Home defeat today for Town and my first game this season at Portman Road! Oh dear.
(I got a ticket from Karl Fuller in the special £10-00 extra ticket for season holders-thanks Karl-see sidebar link to Karl @ the Fuller Flavour).
Me outside Portman Road before ITFC vs Hull 130413
Sadly Town were so very poor in the first half with the notable exception of Loach, Chambers, Stearman and Smith who played well. These Town defenders were solid as rocks but the rest of the team just weren’t up for it!
WHY NOT?!
In effect the team stood off the Hull players and let them play, and they played! Hull attacked with skill and threat and forced several corners thankfully that they generally botched up. The game got a little tense with free kicks going against Town and Town players not fighting to pick up the loose ball or trying to beat a man. It was bad and there was only going to be a good outcome for Hull.
This came in the form of a penalty as N’Daw brought a Hull attacker down in the box and poor Scott Loach saw the penalty go the other way to his dive. So 0-1 down and at some stage Jay Tabb became injured and on came Wordsworth. I was thankful for half-time and yet so bemused why Town hadn’t put more in to the match? The reason Hull dominated that half was because Town let them! Hull are a good team but we conceded a poor penalty from a clumsy challenge from N’Daw and the Town team let them go play far too easily…aaargh! I was very surprised at the poor performance of some the Town players and the lack of team work and effort and was worried for the second half….
However after the break Town came out and played football! Amazing! It was the same side but like a different team. Hyam started to compete (why hadn’t he in the first half?) and Murphy appeared in the game and worked well with Chopra. Twenty minutes of Town pressure then resulted in a Town goal from Antony Wordsworth. That was so much better and at that stage it was clear the next goal would win the game for either side.
The Town’s spell of pressure started to fizzle out and I was hoping they would at least hold on for a draw. Hull brought on Coren (Simpson off) and scored from a corner with ten minutes to go. I didn’t have a great view of that goal as it was at the other end of the ground to me but it didn’t surprise me that Hull should finally manage to score from a corner as Town gave them plenty of practice to do so in the first half.
Town had brought on Frank Nouble (off Chopra) and for a last try brought on JEThomas (off Murphy). It was too little to late and time ran out for Town.
Overall, at least Town showed some fight for twenty minutes in the second half but it is very hard for me to say, but Hull just deserved to win the game as the away team who had in the first half looked more like the home team. In fairness neither keeper had much to do and it wasn’t a good game overall.
Too many players for Town had a poor game (with the exception of the four defenders I’ve mentioned already) and it showed how much Town missed David McGoldrick. As the home team,Town should manage more than a twenty minute spell of pressure in a home game, and should create more than 2 or 3 chances on goal. The next game is another tough game but it is a home one against Crystal Palace.
Second half free kick before equaliser
The team have to play better against Palace next game and maybe Mick will make some changes for that game. We still need points to keep out of the relegation battle and every game till the end of the season is a big game and it is more important to win on Tuesday after today’s defeat.
Come on Town let’s get the right result next game and with the remaining games and finish the season well!