FALKIRK look poised to sign Ipswich Town's out-of-favour midfielder Colin Healy.

Carl Marston

COLIN Healy was last night poised to sign on loan for Falkirk, as Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane continues to trim his playing squad.

But reports linking Keane with Derby County defender Jay McEveley have been cooled by Rams boss Nigel Clough, who insisted yesterday that he has received no approaches for any of his players.

Out-of-favour Healy has failed to make an impression at Portman Road, since his summer switch from Cork City, so it was always on the cards that the 29-year-old would be on his way.

The deal had not been finalised by last night, but is expected to go through this week.

Falkirk are believed to have beaten off opposition from several English and fellow Scottish clubs to sign Healy, on a loan deal until the end of the campaign. The Bairns are currently bottom of the Scottish Premier Division.

Healy will be the third player to leave Town on loan since the transfer window reopened at the start of this month. The others are centre-half Tommy Smith, who is at League One club Brentford, and midfielder Liam Trotter, who is hoping to improve the League One play-off hopes of Millwall.

Healy started four of Town's first six games of the season, but was then discarded by Keane. He made a surprise return for the Boxing Day trip to Crystal Palace, where he played behind front-man Jon Stead in a 3-1 defeat, but otherwise has not been involved in the first team picture.

McEveley, meanwhile, is holding out on signing a new deal with Derby County, prompting suggestions that he might even be on his way to Ipswich, for whom he had a loan spell from Blackburn during the first few months of the 2005-06 season.

His contract expires this summer, and talks about a possible new deal have stalled in recent weeks. No agreement has as yet been reached, which might encourage Derby to sell him for a fee rather than lose him for nothing in a few months time.

McEveley was an unused substitute during the 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Scunthorpe on Saturday, having been suspended for the previous FA Cup fixture against Millwall. But he did start the previous seven matches.

However, Derby boss Clough revealed: "I have had no firm offers from anyone for any of my players."

Keane has enquired about McEveley in the past, but the Irishman is no desperate need to add to his squad, with the exception of a new loan keeper, following Brian Murphy's ankle ligament injury sustained during the warm-up at Leicester on Sunday.

"We already have a lot of people at this football club," said Keane.

"That's why they've got to be real quality for anyone else to come in.

It could be very quiet at this club in January."

New signing Murphy is set to be sidelined for several weeks, which will probably mean that Keane will have to recruit another back-up keeper. The results of Murphy's scan should be known today.

Meanwhile, this afternoon's Ipswich Reserves game at Southend United has been postponed because of a frozen pitch.