Joe After Striker And Left-back In January Window

Permanent switch?

The Ipswich manager wants a left-back and a striker to cover for the absence of McEveley and Parkin. McEveley has now returned to Blackburn after his season-loan was cut short by injury and top scorer Sam Parkin is out for 3-4 months with a borken ankle.

Royle said that the trialists will be form abroad: We're short-listing people, front players and left-backs. We will have a number of trialists coming in over the next 10 days, we're still waiting for confirmation from a number of places. They will mostly come from overseas; Portugal, Finland and Norway."

The blues hope to unearth more players like Norweigan Vermund Brekke Skard, who will play his first game for Town when he becomes elligible to play in January.

Joe is also keen to secure Welsh international midfielder Gavin Williams on a permanent deal from West Ham, should the club have the required funds: "West Ham have given us a price guide, but we'll have to wait and see. There would need to be a change in finance for us to do so."

The home tie with Portsmouth in the FA Cup certianly won't harm matters, with the resultant money going directly into Joe's player fund.