Ipswich suffer injury blows to Townsend and Philogene

Jaden Philogene joined Ipswich from Aston Villa for £20m in January

Ipswich Town are assessing injuries to defender Conor Townsend and forward Jaden Philogene after both went off injured in Saturday's final pre-season game at Auxerre.

Townsend was substituted just before the half-hour mark with a knee problem while Philogene was forced off eight minutes into the second period after taking a blow to his ankle.

Ipswich launch their Championship campaign away at Birmingham City on Friday (20:00 BST).

"It leaves us in a challenging position but they're going to come over the course of the season," boss Kieran McKenna told the club website.

"We've got one now and we've got to take it head on."

Ipswich won the game 3-0 against the French Ligue 1 side with goals from George Hirst, Jacob Greaves and Ali Al-Hamadi and, barring the injuries to Townsend and Philogene, McKenna is pleased with how their preparations have gone.

"The group has been excellent - the commitment's been excellent, the staff have worked really hard and we've had a good challenging programme," he said.

"I don't think there's much we'd change but there's no way you can prepare in a pre-season game for the intensity we're going into on Friday night and the intensity we're going to bring, but in everything we can can control we've done as well as possible."