 Friday, 2nd Dec 2011 13:23 Key central defender Ibrahima Sonko is set to return to the Town team as the Blues look to end their run of six successive defeats and also a winless streak of 13 games against bogey side Watford at Portman Road on Saturday. Paul Jewell’s men have gained 17 of their 20 points in the nine games that Sonko has been involved in, picking up just three in the other nine. The 30-year-old is over his hamstring injury and has trained for a week and was named on the bench at Burnley on Tuesday. The Blues’ four-goal capitulation at Turf Moor ought to see the Senegalese international return to the starting line-up alongside Danny Collins. Jewell has plenty of decisions to make elsewhere in his side. David Stockdale is likely to return to the team in goal as long as he has proven his fitness in training in the last couple of days after suffering a minor shoulder injury. If not, Arran Lee-Barrett will continue with Richard Wright out for around another week with his shoulder problem. Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell will probably continue as the full-backs with the midfield again the area where Jewell has most of his dilemmas. Skipper Grant Leadbitter is again absent due to his groin injury, so Keith Andrews is likely to keep the armband and take one of the central midfield roles. The Blues boss may decide to ditch the diamond formation and go with Josh Carson on one flank and Lee Martin, who he admits was unlucky to be left out of the 16 at Burnley, on the other. Daryl Murphy is another option for the left-sided position having been withdrawn from his striking role in the first half at Turf Moor. Lee Bowyer is likely to get the nod ahead of Jimmy Bullard and Mark Kennedy in the other central role, while Michael Chopra and Jason Scotland are the most likely strike partnership. The Irishman could come into Jewell’s thoughts if he’s considering a switch to 4-5-1, but that seems less likely at home. Schoolboy midfielder Byron Lawrence, 15, has been training with the first team squad this week and could be an outsider for a place on the bench. The Town manager says he’s well aware of the Blues’ dreadful record against the Hornets, but says that given his side’s current run it’s probably not a significant factor: “At the minute every team we come up against is a bogey team. It’s about mentality and mental strength and having the belief and the desire to go and get a result. “It doesn’t matter how we get it, whether it’s ugly or whatever, we just need a result sooner rather than later for everybody’s benefit — the supporters, the players, everybody. “The way we go about it is to try and face up to the task and to try and win more battles than we have done of late.” He says lack of confidence is the biggest factor: “The players are just low on confidence. That’s what happens when you lose football matches, that’s what happens in life. Anyone who says they haven’t lost confidence at some point is a liar. “You do lose confidence in your ability, but you’ve got to be mentally tough enough to get through it, and you’re stronger and better for it.” The Blues boss knows what to expect from Sean Dyche’s men: “Watford have got a new, young manager. They’re organised, they’re hard-working. “They’ve got Marvin Sordell, who is an England U21 international, and like every team in this league, it’s going to be a tough game.” Dyche expects a reaction from the Blues after the midweek thrashing: “The thing with Ipswich is that they are a wounded animal. They are a team who have had some real tough defeats, especially one at home, losing two goals in the last minute and a big defeat away.” He says his own side is improving: “We have focused on what we do a lot this season and it is beginning to serve us reasonably well. “On reflection, we are three points behind where we were last season at this stage and arguably with a couple of refereeing decisions and without having a soft goal the other night we would have been one point behind, if not in front of that. The bigger picture is that we are beginning to get things better than they were.” Striker Marvin Sordell (ankle) and full-back Lloyd Doyley (thigh) could return but centre-half Martin Taylor (collarbone) and midfielder Stephen McGinn (knee) are out. Keeper Jonathan Bond has been recalled from a loan spell at Forest Green Rovers. Town haven’t beaten Watford, who are currently 18th in the Championship, one point and three places above the Blues, in 13 games home and away in all competitions since March 2004 when a Dean Bowditch hat-trick and a rarity from Jermaine Wright condemned the Hornets to a 4-1 defeat at Portman Road. Despite this recent poor record, Town have still had the better of Watford historically, winning 24 times (21 in the league), losing 22 (21) and drawing 16 (16). The Hornets have, however, won the last three games between the sides. The Blues’ league winless streak of 12 games against Watford (one of the overall 13 was in the FA Cup) is the third worst in the club’s history behind a 15-game run against Everton between 1962 and 1974 and one of 13 against Arsenal running from 1985 to the present day. Last season at Portman Road in March, two goals from Danny Graham and a late third from Don Cowie saw the Hornets to a 3-0 victory. Graham struck after three minutes as Town started sloppily then added the second after the break with the Blues unable to find similar quality in and around the penalty area, Cowie adding the third in the closing moments. At Vicarage Road in the preceding October, David Norris’s second half goal wasn’t enough to prevent Town from falling to a 2-1 defeat. Roy Keane’s men had been the better side up to a two-goal Hornets salvo just before the break from Stephen McGinn and Marvin Sordell. The Blues got back on top in the closing stages after Norris’s goal, but were unable to grab the equaliser, Ronan Murray finding the net but with a linesman’s flag already raised. At Portman Road the previous season, a certain Nathan Ellington netted a late equaliser for Watford after coming off the bench as the game ended 1-1 and the Blues were denied an end to the 2009/10 early season winless streak. Tamás Priskin, currently on loan at Derby, joined the Blues from Watford for £1.7 million in the summer of 2009, while Ellington was with the Hornets for four years up to this summer but made only 23 starts and 33 sub appearances, scoring five goals. Hornets keeper Scott Loach was an academy schoolboy at Playford Road and Watford goalkeeper-coach Alec Chamberlain was also a youth player with the Blues but never made a first team appearance. Tony Loughlan, assistant manager at Town under Roy Keane, is the first team coach at Vicarage Road. Prior to the kick-off there will be a minute’s applause in tribute to Gary Speed, who died last weekend. This Saturday's match programme is available in an online electronic version here as well as at the game. Saturday’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, who has shown 67 yellow and two red cards in 18 games so far this season. Stroud’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 win at West Ham in late September in which he booked only Lee Bowyer and Henri Lansbury. Squad from: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Cropper, Cresswell, Edwards, Wabara, Collins, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Andrews, Bowyer, Bullard, Carson, Martin, Kennedy, Emmanuel-Thomas, Lawrence, Chopra, Scotland, Murphy, Ellington.
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