City Reserves at home to Ipswich

Local pride will be at stake at Carrow Road this evening when Norwich City entertain Ipswich Town in the Premiership Reserve League.

The Canaries will have a big point to prove, having lost 3-0 at Portman Road back in December when coach Keith Webb was forced to name an under-strength side because of injuries and first team commitments.

This time he should have a good number of professionals to call upon - and with Ipswich also likely to have one or two star names in their line-up he is expecting the final home fixture of a difficult season to be a good, competitive game.

“When we played Ipswich earlier in the season I had a very young side out, including a number of lads from Easton College, and it was very difficult for us,” recalled Webb.

“Now the injuries have cleared up the manager has been able to release one or two members of the first team squad and results have improved as a result.

“I am sure it will be a lot more even this time around and hopefully we can give the supporters something to celebrate. It has been a long, hard season, and it would be nice if we could win our final game at Carrow Road.”

Webb will include Peter Thorne, Ian Henderson, Ryan Jarvis, Zesh Rehman, below, Jurgen Colin and Simon Charlton in his starting line-up, with the remainder of the side being made up of youngsters.

Ipswich will also be relying on a mixture of youth and experience - although professionals will be rather more thin on the ground in their squad.

Striker Nicky Forster will get his first run-out since picking up a knee injury in January, while Spaniard Castro Sito will be given a run-out on the right-side of midfield after struggling of late in his more favoured full-back role.

Another player to look out for in midfield is recent recruit from Norway Vemund Brekke Skard, who could be in line for a full debut for the first team on Saturday if he impresses at Carrow Road.

Full squads for the game, which kick-offs off at 7.30pm, will be announced today.