Fulham 3 Town 1

Last week was another disappointment, with the away loss at Fulham. Berra scored, Bialakowski played well. Fulham are pressing for a play off place and Town need points to be safe from relegation.
COYB….

Match night…Town vs Wigan.
I’m at home and my student son has gone to watch with his friends.
He wasn’t impressed that his ticket went up from £19-00 yesterday to £21-00 today!
These ticket prices do not encourage the casual fan to attend.

Anyway I am going to listen to Radio Suffolk commentary and hope for a Town win. My son has a bet on a 1-1 draw….due to Town’s recent results.

COYB! GO TOWN!

ITFC 3 Wigan 0

Well played Town! First goal from David McGoldrick, 2 goals from Freddie Sears….that’s more like it! A great game from keeper Bartoscz Bialkowski to keep Wigan at bay! Finally a home win for Town and a much needed one. Kenlock played well also.

Town are now 9 points from the third relegation zone place. All teams below Town lost tonight. Town still need to win games to the end of the season but hopefully this result will restore some confidence and spark some more good games from Town. WELL PLAYED TOWN!

Town get a home draw against fellow Championship strugglers Birmingham.
I listened to the game on Radio Suffolk and Town seemed to have a reasonable first half with several chances, but it was 0-0 at halftime. Then the second half started badly with Birmingham scoring and Town withdrawing into a shell and not making more chances. A mis-hit cross turned to a shot by Grant Ward proved enough to be a lucky equaliser.

What is the matter with the Town? Not enough contribution from too many players (despite a 2 week break due to the international games). Town have been hit with injury but the squad should be good enough to take their chance and step up and do enough to win games. Does this squad have passion for the Town? Today another good opportunity to win a game has gone by and the team are lucky to get a draw and relegation is still a possibility. I’m listening to Mick Mills on the radio saying how the players should be good enough but haven’t performed! It is so hard to be a fan when you do not feel the squad are giving enough effort and passion to win each and every game. There are no easy games in the Championship and every player has to play well for the whole game to get wins.

Indeed I’ve just listened to manager Mick McCarthy who stated Town didn’t play well and he is very frustrated by having to say this game after game. He blamed losing the first goal for Town’s poor performance and of course that was a blow, but surely it doesn’t account for the overall lacklustre average performance. However, he also stated they are now 6 points away from the relegation places, when they were 5 points away before the start of the afternoon. Town are now so desperate that they are having to rely on results from teams around and below them, doing poorly.

There are not many games left to the end of the season now. Will we see any winning games from Town?
Will they avoid relegation?

Tue 4 Apr 7:45pm Wigan Athletic H
Sat 8 Apr 3:00pm Fulham A
Fri 14 Apr 7:45pm Burton Albion A
Mon 17 Apr 3:00pm Newcastle United H
Sat 22 Apr 3:00pm Rotherham United A
Sat 29 Apr 3:00pm Sheffield Wednesday H

Sun 7 May 12:00pm Nottingham Forest A

Tough times at ITFC right now. Time for the team and squad to dig deep and rise to the challenge of winning games and the fans support. It is not a one way process, as there are still committed Town fans turning out game after game and supporting the team.

COME ON YOU BLUES…try and have a good end to the season and not a bad one!

Cardiff 3 ITFC 1

Town lose away at Cardiff last Saturday, despite taking the lead with a goal from captain Chambers.
I didn’t listen to the game on the radio, as I am losing interest in Town, due to their continual poor performances! I have seen reports on the various Town fan sites I view and by all accounts the second half was poor from Town.

Town are now just 5 points away from the relegation places and it is really clear that they are in a relegation battle now. I am reminded of Grant Ward’s comment “Town are too good to be relegated” of a few months ago! That really just highlighted what a poor attitude he has to playing for Town. He thinks he is a good footballer in a good team, because he has played well on a few occasions. Until he and the team play well in every game, week in and out, for a whole season and more, he cannot claim to be a good footballer in a good team.

There are just 7 games left and the recent Town form is poor and is relegation form. The team have drawn many recent games and have not won a game in a long time now. They are now in danger of relegation unless they can play better and win some games. It has been a disappointing season for Town, and it could get even more disappointing. Mick McCarthy saved Town from relegation before but at that stage, he brought in some new energy and discipline and hope that the team responded to. While now, he has been in charge of a team that have been complacent and not shown fight and determination to win games and do not appear to respond to his plans and instruction. Many fans are so fed up, that they believe relegation would be best for Town! I do not agree with that, but I am very worried it will happen anyway!

How many times have I called for the team to wake up and smell the coffee and do better? Countless times over the last 2 seasons. It is not easy, but if the team do not wake up and change things for the better soon, it will be too late and the worst fear of relegation will become a reality. So COYB…let’s be having you! Show the fans how good you are Grant Ward and help the team win games and the rest of the team can do likewise… COYB!

ITFC 1 Leeds Utd 1

Town drew at home today against Leeds with a decent performance. I listened to the game along with Beattie my Mark Murphy Radio Suffolk ugly duckling…

Beattie-my Mark Murphy ITFC Radio Suffolk ugly duckling

We couldn’t believe it when Freddie (aka “I have loads of talent, but fail to deliver effective end product”) Sears scored! Sadly Town gave away a sloppy goal and could not score a winner, but by all accounts from the radio commentary, they outplayed Leeds and were better than the opposition.

Here is Alex Griffith’s Vlog video:

So that is very encouraging! Town are in 13th place in the table 11 points off the bottom. The next game is away at Norwich! COYB!!!

Brighton 1 ITFC 1

Last Tuesday night Town drew away against Brighton.
It was another good performance from Town after the last game, the away win against Aston Villa.

Brighton are second in the Championship and the draw was a setback for them, as they hope to chase down leaders Newcastle and get to the top themselves.

Here is YouTube Vlog Alex Griffin on Brighton v Town:

For Town all the players played well with Luke Chambers scoring, but he was injured in the process (a cracked rib). Unfortunately Tom Lawrence was booked for dissent after Brighton were given a penalty which they scored to draw the game.
Lawrence had so many yellow cards (10?) that he now misses the next Town game at home to Leeds.

So Town face Leeds at home this afternoon and Leeds loanee Diagouraga is also not playing for Town as Leeds are the loan club. Berra and Skuse return though for Town. It will be a tough game against Leeds, and Leeds are on a good run of form, so it will be a good test to see if Town can maintain their improved form and results. COYB……COME ON TOWN….

Aston Villa 0 ITFC 1

A good away win for town yesterday…well done Town!

The new Town players did well with a late winning goal from Emyr Huws (on loan from Cardiff!).
Town now have a plethora of choices for positions with the recent new players eg Jordan Spence, Steven Taylor, Toumani Diagouraga, Emyr Huws, Danny Rowe, Kieffer Moore and Dominic Samuel available. Cole Skuse was injured and did not play. Town team:

33 Bialkowski
29 Emmanuel
4 Chambers
2 Taylor Substituted for Kenlock at 26’minutes
6 Berra Substituted for Spence at 45+3’minutes
3 Knudsen Booked at 76mins
18 G Ward
37 Diagouraga Booked at 79mins
44 Huws Substituted for Bru at 88’minutes
27 Lawrence
10 McGoldrick

Substitutes: 1Gerken 11Pitman 12Spence 17Bru 20Sears 28Moore 30Kenlock

I listened to the game on the radio and Town continued to improve and Grant Ward had a good game. Of course Bartoscz Bialkowski made some good saves and Villa had shots hit the crossbar and several promising attacks but it was a proper battling performance by Town who kept Villa from scoring and kept trying till the final whistle and got the much needed win!
Unfortunately Taylor and Berra went off injured, but Kenlock and Spence substituted well!

WELL PLAYED TOWN….COYB!

ITFC 0 Derby 3

Town played and lost last night. The Town’s poor season continues…
Town were 3 goals down after the first half!

Town are now facing the prospect of a relegation battle.

The blog header image here has the text “New era” referring to when Mick McCarthy first became Town manager and saved Town from relegation. Now the manager needs to do it all over again, and he no longer has the feel good factor of being the new manager to fix the problem, as he is now the old manager who has caused the problem! How times have changed!

Will the team start to play better and avoid relegation? I hope so, but this is far from certain. The writing has been on the wall for many weeks for the Town team and but for Tom Lawrence and Bartosz Białkowski, the team probably would be in the relegation zone now.

Other clubs with good previous histories have been relegated and no club can live in the past and all Town’s good history is far back in time now and the club is a shadow of its former self! Can the team and manager find enough pride and passion to work hard enough and play well enough to get the results needed to stay clear of relegation and achieve mid table mediocrity? Many weeks ago, there was one Town player almost bragging that they were too good to get relegated, but neither he nor the rest of the team are putting in performances that prove this to be true. The manager wants to stay at Town until the end of the season which is commendable, but really only so if Town do stay up!

There remain lots of unhappy Town fans at the poor play and perceived management of the team and club (many question the chairman Marcus Evans’ ambition and support). Many fans are staying away but the loyal core who keep going to home and away matches, really deserve better, but it remains to be seen whether they will get better. So as a fan who wants better for my football club ITFC, I say:
COYB

PRESTON 1 ITFC 1

An away draw and away point for Town today. Well done Town!

An away draw to a team above Town in the table is a good result. Again I listened on Radio Suffolk and again Tom Lawrence scored another great goal.

There was a Town debut for new loanee Toumani Diagouraga and Town were ahead but conceded an equaliser late in the game.
Town also have more new latest signings to strengthen the squad. Stephen Taylor a defender (ex Newcastle) and Danny Rowe (a winger from Macclesfield) can add to Kieffer Moore and Jordan Spence. Hopefully we can see these new players play good football and fit in well to the Town squad.

Well, Town can take some encouragement from this drawn game against Preston, but they need to keep working hard to improve, especially as the next game is against Derby who have a strong team with quality players (Tom Ince, Darren Bent etc).

There are still Town fans who are very negative and not convinced it was an improvement from Town and still want Mick McCarthy to resign, but Town need the fans support. It is part of life’s rich pattern to have ups and downs and Town are operating on a shoestring budget and it is time everyone pulled together for the Town. Captain Luke Chambers said earlier in the week how the players had let the manager down with their performances to date and it is great he is taking responsibility for this and trying to improve and play better for Town! Leon Best is now out of favour and will not play again for Town which is a strong indication that manager Mick will not play players who do not try hard enough after being given trust and opportunity by the manager and only let everyone down (especially themselves).

For me on a positive note, I WON a BBC Radio Suffolk Mark Murphy ITFC duck! I correctly guessed the mystery Town goal scorer in the “whose goal was it” competition (Owen Garvan against Plymouth in 2008) 🙂

COYB!

Huddersfield 2 ITFC 0

I listened to the game on Radio Suffolk and apparently Town were better than against Lincoln but had no goal threat and were again comfortably outplayed. So, there was a response, but not enough of one! The discontent among the fans is growing. One of the chief complaints is the defensive nature of the players and set up of the team, without players who have the skill and ability and confidence to take opposition players on and try to score goals for the team. That bothers me, but I believe that can be overcome with real hard work and determination to play well enough with some real pride and passion to prove they and the team are good enough to play for this great club and that they can get points and results. I am not seeing enough of that from the players. It seems like the old expression “the lights are on but there is no-one at home!”.

It probably will take time to fix and get the team back playing well, but meantime all the players need to show the fans they are trying to play football and play with pride and passion for the club and not just for themselves. Also remember the old expression, “diamonds are made under pressure”.

Which means the fans should keep supporting and the players should keep trying to play better! COYB!