Pilgrims given the green light to welcome Ipswich
Match gets the go ahead with Tractor Boys missing two men on international duty
PLYMOUTH Argyle are set to play League One leaders Ipswich Town at Home Park as scheduled on Sunday lunchtime after the Tractor Boys’ skipper Sam Morsy was not called up for international duty by Egypt.
Steven Schumacher’s third-placed Pilgrims will have an opportunity to move to the top of the table by beating Ipswich in the Sky-televised clash, which will kick-off at 12.30pm.
Portsmouth, who are level on points with Ipswich in second position, will not be in action next weekend as their home game against Bolton Wanderers has been postponed due to international call-ups.
Kieran McKenna’s impressive Ipswich side will be without Greg
Leigh and Wes Burns for their trip to Home Park because they will be away with Jamaica and Wales respectively.
Morsy, who has started all nine league games for Town this season, was named in a provisional Egypt squad for games against Niger and Liberia but did not make the final list.
Had he become the third Ipswich player to be called up on international duty then the Suffolk club would likely have taken up the option to get the Argyle game postponed.
Instead, the two sides will meet in what should be an enthralling topof-the-table clash, with Ipswich boasting an unbeaten record this term of six wins and three draws,
Argyle will be without on-loan Aston Villa midfielder Finn Azaz, who has received his first call-up to play for the Republic of Ireland under-21s.
Azaz has been selected for their squad for Ireland’s two-legged UEFA 2023 European Under-21 Championship play-off against Israel, with the first game in Dublin on Friday and the return match in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, September 27.
The Pilgrims’ loanee will then be available for the League One visit to Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers the following Saturday.
Argyle will also be without defender Brendan Galloway against Ipswich. He will have to serve a onematch suspension after he was sentoff in the closing seconds of the 2-2 draw away to Portsmouth for a second bookable offence.
Booked only a few minutes earlier for time-wasting when taking a throw-in, Galloway was yellow-carded for a second time by referee James Bell after he was involved in some pushing and shoving with Portsmouth defender Michael Morrison.
Morrison was also booked as a result of the incident and when play resumed 10-man Argyle conceded a last-gasp equaliser scored by Reeco Hackett, otherwise the Pilgrims would have gone joint top with Ipswich.
Four games in League One next weekend have been postponed due to international call-ups. They are Derby County v Cheltenham Town, Lincoln City v MK Dons, Oxford United v Fleetwood Town and Portsmouth v Bolton.
Fourth-placed Sheffield Wednesday will be in action on Saturday and a win for them at home to Wycombe would see them move above Argyle into third place.