Delaney is one of 21 Ipswich players out of contract in the summer

Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane says defender Damien Delaney's form has cost him his place in the side.

Delaney, 29, has not played since the end of November when he was sent off against Norwich City.

Keane has opted to use youngsters Troy Brown and Tommy Smith at the heart of his defence for the last three games.

"Damien's just missed out. Troy and Tommy, we've persevered with them over the last couple of games," the Town manager told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"Damien, like every other player at the club, has got to fight for his place.

"Damien will train with us this week and he might get back involved."

Brown, 20, replaced Delaney when the Irishman served a one-match ban against West Brom in the League Cup quarter-final.

And a 1-0 win over the Baggies persuaded Keane to keep Brown alongside New Zealander Smith at centre-half.

606: DEBATE It's clear to us all that Keane should simply pick his best XI and stick with it no matter the opposition so the team can grow and learn svendust

But back-to-back defeats since then has extended Town's Championship losing streak to six games.

Keane was able to add an older head to his youthful defence with the return of Mark Kennedy on Saturday.

The 34-year-old left-back played just over an hour after making his second attempt to recover from a hamstring injury he picked up in October.

The former Cardiff defender, who has featured just eight times since arriving at Portman Road in the summer, suffered a setback when he tried to return to action last month.

"He's only trained two or three days with us and we've made that mistake before in terms of playing him," Keane said.

"We're always tempted to keep him on the pitch because of his experience but that's backfired on us before.

"We're pleased he's got 60-odd minutes under his belt."

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