Blues boss Paul Jewell says he’s hopeful that loan midfielder Jimmy Bullard will be fit for Saturday’s trip to Leeds United. The 32-year-old missed last night’s 3-1 defeat to Reading with a hamstring injury.

Jewell said: "I know Jimmy from old and if he could have played he would have but we had to make the decision to leave him out. Hopefully he might be OK for Saturday.

"We certainly missed him against Reading. He was a big loss for us. He's been the fulcrum of everything we have been doing, so it was a big disappointment that he wasn't out there."

The Town boss felt that last night’s performance showed why the Blues find themselves firmly in mid-table: “I think this is probably why we are where we are in the league.

“We’ve had some really good performances and I’m not going to come out here and slate the players because they’ve been terrific in the main since I’ve been here.

“But you get performances like that as a manager and you think ‘Where did that come from? I didn’t see that’.

“It was so quiet, it was like a reserve game. There was no tempo to our play, we didn’t give our crowd anything to shout about, we didn’t get close to them, we didn’t make any tackles, we didn’t pass it.

“Everything that we did in the second half on Saturday and have done for the majority of the time I’ve been here, we just didn’t do.”

Jewell had praise for Connor Wickham for scoring his late goal, but says it came too late and thought his attackers were put in the shade by Reading’s Shane Long: “It was a terrific goal but we needed someone to do that when it’s 0-0.

“I think Long is an outstanding player for them. He never stops running, he’s always at you, he’s good in the air, he makes clever runs and is always a threat, putting you on your back foot.

“We didn’t have that from anybody. There was no zip and no zest from anybody and I’m at a loss to explain it.”

The Blues will be without skipper David Norris at Elland Road and when Watford are at Portman Road next Tuesday, the midfielder having picked up his 10th booking of the season last night.

Full-back Mark Kennedy is also set to miss out on Saturday, due to a hamstring injury, but midfielder Colin Healy might be back from his stomach muscle tear.

Elsewhere, Cambridge United have dismissed a claim that former Blues boss Roy Keane is set to buy them.

Photo: Action Images

parkinshair added 13:04 - Mar 9 Amen to that. We need Jimmy back for saturday what with Norris suspended.
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Suffolk_n_Good added 13:08 - Mar 9 Amen again!!
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corshamblue added 13:11 - Mar 9 Give Jimmy the Armband !!
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bedsitfc added 13:18 - Mar 9 Roy keane buying cambridge haha, he should try to become there manager at least he should get the time to learn his trade and become the manager he is capable of being. And yes we all hope jimmy is back very soon but we should be able to cope better than last night without him. Great player but we shouldn't rely on one player.
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bostonusablue added 13:25 - Mar 9 See you all on Saturday. I hope Jimmy plays because I am traveling 3000+ miles to watch this game. Come on you Bluuuuuuuuuuuueess!!!!
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hollywoodginge added 13:34 - Mar 9 Great effort Boston, I hope it's a cracker for you.
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suffolkpoker added 13:51 - Mar 9 lol @ keane buying cambridge.. thats one way to get back into managment!
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OldClactonBlue added 13:54 - Mar 9 PJ is absolutely right when he says that performance illustrated why we are where we are in the table. Without Bullard in central midfield we offered so little although Drury at least tried to provide some spark. Norris when is not full of energy is nothing and I fail to see why Leadbitter is in the team. He rarely looks to get on the ball, just passes the responsibility on to the nearest option, including the defenders who gave it to him in the first place. He did get a corner over the first man last night though! No wonder that PJ looked at Centre Midfield as the priority to strengthen. That's where the problems stem from. Whatever striker we recruit will struggle with the service we provide when JB is absent.

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Ipswich24 added 14:28 - Mar 9 Leighterwood ran the game last night we missed Jimmy so much Norris looked slow and not interested was a yard off everytime anyone agree?
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blue_em_away added 14:43 - Mar 9 OldClactonBlue - your spot on.
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bluelady added 15:09 - Mar 9 Ipswich24 he hasnt been right since he came back earlier than expected from ankle injury, personally think a rest for 10 days will do him the world of good. he was limping at one point so def dont think he is 100%. seen that before with Norris, he mends quickly so managers throw him back in too quickly. Also great if Bullard fit but we cannot base our game against one player in particular a player likely to pick up the odd injury or two. Healy has been missed...

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bluelady added 15:09 - Mar 9 Ipswich24 he hasnt been right since he came back earlier than expected from ankle injury, personally think a rest for 10 days will do him the world of good. he was limping at one point so def dont think he is 100%. seen that before with Norris, he mends quickly so managers throw him back in too quickly. Also great if Bullard fit but we cannot base our game against one player in particular a player likely to pick up the odd injury or two. Healy has been missed...

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Ipswich24 added 15:12 - Mar 9 Norris is a hard worker but little quality
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LollITFC added 15:37 - Mar 9 did Norris deliberately trip their player in injury time to get a week off ?
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VanIsleBlue added 15:51 - Mar 9 Give Jimmy the armband. Peters into right back, O'Connor into left midfield
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taylor15 added 16:18 - Mar 9 Sing our hearts out lads, it's a loud place elland road, was at Leeds vs Cardiff, got invited! they have amazing attacking, best in this league i think, so if we catch them on the back foot, i can see us taking the 3 points. 3-1. they have a shocking defence! COYB! <3
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Lightningboy added 16:40 - Mar 9 Maybe players in general wouldn't put in such "flat" performances if they only got paid half their basic salary & the other half when they win?! As for Jimmy..don't rush him back for the Leeds game..better to have him fit for the coming weeks rather than make the hamstring injury worse by playing him on saturday.
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fourth added 16:40 - Mar 9 I agree OCB. Leadbitter shows plenty of petticoat but not a lot of leg. We need some real PERFORMERS in. Tough mentality and a bit of football nouse to get on the end of some excellent service. Tommy Smith can score and is a rock in defence. I am astounded that he doesn't play.
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Lightningboy added 16:43 - Mar 9 Oh and as for Leadbitter,i'd happily get rid if someone offers a couple of million in the summer..he's been a major dissappointment since signing...there's much better out there in the lower leagues.
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harlingblue added 19:07 - Mar 9 The side looked jaded and perhaps some of the players are a bit played out, with PJ preferring to keep a settled side, something I applaud, BUT...without Bullard, Healy, Kennedy, (character players), we were back to the hapless partnership of Leadbitter and Norris in midfield.
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jas0999 added 21:29 - Mar 9 Agreed. Good player - was always concerned with his injury record. At £20K a week a below average championship club can not afford for him to miss games! A big miss last night!! Drury looked poor.
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DiamondGezzer added 07:16 - Mar 10 I've been going on for a few weeks now about dangling the captaincy carrot in front of Jimmy, you just never know, it could be the deal clincher at the end of the season [ end his career on a high at a club that really wants him ], after all, he was the one who said himself that what he wanted to do was play football. My other gripe was taking the armband away from Norris could help his game, I'm sure he played better before becoming captain. Try Jimmy as captain in the absence of Norris for Saturday, see how it works. I like Norris as a player, he's a trier.

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LollITFC added 16:21 - Mar 10 He is a trier DG .. but has the first touch of an african elephant .... Norris out !
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DiamondGezzer added 08:15 - Mar 11 LolllTFC;- Don't think he has played at his best for a long time { as I inferred in my post }. He certainly has not looked the same player since his injury, but an african elephant ? LOL.
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