Ipswich Report

I hate the wind. It messes your hair up, blows tiles off your roof and ruins football matches when it’s too strong. Which is pretty much what happened today. It was as gusty as I’ve known it for a long time and was the dominant factor in what was, understandably, a scrappy game.

There was a load of rubbish on the pitch too. Not, for once I’m happy to report, the players I’m referring to but a whole load of crap that was being blown around the pitch. Plastic bags, chip boxes, pie trays the lot. Most of it was congregating round the dug-outs, but I’m sure Keane won’t have been bothered about it too much.

All attention was on Stokes who was making his debut and started and there were home debuts for Evans and Edwards. Nosworthy again was employed as a centre half but with 2 make-shift full backs in Wallace and Whitehead they’d all have to be on their mettle today. The midfield pretty much picked itself.

For a change at home Sunderland started brightly, Wallace got forward on the left and Stokes and Connolly were causing problems up front and on 13 minutes they got the breakthrough. Edwards had the ball on the right and fed the ball to Stokes who made a good run down the channel, he took it to the by-line, swung in a great cross and Connolly tapped it in for the opener. It was an encouraging start from Stokes who looked at home straight away.

For the next 10 minutes we could have scored more, Stokes and Hysen had shots blocked and also had 2 good penalty shouts turned down. Gradually however Ipswich got themselves in the game. The extra man they had in midfield meant that Sunderlands 2 got squeezed and found it hard to dominate.

However, despite their midfield presence they never got near to scoring, thanks mainly to Nosworthy and Evans, who had a great game. As assured a performance from a defender in a red and white shirt I’ve seen for a long time. He reads the game well, is always in the right position, doesn’t panic, is a good tackler and dominant in the air. A clearance on the line in the 2nd half was crucial also after Ward was beaten. If he continues this way he’ll be a regular in Man Uniteds side in 2 years.

Second half saw much of the same, neither side looked like they were going to score at any minute but neither side could be comfortable. It shouldn’t be underestimated how much of a part the wind played the whole game. It added a bit of a lottery effect to the game in that basic passes were either going 15 yards wide of their desired destination or clearances up the line were going into row 30. Two more good penalty shouts were turned down, it seems were destined not to get any this season. Maybe were saving them up for a bigger game coming up, maybe in late May….

Edwards did ok. He looks to have some pace, stays wide and can run with the ball at his feet. Stokes looked very good, he’s got good pace, plays off the shoulder of the last man at lot and has good movement. The ball never really fell for him to have a good chance for a goal today but I’ve no doubt he’ll score goals. He and Connolly worked well together.

Predictably the last 5 minutes saw some close shaves at both ends. They had a good shot flash wide and Elliot, on as a late sub, was through on goal but shot straight at the keeper.

All in it was a decent performance and a very good 3 points. Keane is starting to get his own side out now and the results are showing. There’s some winnable games coming up and while its still early days for Keane and there’s no pressure on him, failure to reach the play-offs from this point would be very disappointing.

Man of the Match – Jonny Evans

Report by marcopaul

Rockins rant

A windy, miserable day on Wearside meant it was going to be a tough challenge for the lads; it also had an impact on the attendance which dropped to 27,604. The much talked about Anthony Stokes went straight into the team to partner David Connolly upfront. Nosworthy was back from injury and partnered Jonny Evans in the heart of the defence. As the inform Liam Miller was suspended for the game, Dwight Yorke partnered Leadbitter in midfield.

For the first 20-25 minutes we looked the most threatening team, though it wasn’t relentless pressure. The lads’ hard work and persistence paid off in the twelfth minute. Carlos Edwards picked up the ball mid way in the Ipswich half and picked out Anthony Stokes who was on the right wing. Stokes created enough space to whip in a fantastic ball to the six yard box for the waiting David Connolly to comfortably slot home. Once we’d scored the first half became a rather drab affair. A pattern is beginning to form during home games where we play well for 20-25 minutes and then seem to become lacklustre for the remainder of the half and today followed this.

Usually we play better in the second half of games, not today though. Despite finally playing with two wingers we still seemed lopsided. Tobias Hysen, who was playing left wing, was very poor and never got involved in the game which subsequently left Ross Wallace to be both the left back and left midfielder, two roles which the Scotsman was unable to carry out. Ipswich began to build momentum and had a large amount of possession; it seemed only a matter of time until they’d score.

Ipswich threw on all of their substitutes and one, Danny Haynes, almost paid off. The Ipswich attacker broke through our defence thanks to his unbelievable speed and saw his effort blocked from Ward. The ball was heading towards the goal and Alan Lee for an easy tap in but Jonny Evans had also followed the ball in and did fantastic to clear the ball off the line. The Sunderland of late are beginning to show a lot of determination to hold onto leads and in the past Ipswich would have no doubt scored. We went on to create a few chances but nothing clear cut. In the awful conditions we needed to dig out and a win and thankfully we did that today. The performance wasn’t the best though that’s what would be expected in a horrific wind.

The new lads worked very hard and looked good, although it is hard to know just how good they are from one match and in very difficult conditions. Jonny Evans looked a little bit nervous in the first half and his distribution let him down a bit. However, he was superb in the second half and between himself and Nosworthy kept Alan Lee in their pockets. Both Carlos Edwards and Anthony Stokes didn’t see too much of the ball, though when they did they made good use of it and looked threatening.

It’s becoming more difficult to single one player out for man of the match as there are many players who are playing very well at the moment. So this week I’m scrapping man of the match and it’s now men of the match. Firstly, David Connolly who does an unbelievable amount of work for the team and received his reward for it with a well worked goal. Second choice is Nyron Nosworthy, he gets a lot of stick from me but today I thought he was superb and was a rock in defence along with my third and final person Jonny Evans. Despite a bit of a rocky start his class showed through and it looks like we’ve got a very good player for the rest of the season.

Wiggum's Whinge

The game was played in awful, windy conditions but the main thing is that three points were won and the teams ahead of us are now beginning to look over their shoulders. Only one point from play-offs and it is now only a matter of time before we get into the top six and push on from there. Everything about the performance was encouraging as we stuck in and battled out a good victory with certain individuals having excellent games such as Evans and Nosworthy in the defence.

The only negative thing about today was the Sunderland fans, only 27,604 managed to get themselves out of bed to see this victory. With three players making their home debuts and speculation all week of seeing maybe 35k+ it was a disappointment to only see the regulars who go week in week out. If fans do not want to go to the SoL and help Quinny and Keane out we may as well resign ourselves to seeing this each week. I have now heard enough excuses as to why people don’t bother. The atmosphere today even in the SWC was pathetic and is a real shame to welcome these new players to such a morgue like stadium.... whinge over!

Anyway the reason we went today was to watch Sunderland in a game of football and with a few changes we seen Nos alongside Evans with Wallace and Deano on the sides of them in defence. Edwards started in his position on right wing with Leadbitter and Yorke in the middle and the poor Hysen on the left. Upfront we got the chance to see the new partnership of Stokes and Connolly. In my opinion this is probably the best team he could have played considering injuries and suspensions at the moment.

Stokes and Connolly seemed to gel together from the opening whistle with Stokes teeing up Connolly who took too long and his low effort was easily saved by their keeper. Minutes later a move from defence saw Edwards thread through to the lively Stokes who spotted na na na na na David Connolly excellently free in the middle to tap home for the eventual winning goal. Stokes vision was something we have missed and produced an early Sunderland lead, something we are not used to seeing at the SoL.

Some of the football we played in the first half was very good and even in the awful conditions looked to be in complete control. The curse of the penalty continued to grow as Edwards whipped a low ball into the box to see Connolly hauled down by the Ipswich centre back, this would be the 1st of three penalty shouts, but as you know we would never be awarded one.

The 1st half in terms of excitement and entertainment was few and far between but the overall play was impressive and the defence seemed to look as strong as it has all season. The only thing that annoyed me was Yorke trying to pass simply but failing on a few occasions; he did improve in the second half with some well timed tackles and kept the ball going in the right direction.

Second half saw no changes and the performance was as annoying as the litter that swept around Sir Keano's feet, for only 27,000 people we didn’t half make some mess on the pitch! The chances that we did create, and it wasn't many was either just offside or bad running from the front two but thinking back to the second half Ipswich created the better chances.

The most anxious moment of the game was when Nosworthy got skinned on the right side (from where I look) and Ward pulled off a fantastic save to see Super-Jonny clear the ball off the line. In all honesty Ipswich deserved an equaliser as we failed to make advantage of our home advantage. Sunderland for some reason decided to sit back most of the second half and invite pressure but with some good defending we managed to override the pressure they threw at us.

So another home win to the list makes for an exciting trip to Hillsborough next week to see if we can finally reach the promise land of the top six. A quick word on the debutants.... Stokes played well and managed to set the goal up with a great cross to show his new fans he can also help set up goals as well as bang them in. Carlos Edwards was the poorest out of the three new boys but we shouldn't jump on his back after a total of 110 mins on the pitch, he needs time to settle and it will come, hopefully. But with two games under his belt the MoM has to go to Evans who simply looks superb in defence. Long may his spell continue alongside any one of Nos, Caldwell, Cunningham, Varga or Collins.

Another whinge I have was a bet I had on was Connolly 1st goal, Sunderland win 2-0, well you can't have it all can you?

MOM -Evans

Gary Johnson
aka - Clancey_Wiggum