Town head to Bury tonight as young players get a chance to impress
Tawanda Chirewa celebrates scoring the winner during the pre-season friendly at Dartford - Credit: Pagepix
Ipswich Town are in action at Bury Town tonight. Andy Warren takes a look ahead to the game.
Hot on the heels of their visit to Dartford at the weekend, Paul Cook’s men are back in action tonight as they visit non-league neighbours Bury Town.
Cook gave his senior players 45 minutes of action at Princes Park in their first game of the summer, with six new signings making their first appearance in an Ipswich shirt in front of a significant number of Town fans in Kent.
Tonight’s game will give another set of Ipswich fans a chance to see their side in action, with a sell-out, but restricted, crowd of around 650 packing into Ram Meadow. It’s a shame for the non-league club that this game doesn’t come a week or so later, when there would be no restrictions on the crowd size.
But, just like Saturday’s game, it will be great to see fans back in a ground in significant numbers once again.
It remains to be seen exactly how Cook will use this game, given how soon it comes after the Dartford visit.
Town’s new head of performance, Andy Rolls, has suggested his players will see their minutes increased as pre-season goes on, but did stress the games with Crystal Palace, Colchester and Millwall later this month would be the ‘real’ tests as the Blues prepare for the new season.
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Indications are it will be a young Ipswich side who take on the West Suffolk side tonight, meaning plenty of those senior players who performed at Dartford last weekend will dip out of the team.
Some may remain but, even if they are involved, they will surely be limited to a maximum of 45 minutes once again. It's unclear whether new recruit Joe Pigott will be involved or not.
The match could provide the likes of Corrie Ndaba and Idris El Mizouni and opportunity to impress, though, with the two young players back in the first-team fold with a point to prove.
Should Cook opt not to use his senior players again in this game, a cast of Under 23 players may ordinarily have been waiting in the wings.
But Covid cases in the young squad meant those players weren’t able to be involved at Dartford on Saturday, leading to a largely Under 18 side ultimately winning the game for Town in the second half.
Idris El Mizouni could be involved at Bury Town tonight - Credit: Picture: Stephen Waller
That meant we didn’t see the likes of Brett McGavin, Tyreece Simpson, Levi Andoh or Ross Crane. Exiled first-teamers Flynn Downes, Kayden Jackson, Myles Kenlock and Teddy Bishop weren't involved, either.
It’s not yet clear whether those players are able to play or not this evening so, if they are still out of action, the likes of Tawanda Chirewa, Albie Armin and Nico Valentine may be involved again tonight and will surely relish the chance to impress.
We’ll find out the team at around 6.30pm.
