Town’s home game with table-propping Burton Albion ended in a drab 0-0 draw with the visitors having the better of the few chances. In the second half of a match watched by Portman Road’s lowest league crowd for almost 20 years, Blues keeper Bartosz Bialkowski saved from former Blue Darren Bent when through one-on-one and brilliantly in the final minute from Kyle McFadzean.

Bersant Celina replaced Freddie Sears on the left of the trio behind lone striker Joe Garner in an otherwise unchanged Town side. For Burton, former Blues loanee Stephen Bywater was in goal, while Bent was up front.

The visitors dominated possession in early stages played in heavy rain but in unthreatening areas and without creating a serious chance. On six on-loan West Ham midfielder Martin Samuelsen shot well wide from distance.

In the 12th minute Lloyd Dyer, who turned down a contract with Town after a successful trial two years ago, cut in from the left and hit a shot not too far over Bartosz Bialkowski’s cross bar.

On 25 Dyer was shown the game’s first yellow card for pulling back Ward as Town looked to break with the Blues still to get going.

The Brewers, who had lost their previous five games in all competitions, continued to see more of the ball as the game reached the half-hour mark with both keepers still untested. On 32 Hope Akpan shot over for the away team.

As half-time approached with Town still having made little impression, sections of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand began to make their criticisms of manager Mick McCarthy’s style of football clear.

Seconds before boos greeted the half-time whistle, a Celina cross from the left was nodded behind at the far post.

That reaction to a thoroughly dull first half came as little surprise with the Blues having failed to register a shot on or off target. On the rare occasions when Town had been in potentially dangerous positions a pass had always gone astray.

The bottom-of-the-table Brewers had seen most of the ball, albeit while looking similarly unthreatening.

Town needed to be much better after the break if they were to claim a second win in succession following last week’s victory at Sunderland.

The Blues began the second half on the front foot, Ward and Jordan Spence seeing early crosses in from the right cut out, then the former Spurs youngster saw a subsequent ball into the box deflected behind.

From Waghorn’s resultant corner from the right, Callum Connolly flicked on at the near post and the ball reached Celina beyond the far post from where he hit a shot on the turn which was blocked.

But it was the visitors and former Town striker Bent who should have scored in the 57th minute. The 34-year-old was threaded in behind Cameron Carter-Vickers but was unable to beat the advancing Bialkowski, who blocked.

The Blues had faded after their brighter start to the half and as the hour mark approached boos rang around the frustrated Portman Road crowd.

Manager McCarthy was evidently similarly less than impressed with proceedings and made a double substitution, debutant Mustapha Carayol and Stephen Gleeson taking over from Ward and Connolly.

Carayol, who joined on a deadline day free transfer after leaving Nottingham Forest, immediately made an impact, cutting in from the right before being felled just on the edge of the area to the right. The freekick was tapped to Waghorn, whose powerfully hit effort flew across the face with no Town player able to add a touch.

Bent made way in the 71st minute to warm applause from his old fans and Northern Ireland international Liam Boyce took over up front for the Brewers.

Sub Carayol wasn’t too far away from a spectacular debut goal in the 80th minute with a well-struck effort from the right which scraped the side-netting. The effort, Town’s closest of the afternoon, led to sarcastic cheers and a reprise of the earlier chants regarding McCarthy’s football.

Two minutes later, Carter-Vickers headed over from Waghorn’s right-sided corner, then on 85 Celina scuffed a weak effort through to Bywater, again to sarcastic cheers.

Burton almost won it in the final minute when Kyle McFadzean’s near-post header from Samuelsen’s corner on the right seemed destined for the roof of the net until Bialkowski pulled off a brilliant reaction save to turn it over the bar.

Soon after, the final whistle went to loud boos and further chants regarding manager McCarthy from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

Town never looked like getting anything more than a goalless draw from the game, creating few chances - or more accurately half-chances - throughout.

The Blues were marginally better in spells in the second half than they had been in the first but Bywater was still never seriously tested.

Burton were closest to breaking the deadlock with Bialkowski, again the Blues’ man of the match, making a sharp save from Bent and then his stunning late reaction stop from McFadzean.

The crowd of 13,815 - 17 fewer than the season’s previous smallest home Championship crowd for the Reading match - is the lowest Portman Road crowd for a home game in the league since 13,212 attended the Blues' 1-0 victory over Swindon in October 1998.

A dismal draw from what was viewed as a must-win game sees the Blues stay 12th, eight points from the play-offs ahead of next Sunday’s East Anglian derby at Norwich City.

Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Carter-Vickers, Chambers (c), Skuse, Connolly (Gleeson 60), Ward (Carayol 60), Waghorn, Celina, Garner. Unused: M Crowe, Iorfa, Webster, Hyam, Sears.

Burton: Bywater, Brayford (c), Allen, McFadzean, Bent (Boyce 71), Akins, Dyer (Sordell 80), Naylor, Davenport, Samuelsen, Akpan. Unused: Campbell, McCrory, Buxton, Barker, Sbarra. Referee: David Webb (Lancashire). Att: 13,815 (Burton: 169).

Photo: TWTD

Talbs77 added 19:07 - Feb 10 Shameful today. I have been coming to Portman Rd for 30 years and can't remember many time spent I have felt more desolated. The team we played today had lost the last 4 games in a row conceding 15 goals yet we never hit a single shot in anger. The sad thing for me is that as a season ticket holder for years, nothing today surprised me. It's the apathy that's killing my club, mediocrity leads to one place..... league 1. By next week he will talk about team spirit/working the most for the club blah blah blah but most other clubs would hav e dismissed him months ago. However the real cays lies with a owner that believes he can get us to the £300M pay check on a miracle... you can with an outstanding manager who believes in the club youth policy and long term future much like Burley/Robson did. This guy believes in none of that. For the first time in years I am thinking of no team renewing my season ticket. I feel sad as for the first time since I was wowed by Dalian against Boro back in 87/88 I don't believe anymore. My club is dying a slow painful death.

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Kirbmeister added 19:08 - Feb 10 blueboy - your usual attempt to wind people up is doomed to failure. Even the happy clappers are tired and just want the season to end as quickly as possible.
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warktheline added 19:10 - Feb 10 'There's a good chap' SWN will make sense of it all! The suspense is 'killing me'!
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warktheline added 19:12 - Feb 10 The 'wind sailing' Kirbmeister returns!
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blueboy1981 added 19:13 - Feb 10 ...... looking for excuses again Kerbmeister ? - and sad there are NONE left ? Stating FACT and 'winding people up' as you put it - are two totally different things, I do the former, probably much to yours, and a few others disgust. Hard cheese - don't try to defend the indefensible. It only works for so long, as you should now know.
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Tractorboy1985 added 19:18 - Feb 10 I stand by it... whilst Cole Skuse is in an Ipswich 11 we are going nowhere!!!
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Geddis78 added 19:18 - Feb 10 Nice to see Blueboy and Warktheline happy again. As they always are when we are sh1te. Is there really a need to ‘call out' other posters though? Dreadful dire performance. It was the team most of us would have picked but other than Bart, none of them turned up today. No positives, not even the clean sheet. We will get stuffed if we play like that next week.
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StochesStotasBlewe added 19:24 - Feb 10 The atmosphere was as flat as a witches tit, so myself & a few others passed the time counting the Burton fans. My guess was 98, oh, and there was what might be loosely described as a football match in progress. Utter bloody rubbish (Bart aside). The end.
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gt81 added 19:24 - Feb 10 A team of Long John Silver impersonators would have looked more likely to score than we did today. How can experienced professionals be so clueless?
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oldegold added 19:24 - Feb 10 Surely one of the worst performances by any modern team in living memory and this ranks as one of the most inept in my 40 odd years of watching Town. It is time to part ways..everyone can see that...our whole reputation has gone down the can, we have no youth / academy players being played and none come through in the 5 yrars of so under his tutelage, probably the worst "footballing" side in GB, a silent non communicative president. I have had enough and I'm out.Today I felt ashamed to be an Ipswich Town follower, not fan, as it is going from bad to worse.McCarthy simply hasn't the guile, the variety, the humility and the courage to continue as manager and must go.We are simply an embarrasement and he is well past his sell by date.

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blueboy1981 added 19:27 - Feb 10 ........ 'when we're sh!te' Geddis78 - isn't that all the time ???? or have you conveniently (missed something) which you and the happy band of 'clappers' seem to be adept at..... ????
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BraveDave added 19:35 - Feb 10 So many decent fans who are really down with what is going on at the moment. Mixture of depressed posts, and posts where people are managing a bit of gallows humour. We all feel the pain, but show it in different ways. Then there is blueboy 1981 who definitely loves it when we lose. A very sad character, but I suppose whatever gives you pleasure. Glad there's very few like him. I suspect his pleasure will be complete when we lose at Carrow Road.

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Seasider added 19:39 - Feb 10 This performance really was dire.The only player who stood out yet again was Bart.Mussy also had a bright half an hour,probably because he has yet to have the going forward bit of his game 'coached ' out of him;just like Ward,Freddie Sears and several others have during this boring Managers 5 years at this once great club. Don't suppose Mr Invisible bothered to put in an appearance,like so many others in a crowd of 13000 odd,the lowest Phil tells us for 20 years. For the first time in about 40 years I travelled from Essex on my own.There had up until 2 years ago been a car load of us from Clacton;but this year was down to 2 until today. In Legends for the first time ever I was Billy no Mates until joined by the only other one left of the group, whereas at one time there was 10.However he sits upstairs so I had to suffer the game on my own. Very sad days indeed for not only me at Portman Rd;and unless Evans acts and rids us of Mick McCarthy then once again season ticket sales will fall,and the remaining 3 or 4 of our dwindling little group will give up their season tickets completely,instead of coming less frequently as now;so it looks like I may be spending much of the time,as I did today.

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Geddis78 added 19:40 - Feb 10 Blueboy, keep it in perspective. We are mid table, so no, not always sh1te. There have been some decent performances this year and some awful ones. Yes, today was the worst.
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brittaniaman added 19:45 - Feb 10 WHY is it that Burton looked far better than us today ????? Dino has had a week of training with the squad (no midweek game) to try and iron out any weaknesses, yet we made Burton look like a team in the top six, take Bart out of the Equation Burton would have gone home with all the points ! Dino you have another Full week to try and work out some Tactics if (you have any,) as you claim you are so good at your job (your words again) Also we never seem to play well in front of the Cameras, we will be lucky if we get a draw against them ??

18

cat added 19:49 - Feb 10 Geddis78 - stick to what you do best fella, talking honest rational football. The calling out pendulum swings both ways on here, and there's a lot of bad history. Credit to you on your honest assessment of the game though. On another note today's woefully inept performance might be the kick up the arse we need for next week.
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warktheline added 19:51 - Feb 10 Geddis and Dave the brave one...again deflecting attention away from their 'hero' McCarthy! Are you two politicians by any chance! Like McCarthy full of....
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Swn98 added 19:55 - Feb 10 Having witnessed the debacle at Burton i didnt think that it could get any worse then along comes todays match. Well thats the end of the Season so i shall be departing these shores. Just like to add how sad i am that this board is degenerated into nothing more than a bar room brawl.
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warktheline added 19:55 - Feb 10 @cat, guaranteed we won't beat them next week! As I predicted 14th, by next week we will virtually be about there!!
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warktheline added 19:56 - Feb 10 Swn, always good for a ruddy giggle!
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blueboy1981 added 19:56 - Feb 10 Seasider ....... your plight is sad, reading through your post I genuinely share your sorrow. I too have had an almost identical experience, I too ended up travelling alone, at one stage, for many years I could have filled two cars if I could have driven two. I too loved my times in the Legends Bar, and attended much more than just matches at the Club. What is happening to our Club is not just about finding something else to do on a Saturday - it completely changes a way of life for so many people, who by desire would not have it that way. Always welcome to have a natter over a Shandy one day when I return - let's hope for better things ahead to allow just that to happen. Enjoy your evening - Football is only a game. ( but a way of life for some of us ).

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Cakeman added 19:59 - Feb 10 All been said by many but for my four Penneth I cannot recall seeing such a dismal shower wearing the shirt than the lot on display today (Bart aside) Worse still we have extended the deals for the likes of Skuse and Chambers. Both fairly decent players in their time but neither will take the club forward. Not sure what team will turn up at Naridge next week but if they play like they did today we shall be on the wrong end of a Terrible hiding. To be honest I have totally lost interest in our club because of the owner and manager. Both have failed us big time!

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Geddis78 added 19:59 - Feb 10 Cat, I'm not calling anyone out. Warktheline, I'm not deflecting anything. There were 11 well paid players out there today and they didn't deliver. I simply don't subscribe to the ‘its always the managers fault' theory. Far too simplistic. And fair play McCarthy. He called it as it was. The worst game of the season.
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jas0999 added 20:03 - Feb 10 Seasider - yep. It really is sad isn't it. I also meet up with fewer and fewer folk as many have turned their back on this once great club. Sadder, Evans doesn't care. Shameful.
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heathen66 added 20:32 - Feb 10 Can I come out of my dark room now.??? What a shocker !!! Outplayed by the bottom side at home,80 mins to register a shot towards goal. System not working during first half...don't worry, carry on an do the same things badly.second half too. So,playing the bottom team so lets play 4 at the back, too slow immobile CMs and make sure the wide players cover the wandering full backs, Now that is what I call tactical genius !!!

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