Roy's warning to fringe players

ROY Keane has issued a stark warning to a couple of his fringe first-team players.

Carl Marston

ROY Keane has issued a stark warning to a couple of his fringe first-team players.

The Irishman was far from complimentary towards the double act of Devann Yao and Ed Upson, when referring to last week's Reserves' win at Norwich City.

American attacker Yao was playing his first game for Town, since signing a short-term contract on transfer deadline day, while defender Upson actually coverted the penalty in the 1-0 win at Carrow Road.

But Keane was pulling no punches during yesterday's Press conference.

“Devann Yao didn't play well,” insisted Keane.

“But I will give him the benefit of the doubt, because it was his first game and he's coming up to speed in terms of his fitness level.

“Ed Upson was poor as well. Just because he scored a penalty doesn't mean to say he played well.

“He needs to get a move on with his fitness. His contract is up in three or four months. He did a blip test yesteday and his score wasn't the best.”

Meanwhile, Keane admitted that he is not too concerned with bringing in any new players, even though he is still in the hunt for a left-back. Jon Stead's loan switch to Coventry yesterday might help with this search.

“It's very, very quiet, in terms of bringing in other loan players. With the number of players we have, if I really can't get in a player that can improve us, then I won't be doing any business. Obviously this can change on a daily basis, though in terms of numbers we have, I'm fairly pleased.”

He refused to confirm or deny whether he was interested in signing Cardiff left-back Mark Kennedy.