Town will revert to their away 4-5-1 away formation when they travel to QPR on Saturday still looking for their first away win of the season. Sylvain Legwinski will return to the side after dropping to the bench for the home victory over Preston a fortnight ago.

Boss Jim Magilton says he was happy with the way his side played at Burnley on their most recent trip and will look to replicate that performance at Loftus Road: “Sylvain comes into my thoughts for tomorrow as we found a way at Burnley of doing well on our travels.

“We have been looking for this for a number of weeks, and regardless of how we did at home against Preston in our last game we must build on the performance at QPR tomorrow. We were solid at Turf Moor and must look for the same stability again.”

Legwinski will join Owen Garvan and Tommy Miller — who will be making his 150th Town appearance - in a central midfield three with Billy Clarke on the left and Jon Walters on the right. Alan Lee will be the lone man up front with Pablo Couñago moving to the bench alongside Danny Haynes.

Neil Alexander is set to continue in goal with Shane Supple fit enough to take his place on the bench after dropping out of the Republic of Ireland U21 squad with a shoulder injury.

Fabian Wilnis is likely to keep his place ahead of Alex Bruce, with skipper Jason De Vos expected to be fine to line-up alongside the Dutchman at the heart of the defence despite a knee problem this week. Dan Harding and David Wright will continue in the full-back roles.

Richard Naylor is not expected to be named in the squad after playing only two reserve games since his toe operation, while Gavin Williams is unlikely to be available before November due to the ankle ligament damage he sustained in the pre-season friendly with Panathinaikos.

Magilton says that Rangers, currently the subject of a takeover by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, have the squad to get themselves out of the relegation mire: "QPR have had a disappointing start to the season - and they deserve to be where they are in the table - but they've still got some very experienced players.

"They produced a very good home performance in their last match [1-0 home victory over Norwich] and they'll be looking for another positive result against us."

QPR are currently led by caretaker manager Mick Harford with Italian coach Francesco Guidolin expected to be named as a permanent successor to John Gregory once a number of contractual matters have been resolved.

Harford says he has been told to continue in his current role in the meantime: “I had a meeting with the chairman and he just said 'carry on and see where it takes us'.

”I enjoy working here and the players have responded well, so we'll see what happens and I'll get on with preparing the lads for the Ipswich game, which should be a good one.

“I'll keep doing the job to the best of my ability and hopefully we can get some results. We're still in a predicament - we're still bottom of the league and we need to win our home games.

”But if we remain nice and positive and play as we did against Norwich, there's a good chance we can start climbing the table.”

Defender Michael Mancienne, on loan from Chelsea, is available after back and hamstring problems, while Chris Barker is a doubt after hernia surgery. Marcus Bignot or John Curtis could step in. Strikers Marc Nygaard and Danny Nardiello are also doubtful.

Saturday's game has been nominated a Kick It Out match as part of 1,000 events taking place across the country during a week of action against racism in football.

Last season the Blues kick-started their stuttering season with their first win at Loftus Road, running out 3-1 winners via goals from Simon Walton (pen), Jason De Vos and Dean Bowditch. At Portman Road Alan Lee and Jon Walters were on the scoresheet for the Blues and Paul Furlong for the Superhoops as Town completed the double with a 2-1 victory.

Saturday's referee is Neil Swarbrick from Lancashire, who has shown 21 yellow and two red cards in 11 games this season. Swarbrick has not previously taken control of a Town game.

Likely squad: Alexander, Supple, Wright, Harding, De Vos, Wilnis, Bruce, Casement, Garvan, Legwinski, T Miller, Clarke, Walters, Peters, Roberts, Lee, Couñago, Haynes.

Photo: Action Images

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