Notts C v Coventry preview

Notts C v Coventry preview

Published Apr. 26, 2013 9:15 a.m. ET

Huddersfield have agreed to sign Jake Carroll from League of Ireland side St Patrick's Athletic for an undisclosed fee.

Carroll, 21, who is primarily a left-back but can also play in central midfield, had two separate trial periods with the Terriers and will now join up with the club permanently this summer for pre-season training.

"Jake impressed me a lot when he was here a few weeks ago," Town manager Mark Robins told the club's official website. "He is left-sided, quick, powerful and has a good attitude with an aptitude to learn quickly.

"He will have to adapt to the style of football in England, but he arrives with the challenge of breaking into our first team.

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"Ireland is an interesting market for English clubs. A lot of talented Irish players arrive in England at 16 years old, in the same way that we recently recruited the country's Under-16 captain Danny Kane from Cherry Orchard, whereas others are identified after emerging in a League of Ireland team at aged 20 or 21, such as James McClean and Seamus Coleman. Jake comes under the latter of those two routes."

London-born Carroll grew up in Lucan, Ireland and played the majority of his youth football for Home Farm but had a short spell at Belvedere before joining St Patrick's Under-20 side in 2010.

During this time he was capped by the Republic of Ireland schools side whilst studying at university.

Since breaking into the first team he has made more than 50 appearances for the club, which includes Europa League appearances.

Scunthorpe pair Akpo Sodje and Andy Barcham are hoping to prove their fitness in time.

Striker Sodje missed last week's win at MK Dons due to a thigh strain, while Barcham has been sidelined for the last three matches with a similar problem.

Manager Brian Laws, who has no new injury or suspension problems, will continue with David Mirfin alongside skipper Paul Reid at the heart of defence in the absence of Niall Canavan, who broke his nose in two places in the recent defeat at Bury.

Sam Slocombe returned from a thigh injury last week and is expected to start again in preference to on-loan Manchester city goalkeeper Erik Johansen.

The Iron, who occupy the last relegation place, could escape the drop on the final day with victory if nearest rivals Colchester lose.

Swindon could be boosted by the return of Tommy Miller as they warm up for the play-offs.

The 34-year-old former Preston midfielder has been missing since March 23 with a calf injury but he could return to the bench and could get a run out before the play-offs begin.

Striker James Collins stepped off the bench in the 3-0 win over Stevenage last Saturday and he will be pushing for a start.

Simon Ferry is still missing with a hamstring injury but Luke Rooney returned to action as an 82nd-minute substitute last weekend after a shoulder injury. Alan Navarro remains sidelined with a hamstring tear along with a number of senior professionals.

Kevin MacDonald is without Nathan Thompson and brother Louis as well as Troy Archibald-Henville, Miles Storey, Jay McEveley and Aaron Oakley for the rest of the season.

City's defeat by Tottenham last weekend gave Manchester United the chance to reclaim the trophy against Aston Villa on Monday, and they coasted to a 3-0 win.

Mancini said: "It doesn't change this. They deserve to win this title because they won a lot of games in a row. The crucial moment was when we played QPR, Liverpool, Southampton.

"That moment we had big problems with our players injured. We lost key points. United have more attitude than us, as a club, as a team."

It has long been simply a matter of when rather than if United would clinch a 20th top-flight title, which made the moment itself less hard to take for the City boss.

The Italian said: "It was over three, four, five games ago, not mathematically but it was over. They deserve to win this title, many congratulations to Manchester United for the work they did this season.

"They did better than us, they won a lot of games in a row, it was really difficult. We should be also realistic. If there is one team that did better than you, you can do nothing."

Andre Boucaud returns from suspension for Notts County.

Boucaud has served a two-match ban for the red card he received during the defeat at Bournemouth on April 6.

Fellow midfielder and captain Neal Bishop could also come back into the reckoning after missing the victories over Colchester and Doncaster with a knock.

Magpies manager Chris Kiwomya is likely to continue to give the club's up and coming players a chance to impress.

Curtis Thompson, Tyrell Waite, Haydn Hollis, Greg Tempest and Romello Nangle were all involved at home to Colchester a fortnight ago and all apart from Tempest retained their places in the squad at the Keepmoat Stadium last weekend.

Victory for County would be a third on the spin, representing their best winning streak of the season in the league. Three points could also see the Magpies finish ninth in the table, should other results go their way.

Coventry boss Steven Pressley will be without first-choice goalkeeper Joe Murphy .

The Irishman, who has started every league game this campaign, suffered a groin strain in an accident at home and will miss his side's final match of the season.

Chris Dunn is expected to make his first league appearance of the season in Murphy's absence.

Defender Jordan Stewart picked up a groin injury in last Saturday's defeat to Leyton Orient and is expected to miss out, but Blair Adams could come back into the side to replace him.

Adams has been sidelined since early February with a knee injury but he is expected to return to full fitness in time to play some part against the Magpies.

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