IPSWICH TOWN: It is nine cup games since the Blues were last handed a home tie – and manager Roy Keane wants his players to make the most of that tonight.

Town face lowly League Two side Northampton Town at Portman Road (kick-off 7.45pm) with a place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup at stake.

A 3-0 victory over Chesterfield in January 2009 was the last time the Blues have been at home – with trips to Chelsea, Blackpool and Southampton in the FA Cup and to Shrewsbury, Peterborough, Exeter, Crewe and Millwall in the Carling Cup since.

A win tonight will put a smile back on the faces of Ipswich supporters dismayed at three npower Championship defeats inside the last 10 days.

“This will be my first knock-out game at Portman Road,” said Keane.

“It’s something that we have been asking for and now that we have got it we must make sure we make it pay.

“Our supporters have travelled all over to witness our cup matches over the last 20 months and we want to express ourselves in front of home fans tonight.”

Since Ipswich won at Millwall and the Cobblers stunned the football world by beating Liverpool on penalties at Anfield both sides have suffered a slump in league form.

But Keane says that means nothing, adding: “In cup games league form goes out of the window.

“They will want to play and they know how to deal with the ball and we will treat them with respect.

“We know that if we don’t take our chances – as we haven’t been doing in the league – then we will be punished.

“It is a potential slip-up game, there is no doubt about that and it’s a good game for both sides to be involved in right now.

“As much as we were not playing that well earlier in the season when we were winning games we are not playing that badly now when we are losing.

“We need to be more street wise like the Nottingham Forest second goal on Saturday – a great strike, but their fella moved the ball forward eight yards from where the offence took place.

Tonight’s likely squads

Ipswich Town: Murphy, Fulop, Lee-Barrett, Eastman, McAuley, Delaney, Smith, Brown, Peters, Edwards, Townsend, Leadbitter, Norris, Hyam, Lambe, Healy, Wickham, Scotland, Murray, Priskin.

Northampton: Dunn, Hall, Rodgers, Gilligan, Thornton, Davis, Wedderburn, Jacobs, McKenzie, McKay, Holt, Guinan, Hinton, Walker, Harris, Konstantinou, Slowe, Osman.

Referee: Mr E Ilderton (Tyne and Wear)