IPSWICH Town’s Under-18’s returned to action with a friendly against Norwich City at Colney, the Canaries winning 2-1 with Tom Winter scoring the Blues goal.

The team re-commences its FA Premier Academy League campaign on Saturday when Crystal Palace are the visitors to Playford Road with an 11am kick-off.

With Palace currently topping the table and a visit to champions Arsenal to follow, it couldn’t be a tougher start for the youngsters who will be without three key players.

Leading scorer Caolan Lavery is still struggling to overcome a knee injury sustained in the FA Youth Cup match against Peterborough while defender Nici Schroder has not kicked a ball since September.

Also unavailable is American keeper Cody Cropper who has been attending a training camp in Fort Lauderdale for the USA Under-20 squad in preparation for the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals this summer in Columbia.