IPSWICH Town boss George Burley today issued a plea for patience ahead of the Blues' big UEFA Cup second round first leg clash with Helsingborgs.Town entertain the Swedish side at Portman Road on Thursday night.

By Dave Allard

IPSWICH Town boss George Burley today issued a plea for patience ahead of the Blues' big UEFA Cup second round first leg clash with Helsingborgs.

Town entertain the Swedish side at Portman Road on Thursday night.

Burley warned: "They are a side that we expect to be very cautious with just one man up front and I think there will be a need for great patience all round. I'm sure our crowd will appreciate that and my players will be well aware of the necessity for total concentration."

The Town chief, whose side beat Torpedo Moscow over two legs in the last round, added: "Helsingborgs are a strong side and they have virtually the same line-up that beat Inter Milan last season in the Champions League.

"We've had them watched twice. I saw them last week and a scout saw them in action yesterday. It would be great if we could open them up early on and there will be every effort to do that.

"But it could well be that it will be a very tight game, one in which we have to be spot on in so many ways. We are live on television again and hopefully it will be a memorable night for our club.

"I'm sure the crowd will give us great backing again and hopefully we can make a good start to the tie in the first leg."

Burley, whose side drew 0-0 at home to Everton on Saturday and are fifth from bottom of the Premiership, again insisted today that he is not going to rush into the transfer market.

He said: "We are trying to get back to the standards of last season. We always knew it would be harder this season and, understandably, expectancy levels were very high at the start of the season after what we did last year.

"I'm not looking to make new signings at the moment as I think we have a good squad. There is competition for places with players hungry to come in and take their chances again.

"There are players here that are desperate for opportunities and, with this in mind, I don't feel that there is any need to go out and rush into the transfer market at this stage."

Helsingborgs suffered a setback to their Swedish Premier League title aspirations when they lost 1-0 at home to Norkopping yesterday.

Town have no new injury worries ahead of Thursday night's game that will be live on BBC1 with a 8.05pm kick-off.

Meanwhile, Jamie Clapham today shrugged off his complete axing from the Town scene against Everton on Saturday.

The former Blues regular, who played the full game at left-back as Crewe were beaten away in the Worthington Cup last Tuesday, did not even make the bench for the Toffees' visit.

"It's been like this for me at the club since Christmas really," said the former Tottenham man.

"I come into the side and try to do the right things, but I was left out totally on Saturday and that was that.

"At Crewe the manager decided to rest four players who had been away on international duty. It was inevitable really I suppose that they would come back.

"I don't think that I did too badly at Crewe and it was disappointing not to be on the bench, but players were left out and they duly came back. It's as simple as that. You just have to take it on the chin and get on with it."