AS impressed as Joe Royle was with his young reserve side's victory over Arsenal he will not be flooding the Ipswich Town first team with new faces.

AS impressed as Joe Royle was with his young reserve side's victory over Arsenal he will not be flooding the Ipswich Town first team with new faces, writes Derek Davis.

The hunt for a new loan player continues, especially a full-back to cover for Fabian Wilnis and the under-fire Matt Richards.

Wilnis is out for at least another three weeks with a shoulder injury while Richards, who missed most of the pre-season training with injury, has struggled on with a series of knocks and is in need of a rest.

Georges Santos was the daddy in the second string's 2-0 win with goals from Sam Morrow and Dean Bowditch and the Frenchman led by example.

Manager Royle said: “I was impressed with all the reserves on Monday, especially Georges, who showed a tremendous attitude guiding the youngsters through. Scott Mitchell and Scott Barron did very well and Alfie Kamara was strong against his old team. That was also Sam Morrow's best game for some time and Dean took his goal very well.

“But it is too early to start taking chances. Although it was a bad performance and a bad result on Saturday (against Wigan) we are not too far away.”

John McGreal has recovered from a calf strain and will be back in the mix for the home game against Bradford City as Town become well off with centre-backs but remain short on full-backs.

That would change within a couple of weeks if an injection works for Chris Makin today, although it would take a few days to see the benefit.

Just as Dean Bowditch travels to Holland with the England Under-19s at the weekend, so Royle will be on international duty next week. The former England striker is doing work for the BBC and joins their commentary team covering England's friendly with Portugal.

Meanwhile, Town's game at Stoke City has been brought forward a day and will now be played on Tuesday, March 2 with a 7.45pm kick-off, at the Britannia Stadium.