Ipswich Town will be without leading scorer Daryl Murphy and midfielder Luke Hyam for tomorrow’s Championship visit of Blackburn Rovers, while loanee Jonny Williams will undergo a late fitness test.

Hyam came off with a hip problem in the 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest little under a fortnight ago, while Murphy (Achilles) and Williams (ankle) picked up knocks while away on international duty with the Republic of Ireland and Wales respectively.

Speaking at this lunchtime’s pre-match press conference, Blues boss Mick McCarthy revealed: “Murphy’s struggling, Jonny... I’m hoping he’ll be okay. I’m leaving him until tomorrow. He’s done a bit today and we just hope there’ll be no reaction from it.”

He continued: “Teddy Bishop has been poorly all week – as he tweeted – while Luke Hyam is still unavailable.”

Could Murphy be fit in time for next Tuesday’s match at Cardiff? “I’m very hopeful,” said McCarthy. “He’s made a big improvement since coming back.

“There’s no chance I’m going to risk him for tomorrow though because it’s an Achilles injury and if you aggravate those they can go on for weeks. We’ll settle it down and he’ll play when he’s ready – hopefully that’s Tuesday.”

Asked if he had any issues with players getting injured while away representing their countries, the Blues boss replied: “It would be slightly disingenuous of me having used and abused everyone elses’ players for seven years (as Republic of Ireland manager) myself! It’s one of those things. I spoke to Martin (O’Neill) and he was kind of apologising, saying I know you’re going well and Daryl’s been scoring. I said ‘listen, it happens’.”

Paul Anderson looks most likely to replace Hyam in a midfield three, having performed well in that role in the 2-0 home win over Rotherham, while Kevin Bru is another option.

If fit, Williams could push further forwards to take David McGoldrick’s No.10 role and the latter would in turn push forwards to fill Murphy’s void alongside Conor Sammon up top.

Even in the absence of Hyam and Bishop, Town have plenty of midfield options. In addition to the aforementioned Anderson and Bru, there is Cameron Stewart, Jack Collison, Darren Ambrose, Alex Henshall, Jay Tabb and Stephen Hunt.

“Cameron (Stewart) is doing okay,” said McCarthy, on his summer signing. “He had a long-term injury (broken jaw) and then he hurt his hamstring. It’s just been one set-back after another, but I’m looking forward to him coming back. He’s training fully and will be in the squad for tomorrow.”

– See tomorrow’s EADT for full match preview.