesis David Nugent, and he has scored a staggering 15 goals in 15 games against the Blues to date and also former Blue Tom Lawrence!

Coming off the back of that Villa defeat this will be anything but an easy game and although McCarthy was in reasonable spirits in the press conference today that seemed to end dramatically as soon as Phil Ham from the Those Were The Days website opened his mouth.

Whether McCarthy is irritated by his squeaky clean voice – or perhaps his inquisitorial interview technique is anybody’s guess but one thing seems certain. As soon as he speaks, McCarthy seems eager to end the discussion without further ado.

I think if Town can get anything from the game tomorrow at the Pride Park Stadium, it will be quite an achievement.

Jordan Spence will return at right back and there may be a place in the side for Emyr Huws as well, one would have thought.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich