Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna labels Kieffer Moore ‘a doubt’ for East Anglian derby at Norwich City and provides Wes Burns and George Hirst

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has labelled striker Kieffer Moore ‘a doubt’ for Saturday’s East Anglian derby with Norwich City at Carrow Road (12.30pm).

The Blues head to their local rivals sitting top of the Sky Bet Championship table and hoping to put the pressure on the teams around them with a win against David Wagner’s outfit – who are looking for a victory to remain in the play-off places.

After the 2-2 draw between the two sides at Portman Road in December, Town will hope this weekend will see their near 15-year wait for a win against the Canaries come to an end.

And the last time Ipswich were victorious at Carrow Road was on February 5, 2006, by a 2-1 scoreline under Joe Royle.

McKenna confirmed Moore suffered a back spasm in the Blues’ dramatic 3-2 win over promotion-rivals Southampton on Monday which saw the 31-year-old Welsh international, who has scored six goals in 12 appearances for Town since signing on January transfer deadline day, forced off the pitch after 36 minutes.

“He suffered a back spasm and he hasn’t been able to train with the lads yet,” said McKenna.

“Knowing Kieffer he won’t want to rule himself out, but he’s a doubt for the weekend.

“We don’t think it’s long-term. We’ve got two games next week after this one, so we’d hope for some involvement in those two.”

Ali Al-Hamadi was the man who replaced Moore in the first half on Monday and McKenna stated the 22-year-old, who also signed in January, has become an important player for the club and has earnt his trust to start if needed on Saturday.

“We have belief in him in terms of the reasons why we brought him to the football club,” said McKenna.

“First and foremost in terms of his potential, I still think he’s got a lot of learning and growing to do, developing as a football player, but we wouldn’t have brought him in in January if we didn’t think he could play a part in the team in the last few months of the season.

“He took a step up on Monday, coming on in the early stages of the game and finding the rhythm of the game wasn’t easy to find until after half-time.

“But he fought his way through that period and had a big impact on the second half. He was really unlucky with his chance that hit the post as well, I think that was a big step forward for him.”

Meanwhile, McKenna confirmed winger Wes Burns (hamstring) is having his second scan today and is hoping to have an update on the 29-year-old early next week.

“In terms of how he’s feeling, he’s feeling better. He hasn’t progressed to any level of work yet, so we’ll see how the scan goes,” said the Town boss.

“(The game comes) too soon for George (Hirst), and we’ve got a couple of others from Monday to be honest who haven’t been able to train and are doubts.

“There’s still illness in the camp as well so it’s been a challenge, the period over the last two games, but the group are producing the right response and that’s what I trust they’ll do over the next couple of days and next week as well.”