Happy Christmas ITFC

Here is some blog footy dedication:blogging Christmas greetings to ITFC on Christmas day! Have a great day all! Tomorrow (Boxing Day) the Town play Doncaster away. The best Christmas present for all fans of Town would be an away win for Town..Goodluck to Mick and the team!

Post Watford match reaction (ITFC 1 Watford 1)

Town drew last Saturday against Watford. I wasn’t there and only heard snippets on the radio as I was doing my Christmas shopping.

In the game Town went ahead with a penalty from David McGoldrick in the second half. Watford drew level after that with some confusion in the Town defence but a great finish by Watford striker Troy Deeney. Town though should have won it late on as they had a few good goal chances and notably a header from Hyam that hit the bar when it was a clear scoring chance. In the end the game was a draw and Mick overall was disappointed but accepting of a point. Mick is always pragmatic and knows rightly that one point is at least better than none! I cannot argue with that though of course I too have disappointment Town did not win. Still if Town keep picking up points then there is good reason for hoping Town can get to the play off places at the end of the season as we all know that Town are continually improving since Mick arrived as manager.

Pre Doncaster mach report

Unfortunately Stephen Hunt remains injured and won’t play. Town are having a Christmas lunch with family and in the late afternoon / evening travelling up to Doncaster, so I hope they have a great Christmas Day! Goodluck to all travelling Town fans and I think whatever Town team field for the game against Doncaster we can look for a second away win of the season! Looking forward to the match..GO TOWN!

ITFC vs Watford prematch report

Town play Watford at home at Portman Road this afternoon. Stephen Hunt is out of the squad as he picked up a late injury in training. This allows Paul Taylor back into the team. Otherwise there are no main changes to the Town squad. Big news during the week is a new Town signing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, the ex Wolves forward who has worked successfully in the past with manager Mick McCarthy and trainer Terry Connor. This should really strengthen the Town squad!

The really big news ahead of the match is the fact that GianFranco Zola, Watford’s manager, RESIGNED during the week! Watford have been on a poor run of form and Zola has had enough! Very interesting decision and I hope the Watford team do not react well to this event. Zola of course was a truly world class player and now seems a very honorable manager but I hope Town just play well and win today against Watford. Perhaps if Town are lucky then Watford will be in some disarray after Zola’s departure?!

If Town are lucky with this it will be great as Town seem to have had more than their fair share of bad luck over the last few seasons. I hope Town can stay lucky this season as this would certainly help their promotion chasing chances.

So it is goodluck to all Town players and fans today…COME ON YOU BLUES!!!

Pre match comment on Nottingham Forest vs ITFC

An away game at Forest this afternoon for Town. This will be a tough match as Forest are a good side.
Apparently many Forest fans are fearful of David McGoldrick returning and scoring against them. McGoldrick has been great for Town and I would sure like him to have a good afternoon against his old club!

Luke Chambers is another ex Forest player now doing well at Town so the match will be special for him too and so I hope he and David McGoldrick have a good day against their old team!

One thing is certain Town are a much better side since they lost in their last match against Forest at the City ground last March. Town were quite unlucky on that day with 2 sendings off! Let’s hope we don’t see that again! See this link: Fog & red mist …Forest vs ITFC March 2013

Anderson and Taylor are unfortunately injury doubts for Town and it will be interesting to see the team Mick McCarthy fields this afternoon. What formation will Town play? Will Jordan Graham be playing? What will our midfield be? Well as I’ve said in my blog posts all season Town have lots of promise and they are developing a certain confidence following 3 consecutive wins. I want them though to stay focused and be ruthless! Anyway it should be a good game today, so… COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!
GO TOWN….

An away win would be wonderful! A draw would be great! Losing of course is not so good but it is not the end of the world as long as Town are positive, focused and ruthless! There is no shame in being beaten if you have done your very best. However there is shame in losing if you have not done your very best. I believe this Town squad have great potential and as long as they all do their very best game on game I’ll support them unreservedly!

As ever, I’m listening to ‘Life’s a pitch’ Radio Suffolk’s prematch preview with Mark Glenn Murphy and guests and Town legend Kevin Beattie. Thanks guys! Then I’ll be listening to the match report from Brenner Woolley and co commentator,and I will post my post match thoughts after the game.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS ITFC & Goodluck against Forest

EDIT
Forest 1 ITFC 1

The match ended as a 0-0 draw. Town had one or two chances (Nouble went close) but were lucky to not get a penalty given against them when Gurken slid for the ball and the Forest player went down. While it wasn’t a great Town performance, it was good to keep a clean sheet and get an away draw against a good Forest side. Well down Town.

Here is a short video highlights of the match:

ITFC win vs Huddersfield

Well done Town for a good home win last Saturday against Huddersfield. ITFC 2 Huddersfield 1.

Match report

Town started well, but Huddersfield scored first late in the first half with a good goal.Before the goal Huddersfield were given a penalty but Town keeper Dean Gurken saved it and in a way justice was done as it was never a clear cut foul that gave away the penalty. So Huddersfield were getting up some momentum but soon in the second half David McGoldrick scored the equaliser for Town.

Mick brought on Tabb for Skuse midway through the second half but the game looked like a draw until in the last minute of normal time Town got a free kick and from that Murphy headed in for the winning goal! Well done Town for trying right to the end! In some ways it was a flattering result for Town but it is great to see Town trying right to the end of a game and they got their reward for that! Huddersfield I think, were just trying to see out the last few minutes of the game and thinking they would take a draw! It looked like they were easing up toward the end and they were punished as Town kept trying to win to the final whistle and were rewarded for their effort! Jordan Graham came on for ten minutes or so (for Nouble). His debut for Town.

WELL DONE TOWN! The last 3 games have been wins and Town are in 9th position with 29 points and just 2 places out of the play-offs. Next Saturday is an away game at Nottingham Forest.

So it has been a good start to December for ITFC and I hope the Town can keep this up through the month and over Christmas and the New Year and on! WELL DONE manager Mick & the ITFC team!

If Town can keep getting these good results then more fans will come back to support them. These results give everyone a lift and encouragement so keep it up Town!
COME ON YOU BLUES….

A great win last night: ITFC 3 Blackburn 1

Match report

A great home win for Town last night…more to come soon…

Following the away win at Charlton, manager Mick MacCarthy made 4 changes and back in came Hyam,Edwards,Nouble and Hunt. I was pleased to see this although as ever at the time it is impossible to know exactly why manager Mick did this. I was pleased because it gives the other squad players a chance and I believe in rotating squad players and to give all players a good and fair chance in the first team. Overall the Town squad is good enough to do this and it gives the manager and fans a chance to see different player combinations, systems and options. Doing this in a winning side is fabulous when it works but not so when it doesn’t of course! Later after the game Mick talked about how hard players have to work in games so he made the changes as much to rest the others and put on fresher legs. Well that is another advantage in having a squad of good players that you can do that and put out a fitter, less tired team than might otherwise be the case if the same eleven played every game.

Anyway, again I listened to the game on the radio and amazingly Luke Hyam scored his first goal this season! That is exactly what the Town needed eg goals to come from midfielders. Carlos Edwards got a goal and Frank Nouble also. In reply another ITFC ‘old boy’, Jordan Rhodes, scored for Blackburn against his former club. The match wasn’t a classic and Town still need to improve but 6 points and two wins from the last 2 games is great and pushed Town up to eighth place.

Great win for Town then and signs that Town are getting better still and we can start to hope to improve enough to get into the play off places this season!

Next match is another home match -this time against Huddersfield who are I think one place below Town and playing well right now.

GOODLUCK to Town team against Huddersfield! COME ON YOU BLUES!

PS…
Crazy bad luck for several championship managers who have recently lost their jobs due to poor recent results eg Dave Jones from Sheff Wed, Dave Flitcroft from Barnsley and Owen Coyle from Wigan. The Championship is a tough ruthless league for everyone at the top, bottom and throughout!

Away win for Ipswich Town FC

Great result on last Saturday as ITFC won away at Charlton by a single goal. Charlton 0 ITFC 1

Match report

I listened to the game on BBC Radio Suffolk and Town started very well with four chances in the first five minutes and a goal! Town’s early pressure led to a good headed goal from a corner from Tommy Smith.

Town managed overall to control the first half but they really could have done with another goal as Charlton slowly started to get better and threaten Town. Another goal did not come and Charlton had a much better second half but thankfully Town did not let them score and claimed their second away win of the season with the valuable 3 points.

The match was not a classic at all but it was great to see Town start well and be positive. As I stated in my pre match comment/post David McGoldrick and Tommy Smith put in good performances. Jay Tabb was quite good too and overall all the rest of the Town players did alright. It is a much needed good result for Town which can give confidence for the team and supporters for the next match this Tuesday at home against Blackburn.

I have to commend the Town squad for getting the win and keeping a clean sheet even though the performance level did drop as the game got into the later stages. THIS IS MUCH BETTER TOWN & WELL DONE!
It has been disappointing with recent Town games when they have done well but conceded goals and not held on to at least a draw.

I think it fair to say we haven’t got the best balance yet from the Town squad and team and we haven’t seen the best they are capable of but there are good signs around the Town squad and team. It is great if everyone plays well but that won’t happen every game and at those times Town need to dig in and hold on to get something they deserve from the game and not make mistakes and throw results and points away. A bit more confidence and consistency is needed from the Town squad but they do have great potential, and this is a far better season than the previous one!

So well done Town and keep it up and goodluck for your next match – COME ON YOU BLUES!!!