Ipswich striker Jon Stead has rejected the opportunity to join Championship rivals Coventry City on loan.
Ipswich striker will fight for place
Ipswich striker Jon Stead has rejected the opportunity to join Championship rivals Coventry City on loan.
Sky Blues boss Chris Coleman was looking to bolster his options and approached Portman Road counterpart Roy Keane to seek permission to open talks.
Keane was happy to give Stead the option to make a temporary move away from the Tractor Boys as he has slipped down the pecking order in recent weeks.
But the former Huddersfield, Blackburn, Sunderland and Sheffield United man, whose wife is due to give birth, has elected to remain under Keane's wing and will hope for a chance to shine in Tuesday night's trip to Peterborough.
The Ipswich boss said of Stead: "I gave him permission the other day to speak to Coventry. We trained Sunday morning and he was at training, so I take it he has turned down an opportunity, which he has every right to.
"We have got a lot of strikers. When I put these opportunities to the players, it is up to the player and he obviously wants to stay and fight for his place which is not a problem and he will be in the squad tomorrow night."
Keane is unlikely to use the loan market to bring in new faces for the remainder of the campaign, unless a high-quality player unexpectedly comes available.
Challenge
"With the numbers of players we have, if I really can't get a player in who I think can improve us then I won't be doing any business," he added.
"That changes on a day-to-day basis, but overall in terms of the numbers we have I am fairly pleased."
Keane's side remain just above the relegation places as they continue to be hampered by a succession of drawn games, and the Portman Road boss insists they are focused solely on staying up, rather than looking up to the top six.
"We challenge them every day in terms of their training and preparation. But we can't really be thinking of the play-offs at this moment in time," he said.
"You are saying it's only 13 points, but 13 points is a lot when you have only won five or six games all season. It's not like we're a free-scoring team who can go on one of these runs.
"What we need to do over the next couple of weeks is roll our sleeves up and get a few victories under our belts to get away from the bottom and see where that takes us, but we're certainly not looking beyond tomorrow night's game."
