SHANE Supple will make his third senior start for Ipswich Town tonight in their Championship clash at Hull City.The young Irish keeper steps in for Lewis Price, who has a groin injury.

By Derek Davis

SHANE Supple will make his third senior start for Ipswich Town tonight in their Championship clash at Hull City.

The young Irish keeper steps in for Lewis Price, who has a groin injury.

A final decision will be made this morning but the EADT understands Supple will get the nod and Royle has no qualms about throwing the 18-year-old into an important league game.

Price was clearly struggling in the 2-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace on Monday, especially with his kicking, and the short gap between games will not have allowed enough time for him to have recovered sufficiently.

The highly-regarded Supple made his Blues' debut as a substitute for an injured Price at Leicester in the second game of the season last August and followed that up with his home debut against Sheffield Wednesday.

His other full appearances came in October, when Town lost at home to Watford, and the former Gaelic footballer has been waiting patiently ever since for another run-out.

Blues' boss Royle has added defender Scott Barron to the squad and the 19 players made the journey to snow-struck Hull last night after originally planning to go up this morning.

Richard Naylor does play, despite rumours that he is suspended for reaching five bookings.

Naylor was booked in games against Sheffield United, Reading, while his red card at Millwall earned him an automatic one-match ban and he missed the 4-0 drubbing at home by Preston.

So Naylor still has one yellow cad to go before reaching the statutory one-game suspension that is served five days after the fifth card.

Spanish defender Sito Castro is also walking the disciplinary tightrope, with four bookings and two red cards, one of which was rescinded.

Royle is likely to make changes to his starting line-up, with Jim Magilton likely to get into the midfield at the expense of young Owen Garvan.

He is likely to stick with his unpopular one-up-front formation, with Nicky Forster the lone striker, and the ever-eager Dean McDonald and Danny Haynes itching to join him.

Dean Bowditch is also hoping to be involved and has reiterated his desire to know where he stands after being axed for the Palace defeat.

The 19-year-old was baffled at the decision and is looking to have a chat with Royle about his future.

He said: “From starting at Sheffield Wednesday to not even being on the bench against Palace, makes it very difficult for me to know where I stand.

“The manager has said he wants a chat and I feel we need that.

“I work hard and only want to do well for Ipswich Town. I don't feel that I should have been left out and Monday was a massive disappointment.”

The Blues will be looking for their first-ever win at Hull, after failing to taste victory at the old Boothferry Park in nine attempts.

This will be Town's first visit to the new £44million KC Stadium, which holds 25,000 fans and is the first time the two sides have met in nearly 15 years.