FOUR different strike partnerships have been tried since DJ Campbell’s departure from Ipswich Town – and there could still be more to come.

Michael Chopra partnered David McGoldrick up front for the first time in Tuesday night’s 2-0 home defeat to Watford.

The most regular front two of late have been McGoldrick and Aaron Mclean (four starts together), while McGoldrick/Daryl Murphy and Chopra/Murphy has been also been tried on one-off occasions.

Frank Nouble has been proving handful off the bench though, with McCarthy pleased with the January addition’s enthusiasm.

“I would like to have a settled pair,” said the Blues boss. “To be fair Murph and DJ did really well but that was kiboshed because of circumstances.

“I thought Chops and Frank did well coming on as substitutes against Blackpool.”

Asked about who he preferred playing with, McGoldrick said: “They are all good strikers and have their different qualities and attributes. Murphy’s a big strong lad and you can play off his flicks, Macca is all hustle and bustle and puts himself about, Chops is an intelligent player who can sniff out goals and Big Frank’s coming off the bench and causing teams problems.

“I’ve had a few good games with Murphy – I like playing with him because he wins his headers and I can play off that. They’re all good players though and I can play with any of them.”

He added: “At the moment I’m coming off after about 65 minutes of games and a lot of chances tend to come in the last quarter.

“The gaffer wants to make full use of fresh legs though and that’s understandable.

“I’m not tired, but obviously we’ve got three class strikers on the bench. Those strikers would start at a lot of Championship teams, so getting subbed for one of them isn’t a bad thing.”