Ipswich Town sign Reading keeper Alex McCarthy on loan

McCarthy kept three clean sheets during a six-game loan spell with Leeds

Ipswich Town have signed goalkeeper Alex McCarthy on loan from Reading, while defender Ivar Ingimarsson has been released.

McCarthy, 22, has just completed a two-month loan spell with Leeds where he played six games and will join Town until 11 April.

Ingimarsson, 34, leaves Portman Road seven months into a one-year contract.

"The club have agreed to pay Ivar's contract up," Ipswich boss Paul Jewell told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"It's disappointing for both parties. It hasn't worked out for him."

The former Iceland international made six starts and two substitute appearances in his brief Ipswich career and was part of a defensive unit that has conceded 47 Championship goals this season, the highest in the division.

England Under-21 international McCarthy has 16 Royals appearances to his name as well as experience from loan spells at Brentford, Yeovil, Aldershot and Cambridge United.

Reading have a 24-hour recall clause on the young keeper, who signed a new deal keeping him at the Madejski Stadium until 2016, on Monday.

Meanwhile, defender Damien Delaney will be assessed after he limped off 28 minutes into Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Hull with what looked like a foot injury.

The 30-year-old was four games into his comeback from a broken foot and Town will ascertain whether the Irishman's latest setback is a recurrence of his old injury.

That leaves Jewell, whose side sit 20th in the table, with just Tommy Smith, Jack Ainsley and Ibrahima Sonko as recognised centre-halves.

Sonko's fitness has restricted his ability to train and play a number of games back-to-back, meaning Jewell will be pressed to find reinforcements during the January transfer window.

"There's a couple of players that we're pretty close to deals with. But until the deals are done you're never comfortable," he said.