ALEX Bruce will miss Saturday's visit to Coventry in the Coca-Cola Championship after suffering a recurrence of his groin injury problem in the 2-0 defeat at Leicester yesterday.

By Elvin King

ALEX Bruce will miss Saturday's visit to Coventry in the Coca-Cola Championship after suffering a recurrence of his groin injury problem in the 2-0 defeat at Leicester yesterday.

“There are still some problems there,” he said. “It got worse as the game went on and I cannot see myself playing on Saturday.”

Bruce missed two matches after being injured at Bristol City earlier this month.

With Sito Castro also missing because of a head blow, Ipswich will be without two defenders on Saturday - their last chance to win away this year, having won just twice on their travels in 2007.

Although Ipswich were overall just as porous at the back and blunted in attack as they were at Charlton, Blues manager Jim Magilton was far more diplomatic after this latest away defeat.

He talked of moving players on in the immediate aftermath of the 3-1 loss at The Valley, but yesterday he was more considered saying: “Good footballers know how to play at home and away.

“You've got to play the conditions, recognise that the opponents have strengths and have the belief to go out and play.

“You need resilience and composure and the team doesn't seem to have those qualities at the minute.

“Points have to be picked up away from home if you want to get anywhere near the top six, so at the moment I don't think we can be considered contenders.

“Leicester showed a real desire to go and attack the ball and both goals were very disappointing from our point of view.

“We know that Stephen Clemence has a great left peg, great delivery, but the first goal should have been dealt with and the second one was a free header.

“No matter what level you play at you cannot do that. But we are normally OK at that so I will put it down to a one-off.

“No one got near Kisnorbo for the second goal and it was a needless foul by Gavin Williams in the first place.

“We huffed and puffed to get back in the game but I don't think we really worked their keeper. That said, Neil Alexander didn't have a lot to do either.

“It was a scrappy game and the only two real bits of quality led to the two goals.

“That's another away defeat now and the longer the run goes on without a win the more of a psychological problem it's going to become.”

Leicester boss Ian Holloway, who saw his side concede a controversial penalty in the corresponding fixture at Portman Road and was taken to hospital with strong pains when manager of Plymouth on Town's August visit this year, had something to smile about.He said: “The commitment we have showed in the last two games is what it's all about.

“The players have seen me assess everybody and they now have clarity about what is required and we are moving forward.

“We know we're good at set pieces but I'd like to score a few more from open play.

“Hopefully, with the balance that I'll be able to bring in during the transfer window, that will happen.

“I won't have a right-back playing on the wing, a centre-back in midfield, a centre-forward on the left wing and I'll actually have some midfielders alongside Stephen Clemence.

“I've never seen such an unbalanced squad. We had a six-a-side game in training and it was goalkeepers versus right-backs. But I will sort that out and then we can move on.”