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Report | Colchester United v Salford City Your Report added at 16:29:02
This was one of Town’s poorest performances. Town lined up with a 4 4 2 formation with new loan signing Paul Green filling the wide right position with Skuse, Hyam and Hunt making up the midfield quartet. Unfortunately for Hyam this was going to be a short lived return as he was forced off after 10 minutes with a Hamstring injury which disrupted the midfield.
Again Town’s passing in midfield constantly let them down, very little flow and cohesion allowed Blackpool to enjoy possession with ease. Green unfairly spent most of his time in the centre of the field leaving Chambers exposed and struggled to provide crosses for the front two.
Murphy had a performance to forget as he failed to create enough from the left and all too easily robbed of possession leaving McGoldrick to search ever deeper to carve out a defence splitting ball, it never materialized. Town’s top goal scorer came within inches of increasing his tally with a headed cross in the first half, this being Town’s best chance all afternoon.
Blackpool went into this fixture on the back of a hard earned and late solitary point at the City ground. The Tangerines now under the stewardship of Barry Ferguson who has injected a lot of new faces into the club recently would have been asking a lot of his new team to gel immediately. Faris Haroun, a one time target for the blues before joining Middlesbrough looked the stand out menace who came close to nicking all 3 points late on after a goal area scramble, the impressive Loach keeping him at bay and earning Town’s 8th clean sheet.
The season is now in danger of fizzling out after the news that McGoldrick has been ruled out for 10 weeks with a knee injury. The better news is that Ebanks Blake returned to the 18 who has the prowess to shoot Town into a play off position. It looks like Mick need a clear out of some midfield personnel and will need funds to add to the squad if Town are going to be consider a promotion contender next season.
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Report | Colchester United v Salford City Your Report added at 22:34:20
The departure of Ryan Tunnicliffe clearly gave the Town boss a conundrum, an already thin midfield four became a central trio of Tabb, Hunt and Skuse pitched against Bolton’s five in the middle. If it hadn't have been for the ex Manchester United midfielder Town could now well be nursing a bruised ego bogged down in mid table, the first forty minutes was less than desirable for Town, even to the eyes of the neutral it was easy to say that Bolton made more of the lion share.
The visitors had a handful of clear goal scoring opportunities before the break, Gerken yet again showed why he remains the blues no.1. Town were very fortunate to be goalless at half time and if the loss of one central midfielder was hard enough to bear then it got worse when Skuse took a bad knock to the head and had to be replaced with Wordsworth after half an hour.
Town now clutching at straws after having lost their stalwart form had to make do with little Jay Tabb, utilized as a wide player of late gave a dogged defensive display was the stand out performer in the makeshift midfield.
Once again the 2nd period was town's strongest although they had to wait until the 55th minute when the referee awarded a penalty from what looked like a dubious challenge from the Bolton keeper. The decision looked harsh; McGoldrick was quick to pounce on a loose ball just after the Bolton keeper tried to force a corner. The blues top marksman was presented with his third spot kick and an opportunity to make up for two failed efforts, the net virtually exploded as McGoldrick claimed his 15th goal of the season.
The penalty outcome determined the result of the match which was welcoming because too often this season Ipswich have taken an early lead then failed to kill off their opposition and ended up conceding a soft equalizer.
The stand out performers were Tabb for his dogged midfield display and Berra for being instrumental at the heart of Town’s defence ensuring a 7th clean sheet, on another day Town would have ended up the losing team but fortunately they faced a Bolton side badly lacking in organisation and togetherness.
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Report | Morecambe v Port Vale Your Report added at 19:39:28
With the F.A cup taking center stage this weekend there were only 4 championship fixtures so this was going to be a golden opportunity for Town to close the gap on the top six. Reading who slammed 7 past Bolton last week came to Portman Road with confidence and it showed for much of the 1st half, no goals in the first half. Reading mainly consisted of personnel that couldn't keep them in the Premier league last season, the danger men Pavel Pogrebniak and Adam LeFondre who caused Berra and Smith no end of problems throughout the afternoon. For once Town chose to show their steel in the 2nd half with Hunt and Berra the stand out performers.
McCarthy was forced to make at least one change with the injured Hyam sidelined with a gashed leg. Skuse and Tunnicliffe formed the central pairing and the wide men of Edwards and Hunt .
Reading stood tall almost unmovable, Town had to work hard to find time and space that was restricted for the men in blue. The deadlock was broken half way through the 2nd half when a darting run by Hunt created space for a low cross that was met by Murphy who rifled the ball high in off the crossbar 1 nil the score.
This was a pivotal point as Town had now found their feet upping the tempo against a physical Reading side that looked dangerous on the break. For me Town's back line showed their strength and in particular Berra who literally fought for Town to ensure only their sixth clean sheet this season. In the remaining few minutes Anderson raced unchallenged into the visitors penalty area coolly firing past Alex McCarthy the former Town loanee to seal a vital 3 points.
In all this was a pleasing hard fought 3 points however, town struggled again in the 1st half with little zip or movement to their play, a lack of creativity from the midfield four.
Hunt, who stood out for Town was brought off soon after his crucial run to be replaced by Tabb a cautionary replacement for a squad that's lacking depth. Super sub Anderson replaced Edwards at half time as the wide player nursed a sore groin and couldn't be risked for Tuesdays visit to Leeds in 3 days time.
Town Man of the match: Berra, who literally fought off a physical Reading front line.
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Report | Birmingham City v Fulham Your Report added at 00:50:32
David McGoldrick and Paul Taylor both came off the bench in the 2nd half to provide the extra fire power Town had lacked in the 1st period. McCarthy opted for a 4 3 3 formation placing his faith in an experimental front 3 with Hunt and Anderson flanking Nouble in the centre of attack. Again town found themselves involved in what sounded like a laid back exhibition match with few goal chances being created from either team. Listening to the game on the radio it sounded like Town's game plan was to see the game out with a 1 nil victory, an approach that many town fans have felt uncomfortable watching this season (me included although this method has proved fairly successful at times) Preston on the other hand have shown that they're no push overs and defeating a club like Ipswich will be a confidence booster for them. I think Forest will be too strong for Preston in round 4 as Billy Davies men have been resurgent of late looking like serious play off contenders.
I'm unhappy Town have succumbed to another lower league outfit in cup competition this season and I'm disappointed that some players in the squad don't appear to be working hard enough when asked to perform. Its satisfying to see McCarthy showing his anger and frustration at players who don't play well for the club, hopefully Mick can attract stronger defensive players the team needs this month. |
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Report | Port Vale v Salford City Your Report added at 21:01:10
This was a tough game for Town to keep a clean sheet and so it proved to be. A game of two halves, town were the better team in the 1st half with a more than competent display of keep ball, something town have clearly lacked in recent home performances. Both teams lined up with a 4 5 1 formation and Ranger's team wouldn't have looked out of place in the Premier league with Niko Krankjaer, Joey Barton, Benoit Assou Ekotto, Yossi Benayoun, Richard Dunne and Robert Green (who was relentlessly jeered at the whole afternoon). I was disappointed with the defending that led to Ranger's first goal as Kranjaer was allowed to waltz across the penalty area to then beat Gerken with a less than powerful strike low to the keeper's left. It was a soft goal to concede and with a strong suspicion of offside the home crowd vented their frustration at the official for not raising his flag. It was downhill for Town after the break as the visitors capitalized on an inefficient defensive display as Gary O'neil doubled Rangers lead when he pounced on the flailing Gerken who failed to clear an effort on target.
I consider QPR to be the strongest team on paper in the Championship this season and it was a game Town were not expected to win, however the scoreline flattered the visitors even with Tommy Smith's spectacular solitary consolation volley late on. Town need to strengthen their midfield if there going to mount a genuine promotion challenge. |
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Report | Stoke City v AFC Bournemouth Your Report added at 19:29:01
This was Towns poorest home performance this season so far. A paltry crowd of 13,500 watched Town struggle against a lower league outfit that are enjoying a good run of form of late placed 3rd in league 1. Preston showed that they are an organised team composed when in possession of the ball proving to be a stubborn opponent to break down, the town boss made multiple changes with Sylvan Ebanks Blake, Anthony Wordsworth, Tyrone Mings, Carlos Edwards and Scott Loach all making rare starts. After a hectic Christmas and New Year fixture congestion it was predictable that the game was going to be starved of high octane end to end football and instead played at a near pedestrian like pace, at times felt like watching an exhibition match. Preston had chances to however, I wouldn't say that they created enough to deserve outright victory.
It was town that scored first from the penalty mark punished by a blatant handball, luckily for McGoldrick he had a 2nd bite at the ball when he saw his spot kick initially saved by the Preston keeper. Unfortunately for town the lead didn't last very long as Kevin Davies capitalized on a defensive error neatly slotting the ball low past Loach about 4 minutes later. Town have shown that with the central defensive partnership of Berra and Smith this season don't concede many goals although with Chambers being utilized as a right back makes the back line look uneven.
I think the match stats will show that both teams didn't create many scoring opportunities and rightly so because the ball spent most of the time in the air or bogged down in the middle of the park. Town must do a lot better if they're going to pick up any points against QPR in a weeks time as this was definitely one that town fans can quietly forget about although having not lost away from home in more than 3 months can be encouraged about the replay. |
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Report | Oldham Athletic v Carlisle United Your Report added at 01:17:33
A combination of tiredness and horrendous weather contributed to a curtailed performance despite 3 changes made from the Bournemouth game. I was pleased to see Taylor in the starting line up he worked hard without reward, Paul is definitely a player that can score a lot of goals at Championship level. The quality of football wasn't great as Town are still struggling to hold onto possession as too many passes are going astray. Town should have had a penalty in the 2nd minute when it appeared that Murphy was hauled down when through on goal, Murphy was goal side and managed to squeeze his body between the last defender and ball. The biggest home crowd of the season saw Town take hold of the 1st half only to be frustrated to see them concede a deflected 89th minute equalizer from substitute Jackson. Stuart Attwell was the official who took charge and at closer inspection I can see why he was demoted from the Premier league list of officials as he struggled to get a handle on the big decisions. Nouble was unfortunate to receive a caution after the equalizing goal when he attempted to entice the restart of play from a Charlton throw, the official should have booked the visiting player instead for wasting time.
I can honestly say that both the weather and tiredness affected the players performance however, I'm disappointed that we drew as it feels like 2 points dropped. Looking at the positives we're still in the play offs and the result stretches our unbeaten run to 8 games. |
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Report | Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday Your Report added at 18:47:00
Both teams were vulnerable throughout as neither side took command of possession. Town showed how resilient they can be away from Portman road with Gerken pulling off a handful of excellent saves notably from a point blank effort from Simon Cox when on the end of an arching cross from Forest's left side only to be denied by Gerken's well placed legs, this being Forest's best chance by far. Town favoured their attacks down the left with the advancing Cresswell his deliveries being less than desirable however, Nouble's pace and close control proved problematic for the home defence especially in the first half with a rasping twentyfive yard drive from a solo run. A fair result for both teams at the full time whistle. |
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