Ipswich Town's game at Fleetwood Town on Monday night is now OFF due to a Covid-19 outbreak at the Lancashire club.

The fixture was originally scheduled for this Saturday (Jan 2), then it was announced last night that the game had been pushed back to Monday night (Jan 4) in order to give Town's players extra time to recover from a Covid-19 outbreak that had seen eight players and three members of staff test positive for the virus in the days leading up to Christmas.

Fleetwood now have a Covid-19 outbreak of their own though, calling off both the Ipswich game and their scheduled trip to Sunderland next weekend.

This is the fourth game in succession that Ipswich have had postponed due to Covid-19, their games against Peterborough (a), Northampton (h) and AFC Wimbledon (a) having already been called off over the Christmas period.

The last time Paul Lambert's men played was the 2-1 home win against Burton on December 15, with their next scheduled fixture the Sky televised visit of Swindon Town next Saturday. That's a 25-day gap between games.

The Northampton and Peterborough games have been re-arranged in February, leaving Town facing a spell of 14 games in 50 days. As it stands, the Blues have just eight blank midweek slots between now and the final game of the season (May 8) and two games still to re-arrange.

With Covid-19 cases rising rapidly across the nation, several clubs in League One - including Ipswich, Fleetwood, Rochdale, Hull, Bristol Rovers, Peterborough, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury and Doncaster - have suffered outbreaks. Five of the 11 scheduled games for Boxing Day were postponed, with seven out of 12 games called off on Tuesday night and five more already postponed over the coming days.

Town boss Lambert and club physio Matt Byard have backed calls for a 'circuit breaker' which would see the campaign temporarily paused and extended into the summer.

With two top-flight games have been postponed due to Covid-19 in recent days, the Premier League has today announced that it 'has not discussed pausing the season and has no plans to do so'.


IPSWICH TOWN'S SCHEDULE

* Games against Peterborough (a), AFC Wimbledon (a) and Fleetwood (a) to be rearranged

JANUARY

Sat 9: Fleetwood (a)

Tues 5: BLANK

Sat 9: Swindon (h)

Tues 12: BLANK (EFL Trophy last 32)

Sat 16: Burton (a)

Tues 19: BLANK

Sat 23: Peterborough (h)

Tues 26: Sunderland (h)

Sat 30: Crewe (a)

FEBRUARY

Tues 2: BLANK (EFL Trophy QFs)

Sat 6: Blackpool (h)

Tues 9: Peterborough (a)

Sat 13: Shrewsbury (a)

Tues 16: Northampton (h)

Sat 20: Oxford Utd (h)

Tues 23: Hull (a)

Sat 27: Doncaster (h)

MARCH

Tues 2: Accrington (a)

Sat 6: Gillingham (a)

Tues 9: Lincoln (h)

Sat 13: Plymouth (h)

Tues 16: BLANK

Sat 20: Portsmouth (a)

Tues 23: BLANK

APRIL

Fri 2: Bristol R (h)

Mon 5: Rochdale (a)

Sat 10: MK Dons (h)

Tues 13: BLANK

Sat 17: Charlton (a)

Tues 20: Northampton (a)

Sat 24: AFC Wimbledon (h)

Tues 27: BLANK

MAY

Sat 1: Swindon (a)

Tues 4: BLANK

Sat 8: Fleetwood (h)

* League One PO Final scheduled for 29/31 May