Worrying 19-goal double injury for Sheffield Wednesday promotion rivals suggests Owls better off after blessing in disguise

The Tractor Boys named a strong side for their 2-0 Papa Johns Trophy defeat against Portsmouth on Tuesday night.

But it was injuries to striker Freddie Ladapo, who was withdrawn in the warm-up as a precaution, and an altogether more serious-looking knee issue for Marcus Harness that may have a more lasting impact on the season of Kieran McKenna’s side.

Former Rotherham United man Ladapo has nine goals and an assist across 23 appearances in all competitions this season, with attacking midfielder Harness having offered seven goals and two assists in 22 outings.

The pair join Sone Aluko, Tyreece John-Jules, Dominic Ball and Lee Evans as injury concerns to a side that are coping impressively on a run of one defeat in nine league matches.

“That’s the negative of the night, no doubt about that,” McKenna said, discussing Harness and going on to suggest Ipswich may have even been better off without the game altogether.

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“With the situation at the moment, going through would have been a game we could have done without, between the Wycombe and Peterborough games, so having it as a clear week is probably beneficial for us if we are completely truthful.

“Losing Marcus to injury is the big disappointment because it doesn’t look great on first viewing and he’ll have a scan to assess the severity of the damage.

“Freddie felt his calf as he was warming up and it wasn’t one we wanted to risk in the game.”

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Wednesday waved the Papa Johns Trophy goodbye last month after defeats to Bradford City and Burton Albion rendered their final game with Leicester City a dead rubber.

Darren Moore used the matches as volume-building ventures for players who hadn’t played so much to that point. While he has always maintained an ambition to go far in the competition, he has spoken on a number of occasions about the value of ‘free weeks’ in a busy football calendar.

Elsewhere in the competition, a change-up Plymouth Argyle won out 3-2 against Charlton Athletic while Peterborough lost 4-2 to Chelsea’s under-21s.