'We won't take Ipswich for granted'

With the Tractor Boys ravaged by injury and suspension the Hornets do not look like having a better chance of reaching the last eight of the FA Cup. But Boothroyd is not getting carried away by Saturday's win over West Ham and has prepared his team thoroughly for the visit of Jim Magilton's men.

"We won't take Ipswich for granted," said the manager. "They will be a very tough team. We know all about them, I've seen them a couple of times.

"On their day they can be exceptional and beat anybody in the Championship but they also have off days as well. Jim will want to play football so we've got to make sure we impose our game on them and look to out pass them."

It must be tempting for Boothroyd to instruct his players to out-muscle the visitors as they are likely to field a young side short of experience. However, the manager may use the game as an opportunity to attempt to find the right balance between the long and the short ball. It also provides Boothroyd with the chance to steer his side into the quarter-final of the most famous cup competition in the world.

"It would be great (if we could reach the quarter-final) and it's my first opportunity to get a cup run together," said the manager who saw his side knocked out at the first hurdle by Bolton last year.

"We didn't put the emphasis on the cup we should have done last season but this year we won't make the same mistake. Sometimes the cup can distract from the league but I think it can do the opposite. I think it will pull us all together, playing a couple of extra games won't do us any harm at all - I actually quite like to play game after game after game.

"Last time we had a league game and a cup game we won them both and got a little bit of momentum and then we unfortunately had to play Manchester United," he added.

"We've got four home games on the spin and if we can get a winning run together then that can make all the difference and we can start putting pressure on others."

Magilton, Boothroyd's opposite number, is facing something of a striker crisis ahead of the game.

Without suspended top-scorer Alan Lee and the cup-tied Jon Walters, the Tractor Boys boss has only Danny Haynes and Billy Clarke at his disposal and he is unlikely to ask the two 19-year-olds to go up against the rugged duo of Malky MacKay and Jay DeMerit.

Magilton is likely to opt for the blisteringly quick Haynes and partner him with George O'Callaghan, the attacking midfielder signed from Cork last month. Should the versatile Richard Naylor shake off a toe injury, he may even lead the line while Dean Bowditch, who was once tipped for big things, has seen his loan move to Brighton postponed and he may come into contention should he shake off a groin injury.

Just to compound Magilton's problems, influential midfielder Gavin Williams is out with a pelvic problem while the experienced Jason de Vos is struggling to shake off a foot injury.