Ipswich Town boss issues mixed team news update and echoes Michael Beale's striker search message

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna is hopeful that he may be able to welcome back influential defensive pair Leif Davis and Harry Clarke for Sunderland's visit to Portman Road on Saturday evening.

McKenna is without captain Sam Morsy due to suspension for the game, but has signed Blackburn Rovers midfielder Lewis Travis this week and could therefore hand him his debut. Ipswich also signed winger Jeremy Sarmiento on loan from Brighton this week.

The Ipswich boss has also confirmed that defenders Brandon Williams and Janoi Donacien are ruled out of the fixture, though the return of Davis in particular would help address that issue for the game.

“Leif and Harry Clarke were both on the grass today, so that’s a positive,” McKenna said.

“We’ll have to make decisions towards Saturday really, seeing how they respond, whether they’re available for minutes or not.

“But both of them are doing much better and both of them were out there today. Janoi has got an ongoing groin issue. He’s currently in the middle of another bout of injections which will hopefully help it. I think he’s got the last of those next week, then there’ll be another attempt to return to training after that.”

Ipswich Town are looking to bring an end to a run of five Championship fixtures without a win, though they have only lost once in that time and that was against fellow promotion contenders Leeds United. They remain second in the Championship table after a stellar start to the campaign, but are without first-choice striker George Hirst who is sidelined for an extended period through injury.

They would like to reinforce their striking options in the January window as a result, but McKenna echoed Michael Beale's verdict from earlier this week that competition for a very small pool of players is fierce across the second tier. Like Sunderland, McKenna says his club may have to be 'flexible' in order to bolster their ranks.

"It's an area we want to add to, but I'd imagine maybe 80% of the clubs in the Championship are trying to add a forward or striker to their ranks though," McKenna said.

"There are only so many available, there are only so many available that are within our budget and most of those are currently involved with a team who don't want to lose them.The club are working hard to make additions in that area, but there's nothing that we've been successful with yet. We'll see how the next couple of weeks in the window go. The reality is there aren't many forwards on the market. Even if you weren't selective it's a very difficult window to sign a striker who would be anywhere near the level that you would want. If you look at how many strikers have moved in the window so far in the top two or three divisions in England I would imagine it would be very, very few."