THE week started and finished with some bumper payouts with valuable sweepstakes being decided across the provincial and city tracks. Bumper crowds were the ord.
Blues boss Paul Jewell was still waiting to hear whether all his international players had come through their games unscathed at Thursday’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s game at Barnsley. Linchpin defender Gareth McAuley, Darren O’Dea and Connor Wickham were back and OK, but Hungarian pair Tamás Priskin and Márton Fülöp, and Canadian Jaime Peters had not yet returned to Portman Road.
Keeper Ian McLoughlin came off the bench to save a penalty on his debut and midfielder Conor Hourihane was also in the side as the Republic of Ireland’s U21s drew 0-0 in Cyprus.
Midfielder or full-back Shane O Connor has withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland U21 squad travelling to Cyprus for a friendly on Wednesday due to illness.