CITY 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
With the inclement weather that the whole country is experiencing currently this Sunday afternoon Walkers Stadium clash was the only English League game to survive. On Saturday Sky Television made the decision to televise the City – Ipswich match as Sunday's Premier league programme had already fallen victim to the weather conditions and both the matches at Anfield and Upton Park were postponed on Saturday. The fact our game survived is testament to the groundstaff, the undersoil heating at the Walkers Stadium and in no small part to good planning on the club's part to cope with such freezing conditions.
It may have largely gone unnoticed but this match was Leicester’s fifth consecutive home game in a row, after the away trips to Cardiff and Doncaster in December both fell victim to the cold weather. This run of home games had allowed city to rebuild the winning momentum at the Walkers and a win today could put city up to fourth place in the league.
Nigel Pearson made one change to the City line up, centre-back Wayne Brown came in to replace Jack Hobbs, who was dropped down to the bench. Having worked hard to get the match on, the Foxes made the worst possible start by conceding an own goal just 21 seconds from the kick off….
With the first attack of the game Ipswich Town put a good move together on the left side of the field with the on loan Sunderland winger Jack Colback able to send a fine cross into the City box, the ball somewhat tamely met the head of David Norris before being inadvertently deflected into the city net by left-back Ryan McGivern, who was unable to get out of the way. Chris Weale was beaten and it was one nil to Ipswich.
The bad start seemed to wake City up and we tried for an instant response, Richie Wellens forcing a good save out of the Ipswich keeper Arran Lee-Barrett before Ryan McGivern sent in an effort deflected for a corner before Lloyd Dyer followed suit with a cross shot that deflected wide, earning the Foxes another corner from which right back Robbie Neilson hit the near post.
Next Andy King was to test the Ipswich defence with a driven free kick, forcing Ipswich full back Pim Balkenstein to make a fine clearance off the goal-line. Steve Howard also tested the Ipswich defence with a fine header from a Matt Oakley corner, the ball being headed clear off the line as the city pressure mounted mid way through the first half.
It wasn’t all one way traffic and it could have been game over if Chris Weale hadn’t been so alert to the danger posed by first a dangerous header from Jon Walters and then a point blank header from former Foxes defender Gareth McAuley, which he tipped over the bar for a corner and which looked almost certainly to be goal number two for the tractor boys.
City were looking good every time they attacked and in the 36th minute Lloyd Dyer ran at the Ipswich backline through the middle of the park, his shot deflected wildly off the Ipswich defence falling kindly for both Matt Fryatt and Steve Howard, one of the strikers had to put the loose ball away and sure enough big-Steve got a nice shot on the ball turning it home into the far corner of the net beating the keeper. 1-1 and the Foxes thoroughly deserved to be back on level terms.
There were no changes at half time and City started the second half strongly and should have taken the lead. A corner came in from the right and an overhead effort from Wayne Brown from six yards out fell kindly for Matt Fryatt whose powerful point blank shot was somehow saved by Arran Lee-Barrett, when a second City goal seemed almost certain.
Whilst City dominated the opening period of the second half, it wasn’t quite all one way traffic and Ipswich were able to engineer chances of their own in the second half. Firstly through the lively David Norris who had a shot blocked by the city defence and then a header by Jonathan Walters went just wide of the city post. Weale made a save from a powerful Walters shot just minutes later after Wayne Brown was beaten for pace by the Ipswich man.
At the other end good movement by Fryatt and Howard was keeping Ipswich on the toes but without testing the keeper Lee-Barrett the proceedings were seemingly heading for a draw.
Mid-way through the half Nigel Pearson introduced Martyn Waghorn and Paul Gallagher at the expense of Lloyd Dyer and Richie Wellens. It seemed Nigel wasn’t so keen on just a point and wanted to really go for the three points from the encounter.
The final stages of the match were dominated by the Foxes, and both subs Waghorn and Gallagher were able to breathe new life into the city attack when they came on, however other than an Andy King shot that was saved by the keeper, nobody seriously looked like scoring. Yann Kermorgant came on for Steve Howard in the 82nd minute for city’s last change of the match.
Both Leicester and Ipswich were able to carve out a few half chances in the final stages of the match but the encounter sadly petered out as the temperature got colder and colder inside the Walkers Stadium.
On the whole it was a poor match with both defences having an off day, the fact there was only two goals were down to the fine keeping of both City’s Chris Weale and my man of the match, the Ipswich Goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett. At least the TV cameras were happy, and the viewing public had been given at least one English match to watch on this cold Sunday afternoon. For City and it is another valuable point on the board.
City: Weale, Neilson, McGivern, Morrison, Brown, Oakley, Wellens, King, Dyer, Howard, Fryatt. Subs: Logan, Adams, N’Guessan, Waghorn (70 for Dyer), Kermorgant (82 for Howard), Gallagher (70 for Wellens), Hobbs.
Ipswich: Lee-Barrett, Delaney, McAuley, Bruce, Leadbitter, Norris, Balkenstein, Colback, Walters, Wickham, Peters. Subs: Murphy, Wright, Garvan (73 for Wickham), John (82 for Colback), Rosenior (56 for Bruce), Edwards, Quinn.
Attendance: 20,758
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation