It was a disgrace. The ref was biased. We should have had three penalties. They were really dirty. We played much better football. The pitch made the ball bounce in their direction all the time ….
I’m sorry – Joe Royale seems to have hacked into my report and typed in my first paragraph. I’m sure he’ll be spreading his tubby lard all over the place explaining how unlucky his side were and how unjust life is.
Ipswich is only 100 miles away from my home over on the west side of Hertfordshire but it is so different. I’m not claiming we have anything to rival the hills or coast of the North-East but what we have is passable. As you turn off the M25 and head through Essex it has to be the most ugly scenery to be found anywhere in these isles. Think North London but with a few scrubby, dirty fields interspersed and you’ve got the idea. And there lies the truth about Ipswich. Despite their claims to being innocent rural folk, they are simply an easterly extension of Essex, a mixture of London dormitory town and post Second World War London slum clearance. Not so much tractor as Ford Capri. The fans reflect the environment. They are just so dull – having to spend more than a day a year at this place could seriously put you off football. It’s disappointing that Norwich are coming down as it’s a great place and they have proper passionate supporters but I’d be more than happy if this lot stay down – for good frankly. Why they don’t just pack in and amalgamate with their soul mates Tottenham Hotspur is beyond me.
The red and white army seem to be taking to car park cans of beer quite well. When we were car park boozing at Derby we were just about the only ones. As we parked up at the car park opposite the station just before 10 there were already a fair few having a brunch of beer and more joined in the impromptu beer “garden” as it got closer to 12. How nice that we have a proper KO against Leicester next week.
Myrhe must have failed to recover fitness because it was Ingham in goal. God help us. I know he’s just a young lad etc but this is no time for sentimentality. We need an experienced goalie to help get the points we need to finish this job off. Other than the goalie the team was the same as last week with Deane, Elliott, Thornton and Collins D as subs.
I know most of you have seen it on the telly so I’ll keep it brief. I thought we looked comfortable throughout. Their main tactic seemed to be to hoof it over the top for their forwards to try to use pace to out-run our defenders. Our defence would have none of it and sheltered Ingham amazingly well. They also like long throws – goodness only knows where they get their media-friendly image of being a footballing side.
We had a penalty in the first half from a deliberate handball (was the defender booked? – bliddy well lucky not to be sent off, cheating git – fat Joe would be proud of him). Stew, who is usually so reliable on penalties, screwed it well wide. Stew may well be coming to the end of his time at SAFC (opinions vary on whether we’ll keep him in the prem) and has had a mixed time. This miss won’t have helped add to the “positives”. Pity like cos there are times you can see he’s a canny player but I suspect in ten years time he’ll get a lot warmer welcome at Portman Road than the SoL. To be fair, other than the pen miss, he had a canny game and he was unlucky that both our goals came after he went off.
Second half we were attacking the end that we were at. Although they had as much possession we continued to be the only team getting decent chances. However halfway in (just after we had a header hit their bar) Ingham decided to spill the ball and Ipswich were 1-0 up from their first meaningful attempt on target. Bugger – the worry was that they would now drop back. Mick brought on Brian Deane and Stephen Elliott for Stewart and Brown. It paid dividends as a Wright cross was headed back across goal by Deane and in from short range by Elliott. If Deane does nothing else for us, this contribution justifies Mick bringing him in for these last few games.
Thornton came on for Lawrence and we really were looking on top now. We then got the lead we should have had from way back in the first half. Arca flicked over a stylish little chip for Ringo to run on to. His ball across pinged a bit before being poked in by Robbo. Cue hysterical celebrations amongst the away support. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold onto it and a few minutes later the Ford Capri boys got a scrambled equaliser. The ref found 5 minutes of injury time and Ipswich had probably their only period of domination as it dawned on them that a draw was no use to them. The defence held solid and Ingham even made a canny save. The team looked disappointed at the end, which I guess is a good thing but there was no doubt who were the happier supporters (even putting to one side the fact that Ipswich fans seem incapable of genuine joy).
I must admit I was a nervous wreck before this game. The difference between 8 points ahead or 2 points ahead of the team we most need to keep ahead of for promotion made the whole thing too crucial. The team played really well and certainly looked a class above the fat whinger’s outfit. Deano and Robbo in central midfield make us a lot more attractive to the eye and Mick’s ability to rotate forwards during the game continues to pay dividends. Our defence is looking solid and is clearly benefiting from playing so many games together. Yes, 8 points ahead would have been nice. But come on – 5 points ahead with 3 games to go. Not bad is it? Win next week against Leicester at the SoL and Ipswich fails to win at Leeds and that’s it. You can almost smell the premiership (actually that might be the mags, but you know what I mean).
A lot of SAFC supporters headed off to the now open pubs to watch the “entertainers” (well, they entertain us) in their latest episode of Spot the Silverware. Unfortunately I had to get to work (boo!) but I headed off a much happier and contented man than I’d arrived. I think I might even opt to go back to the complacent arrogancy I was trying out before that ginger git spoiled it all in the Reading game (boo that as well – I don’t want to remember it).
See you at the SoL for the Leicester game. Party on up dudes.