IPSWICH 3 CITY 0
The Suffolk and Essex group of City fans met up at the pub opposite the Ipswich railway station in good spirits. The mood was pretty optimistic after the Doncaster match but, as our record at Ipswich is so poor, we also wondered whether Roy Keane would end the day saving his job by the skin of his teeth. All my friends in Ipswich cannot wait to see the back of him and hoped City would win!
In freezing temperatures snow started to fall about 30 minutes before we walked to the ground and, as we looked at the snow dusted pitch marked out in blue lines, we started to wonder whether the match would be completed. We had no idea of the farce that would follow…..
The crowd was low with about 500 hardy City fans singing their hearts out. City kept the same formation that finished the Doncaster match but Weale was left out for Kirkland. Surprisingly Sven kept Howard on the bench until 30 minutes when it was obvious to most of us that a more direct approach would have to be used on the tricky pitch.
We were amazed the match started at all. It soon became clear that the City team just did not want to be on the pitch and could not adapt its passing game. We looked frail at the back with Kirkland contributing to the general unease. Vitor and Davies were really poor. Ipswich played a fairly rudimentary game which suited the weather conditions and harried City all the time and we kept losing possession……
Ipswich scored a simple goal by Norris after only 5 minutes but shortly afterwards City nearly equalised with an own goal from Kennedy from a good freekick from Gallagher. The snow swirled down incessantly and Ipswich scored two more goals by Scotland. Both should have been prevented by Kirkland and then Abe. The response from City was pathetic and clearly most of the players were concentrating more on the match ending rather than putting in a good performance for the away fans.
Half time arrived with a rejuvenated Ipswich 3-0 up without having to do very much. Ipswich’s groundsmen worked like mad over an extended break to clear some of the snow and re-mark the lines.
The match re-started and soon after was stopped by the ref for a 17 minute break to clear yet more snow. We all thought the match would end there and it should have done. The Police apparently had advised that the match should be halted on safety grounds but the power of Sky TV prevailed, the players re-appeared and the match meandered to a pointless end. During this time Davies had a goal ruled offside and then went off injured. Fryatt was brought on for a meaningless 25 minutes and Vitor was injured, leaving us with 10 men for the last period.
As I slithered out of the stadium through the snow it was hard to think of anything good that came out of this match. Yes, the conditions were ridiculous and the referee should have not started the game. However, three valuable points were at stake.
Only Naughton and Wellens looked to be playing their hearts out and the rest were frankly spineless. It will need a totally different performance against Leeds to kick start our season again and to restore my faith in this team….
City: Kirkland, Naughton, Vitor, Davies, Cunningham, Wellens, Abe, King (c), Dyer, Gallagher, Vassell. Subs: Weale, Morrison, Oakley, Howard, Fryatt, Moussa, Hobbs
Ipswich: Fulop, O'Connor, Delaney, Leadbitter, Norris (c), Scotland, Smith, Zuiverloon, Colback, Fallon, Kennedy. Subs: Murphy, Peters, Edwards, Wickham, Livermore, Brown, O'Dea
Referee: Stuart Atwell Attendance: 16,728
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