Striker James Norwood has returned to training with the Ipswich Town squad, while the Blues are waiting on the fitness of Alan Judge ahead of this weekend’s clash with Crewe.
Norwood hasn’t played for the Blues since the end of September after suffering a hamstring injury in training, with an initial prognosis suggesting he could be out for around two months.
He has returned to training with his team-mates four weeks later, though manager Paul Lambert won’t be rushing him back into action too quickly.
Lambert also issued injury updates on Judge, who could return from a hamstring problem this weekend, as well as Kane Vincent-Young, Aaron Drinan, Flynn Downes and Cole Skuse. He wasn’t able to offer a return date for the quartet, though.
“Hopefully he’ll be ok but we’ll see how he is,” Lambert said of Judge,
“Judgey has been a miss because he’s been playing well but we’ll have to see how he is. Hopefully he’ll be ok.
“James Norwood starting training the other day with the team and did well in what was his first session. He’s still doing well but is a little bit off it.
“Kane Vincent-Young (Achilles) is doing well with it and we’ll have Jon Nolan back from suspension soon (he has two more games of his ban remaining.
“Aaron Drinan (thigh) is doing well, Flynn (Downes) and Cole (Skuse, both knee) are still a little bit away but doing well, so they are on the way back.”
Ipswich could also call upon Kayden Jackson this weekend, with the striker back training after his isolation period following a positive coronavirus test.
“Thankfully our performances and results have been really good because when you’re playing well and winning games you don’t tend to miss people as much as you maybe thought you would,” Lambert said.
“But obviously it’s great to have him back and he’s training with us again after the virus and his injury too.
“He gives us something different with his speed and that’s a positive.
“I spoke to Kayden a few days ago and it knocked him for six in the first few days but he’s trained this week.
“He won’t be 100% fit because he’s not been able to do too much, given he’s been isolating at home and not able to go out to exercise or anything, but will we be able to get something out of him? Yes we will.”
Lambert is back to lead the team this weekend having missed Tuesday’s victory over Gillingham while awaiting the results of a coronavirus test which ultimately came back negative.
“Thankfully everything came back negative, which was good, but I had to stay away on Thursday as well because of there’s normally a delayed reaction with the taste and smell situation,” the Scot said.
“But everything is fine and I feel good. I came back negative which was good because I was near Gilly (Matt Gill, who tested) on the Friday night before Lincoln.
“I was able to do all the work with the guys on the Monday but we made the decision on the Tuesday morning. I thought we played a really good game and had plenty of chances to score, but watching it on iFollow is not great.
“The medical team and the players have been really good with all of the virus stuff here and our cases have been isolated, which has been good.”
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