Ipswich Town’s terrible run in the FA Cup continued as the Blues lost 1-0 on the road against Accrington Stanley at the Crown Ground.

Town have not won an FA Cup game since 2010 with their last victory a 2-1 win against Blackpool nine years ago, and they have now been eliminated from the competition by lower league opposition in three of the last four seasons.

In the first ever competitive meeting between Ipswich and Accrington, it was the home side who looked to catch the defence off guard as a corner came swinging into the centre of the box, but Freddie Sears cleared the danger after two minutes.

Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski got bumped by Stanley striker Andy Mangan as he chased down a long ball and after an exchange of words, the referee restored order.

In the eighth minute, Paul Lambert’s men had their first meaningful attack with new loan signing Callum Elder, fresh from Leicester, linking up with Sears to make a run down the right but the 29-year-old wasted his delivery across goal.

Flynn Downes made a dart down the middle, only to see his burst of pace come to nothing as Accrington intercepted the ball and launched a counter-attack.

Stanley’s Sam Finley then unleashed the first shot on goal, which was comfortably collected by Bialkowski.

It was Gwion Edwards’s turn to try and spark a chance for Town and as the ball fell awkwardly in front of him, he released a wild drive into the Crown Ground car park with 18 minutes gone.

Bialkowski was made to work again soon after as Jordan Clark fired a low drive from the right but the Polish stopper was equal to it.

Tempers flared between the two sides after an altercation between Downes and Finley and for his intimidating reaction, the Brentwood-born youngster received a yellow card.

Approaching the half-hour mark, Clark caused problems for Town’s defence as he raced across the byline with quick feet until they were halted by a critical challenge from Toto Nsiala to clear for a corner, which came to no trouble.

Nsiala was forced to deny Clark again and the power of the Stanley midfielder’s shot was so vicious, the rebound inadvertently launched a counter-attack for Town, but Sears misread the path of the ball, as he ran underneath a high, awkward bounce.

In the 37th minute, Sears sprinted forward in search of support and he was joined by ex-Stanley striker Kayden Jackson, who followed the play through to Jon Nolan. Nolan had time and space for a strike from distance but again, the ball was way off-target.

At the other end shortly afterwards, Bialkowski was again forced to deny Clark as he tipped a low strike at his near post before keeping Town in the game again as he made a quick move to cancel out an attack from Finley.

Accrington were awarded a freekick with two minutes to the break after Downes and Clark collided in the middle of the pitch but that chance was given away by the home side with a high ball running out of play.

Sears desperately ran forward again on the right and cut inside to try and bend a shot into the far bottom corner but it was no problem for Stanley keeper Connor Ripley.

Accrington’s star-man Clark made the last move of the half to try and steal a half-time lead but his header fell wide of Bialkowski’s right post as the two sides went into the changing rooms goalless.

When play resumed, Town made a change as Downes came off for Teddy Bishop, and the 22-year-old had the first strike of the second half.

After Town’s freekick from the left was headed out, Bishop blasted a drive from distance, which curled wide to the left.

Bishop continued to make an impact as he surged forward and laid the ball off to the left wing, where Town earned a corner. Again, it came to nothing as a sea of heads deflected the ball out of Accrington’s area.

As the hour mark approached, Stanley attempted to catch Town out with route one football but Nsiala, was on hand to stop Accrington striker Billy Kee with a professional foul.

Bishop’s introduction much improved the visitors' style of play as he inspired more ball movement from across the midfield with two more attempts.

He dragged a left-footed effort across the face of the goal before failing to find the target from distance yet again.

Jon Nolan then found inspiration to have a go at pulling the Blues in front and his hard shot across the grass was parried away by Ripley with just over 20 minutes to play.

Town conceded a freekick in a dangerous position from the left in the 74th minute from which they fell behind.

Stanley captain Sean McConville posted a high arching ball to the far post, which was headed back across goal by Ben Richards-Everton for Kee to nod into an open net.

Sears burst into life again in the last 10 minutes to try and salvage an equaliser but he was denied a hero's goal once again by Ripley having been played in by Bishop.

The Blues pushed for an equaliser in the closing stages but once again their FA Cup campaign ends at the first hurdle, and as so often to lower league opposition. The Blues are now 14 games without a win in the competition they won in 1978.

Town's season of woe shows no sign of an upturn with their next fixture the visit of fellow strugglers Rotherham to Portman Road next Saturday.

Accrington: Ripley, Johnson, Hughes, Richards-Everton, Clark, McConville, Finley, Sykes, Mangan (Brown 66), Barlaser, Kee. Unused: Maxted, Williams, Mingoia, Perritt, Conneely, Watson.

Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Pennington, Nsiala, Elder, Nolan (Harrison 80), Edwards, Downes (Bishop 46), Dozzell, Sears, Jackson (Keane 66). Unused: Gerken, Chambers, Kenlock, Lankester. Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire) . Att: 2,869 (Town: 1,224).

Photo: Action Images

Vanisleblue2 added 21:22 - Jan 5 I would send all of the loan players back- yes all of them. Thank you Pennington nothing against you. I would show the door tomorrow to Spence, Knudsen, Jackson, Harrison, Nolan, Adyemi, Nisala, Bishop and Gerken Desperate times and desperate measures- Start from scratch we CANNOT do any worse
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CostaRicaBlue added 21:25 - Jan 5 4 goals in last 8 games and a woeful defense. Sad times. Pleased to see there were 1200 plus town fans there today!
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runningout added 21:28 - Jan 5 Agree...Not one of our players are worth a sausage. Also wondering how many professional footballers have been football club following fans in their time. Most play like they are only interested in hair tatts and decent pay packet
5

ITFCsince73 added 21:32 - Jan 5 What I do know, and 98% of true blue supporters know. Getting rid of MM was the right and best thing to do. And indeed a great decision by Evans, although let us stew for 18 months +. How any true supporter can say otherwise. Be careful what you wish for brigade #the real numbskulls. And anything but true blue.
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BcarefulwhatUWish4 added 21:46 - Jan 5 Accrington fought with heart and passion. Players worked hard for each other. They were brave in the challenge and didn't simply give up, Every player gave their all, well done to them. Fantastic day for Accrington and one of the proudest days in their recent history, so well done to them. Good test to see how this squad will fair next season in League 1. I don't know why the "be careful what you wish 4" is still doing the rounds. ITFC since 73 is right, a large majority of supporters wanted MM out. A large majority of other fans thought that was madness, and I and a small minority of ITFC fans supported that view. We were concerned at the time that the club that the wrong man might be appointed. However, all that is in the past now. It's a bit like a small minority saying "look out, iceberg ahead". We have hit that iceberg and it's pointless now saying "hmm, should have steered the ship away". It's happened, the past is fixed. It's done already.

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ITFCsince73 added 22:12 - Jan 5 Becarefullwhatuwish4. A majority of town fans wanted MM out because of the crap football week in week out. The minority wanted him out for the complete contempt shown towards supporters, and the club. I supported both views. I for 1 was prepared for relegation....anything was better than that man.
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portmanteau added 22:19 - Jan 5 Football is a team game and at our level that means keeping the same team. Forget this fancy squad nonsense, all these changes every game means a bunch of different strangers meeting up every week. As for one up front words fail me. You can forget about Rotherham or any other opponents. If this is the best Lambert can do then he will not last long.
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ITFCsince73 added 22:25 - Jan 5 Portmanteau. They are professional footballers. Paid eye watering money. Training together as part of a squad 5 times per week etc.
0

Elizabeth added 22:38 - Jan 5 If we are relegated to League 1 we will never again see the Championship or the Premier League . We do not have an owner who embraces the club or the fans..he couldn't care less ! We have been in decline since the appointment of Roy Keane who was never the right man for this club , but then who actually is ? Too many changes today .. this seems to be the norm these days when it's a cup game , why ? And for those of you who would rather be in League 1 than have MM at the club you are not true supporters , who the hell wants to be there ? Unbelievable !

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ITFCsince73 added 22:41 - Jan 5 Who the hell wants Mick back. Get real....
4

Gcon added 22:47 - Jan 5 Makes you realise how lucky we were to have Mick McCarthy, right? The numbskulls have taken over the asylum.
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blueboy1981 added 22:55 - Jan 5 Gcon ...... resorting to name calling - pathetic, hang your head in shame in calling yourself an ITFC fan - you're a joke, no less.
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cunning_stunt added 22:58 - Jan 5 Northstandveteran is spot on; ME bought the club (took on it's debt), appointed Keane and threw sackfuls of money at him expecting a quick payback with instant promotion to the Premier League. Keane was disastrous - sold the club's promising youngsters (Rhodes, Garvan, Haynes) for a pittance, paid big money for mediocre players, and dismantled the youth structure. ME got his fingers burnt and has been miserly with the cash ever since. We are still suffering from the legacy of Keane.

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thechangingman added 23:12 - Jan 5 Newsflash: The light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off. Please abandon all hope. The future will be darkness, until further notice. That is all.
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Minneapolis_ITFC added 23:28 - Jan 5 Was anyone overly surprised about this score ? Seriously, you realized ahead of time there were every chance the opposition would find victory and so it came to pass. Hell, it doesn't even warrant an upset (given our pedigree in the competition in recent years) Take the opportunity to give plaudits to the traveling support who incidentally made up a half of the supposed crowd for today, too bad your efforts weren't duplicated by the players on show who decided yet again (that) "a Third Round Cup game is simply of no importance and worth even fighting for" et cetera et cetera. No sixth round appearance since 1993, no semi-final participation since 1981, sure as hell that was never going to be remedied this season - although you DO believe at certain stages of the way that things ARE possible and there's every chance something unexpected could occur. As it is, today was merely another sorry-ass episode in the (now) long-running saga at this club of 'We are due elimination at the earliest opportunity in any Cup Competition (Invariably against inferior opposition)' Upsetting - but in no way surprising.

5

RobsonWark added 23:49 - Jan 5 Why would you give a sh**e if you are getting £10-£15 grand a week like Chambers. I would love to earn that for playing crap football and giving great interviews,
8

itfchorry added 00:02 - Jan 6 Embarrassed - Shamrd for all of us that turned up - How much lower can this Club fall ?
3

Edmundo added 00:18 - Jan 6 If Evans fails to offer some kind of refund to the loyal support who went today then he has total contempt for everything ITFC. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?? We should be tearing up the Directors Box if we go down in this manner. Total disgrace of ownership, no direction. How can ANY manager do their job under the current conditions at Portman Road. I fear Evans wants to find a reason to wind us up and cash in on the property (particularly Playford Road). Might provide a little compensation for this pathetic man.

3

Lukeybluey added 00:22 - Jan 6 To me it seems we are a club that's doing things like they were done in the 1980's. We are spending the same amount of money presently to that of back in the 80's. It's all well and good that Evans say's yes we should invest in youth. That's questionable now a days as Premiership teams can nick our best youth products for a pittance. I believe he fails to realise that the Championship is now pretty much an extension of the Premiership due to the amount of parachute payments made to relegated teams. So without either retaining our promising youth products or investing in quality for the 1st team it's a project that was always destined to fail, and we do neither. I have always tried to remain optimistic and positive but I fear the worst, I really do. I can see us going the same way as Coventry. We don't own our ground, the council does. We'll probably end up ground sharing with Col U and Portman Road will be knocked down to make flats. I hope that doesn't happen, but I feel incredibly sad that we seem to be disintegrating right before my eyes. Hopelessness is the overwhelming feeling. If we fail to beat Rotherham I think that's it. Although I'm pretty much resigned to relegation. I would say we should have a whip round like Portsmouth, but I think the debt to the tune of 90+ milly might be a stretch too far.

6

grinch added 01:04 - Jan 6 Bit of perspective folks Narwich lost to pompey we wouldn't win cup so 1 more Round we ain't gonna set world alight let's just see how this relegation thing goes Hull won 6 on bounce gives hope in my opinion so much gloom to see raise it folks
3

BrettenhamBlue added 03:11 - Jan 6 Another humiliation to add to a very long list of humiliations in the last 10 years. When are these humiliations ever going to end???? I try to stay positive by creating positive polls etc but I can't remember the last time I felt proud to be a fan.
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Soroche added 04:58 - Jan 6 Lossiemouth 23 1 0 22 -92 Fort William 22 0 2 20 -145
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norfolkbluey added 07:44 - Jan 6 Sorche what the h**l are you, a Robot? Please elucidate? Oh that means explain! ME has turned us into a typically underinvested club. Starved of real funding over a long period. As a consequence the football has slowly but surely suffered over a long period. Money has killed the sport along with greed and avarice. It is a sad situation and one I sadly can see will be for the foreseeable future. We have lost the opportunity now to be a great club again unless we can join the likes of Leicester who have had substantial backing by a very rich investor willing to spend and trust his managers' judgements. We have a decent young manager now with experience but have we an owner who having had his fingers burnt in the past willing to back the club financially properly? I hope so.

1

Soroche added 08:15 - Jan 6 Norfolk bluey... l agree with your post. I was just speculating that maybe we should relocate to the Scottish Highland league to improve our chances of a win😎. Look at the table ..Lossiemouth don't even have the worst goal difference. 'Always look on the bright side of life' and all that.😁
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Northstandveteran added 08:17 - Jan 6 But you just know Lossiemouth and Fort Williams bad runs would end if Ipswich rolled up in Scotland 😂
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