Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says a number of players face late fitness tests ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s League One home clash with Cheltenham Town.
Tyreece John-Jules (hamstring) and Marcus Harness (illness) sat out Monday night’s 3-0 win at Bracknell Town in the FA Cup.
When asked if those two were ready to get back into action, McKenna revealed: “We’ve got some illnesses in the Marcus class and we’ve got some hits as well.
“To be honest, we’re going to be doing late checks on quite a few players. We’ll see how we’re doing tomorrow after the fitness checks and report back on that after the game.”
Meanwhile, the Blues boss said Gassan Ahadme and Greg Leigh are close to returning to action following broken foot and leg, respectively.
“Gassan and Greg are very close to training with the group, which is good,” McKenna said.
“With Gassan we’re thinking he could be available for selection for the Buxton game, which would be a huge boost.”
On the injured Lee Evans, he said: “I’m not sure of the exact timeframes for that. It’s around the Christmas period.”
“He’s still in the brace, so it’s about letting his knee ligament heal right now. We don’t know how fast it’s going to speed up.”
Panutche Camara has recently returned to action following groin surgery, making secondary appearances against Cambridge and Bracknell in cup competitions.
“Because of the low numbers, he’s in the teams of the day,” McKenna said. “How far is he from being fully fit and fully confident? I’m still thinking a bit, to be honest.
“It’s hard to get into a team and a club like this when you haven’t had a pre-season and haven’t played much football since March or April of last year.
“I still think he’s a few weeks away from being in his best condition.
“But with the situation we’re in, he needs to be ready to play and he’s working really hard to do it.”
McKenna added: “The team is pretty tight right now, it’s been like that for about six weeks or so. That’s different for us because we started with pretty big numbers.”
“It has its positives and negatives. Everyone feels very close to the team at the moment, we can give the players a lot of individual attention and we don’t have to leave anyone out of matchday teams.”
“On the other hand, we don’t have the same options and depth that we had at the beginning of the season and the ability to make so many changes so early in the game and refresh certain positions.
“That’s the way it is. We’re making the most of having a tight group at the moment.”
