Pre match review ITFC vs Derby Tue 250314

Town vs Derby should be a great game tomorrow night. Town must be confident after a good away win at Brighton and Derby must be confident after they smashed Nottingham Forest (Derby 5 Forest 0) also last weekend.

I watched the highlights of the Midland derby on the Football league show and Derby were rampant! Bryson scored a hat trick and the whole Derby team played well.

Just a brief note on Forest. They have hit a recent slump in form and have fallen out of the play-off places. In the crazy world of managerial success and failure, this loss of form has meant Billy Davies has lost his job as Forest manager! Absolutely crazy….Town play Forest at home this Saturday (after Tuesday’s game against Derby) and for Town this should be a good time to be playing a team currently out of form and who have had a recent managerial change and Forest maybe somewhat lacking in confidence right now.

Last Saturday, Derby got going early on and then they dominated a good Forest side, so it is very important Town get going straight away and that Town do not let Derby get any momentum. Town need to be competitive but composed and rise to the challenge and be RUTHLESS!

Can Town do that and play that way? YES THEY CAN! Again, like last Saturday’s game against Brighton many people (especially neutral footballing supporters and pundits) would make Derby favourites given their impressive form since Steve McClaren took over from Nigel Clough. McClaren has certainly (and too me surprisingly) done very well since managing Derby…..(more to follow after my tea!.. Alright, I’m back now after a nice lasagne for tea – great for carbs. I hope Town players have had a high carbs load for their teas too as they will need that energy for the game tomorrow).

Latest Town loan signing

I heard on BBC Radio Suffolk Town have made a loan signing from Manchester City of a winger, Alex Henshall. I’m sure he has never played in the City first team but has played for Chesterfield! Here is footage of him scoring a great goal…a few of those for Town would be great!

Now back to real Championship football…

Brighton 0 Town 2 highlights

So, I don’t think Mick McCarthy has any selection issues for the Derby game (Skuse is still injured and presumably Wordsworth will have another start and another chance to show his full potential). Let’s hope for a good turnout from Town fans and a good showing from the team to get a win and confound the pundits (which Town often do and not always in the right way!) and keep up their promotion play-off push.

Be RUTHLESS Town..you CAN do it! COME ON YOU BLUES….GO TOWN!

Brighton vs ITFC

Town are away at Brighton today. Manager Mick McCarthy has said Town need something from the game for Town to push for a play-off position.

Cole Skuse is out injured today and the latest news is that Antony Wordsworth starts in place of Skuse! I hope he has a good game and shows his full potential (and Paul Taylor is not included in Town squad today!).

Town squad:
22 Gerken
04 Chambers
03 Cresswell
14 Wordsworth
06 Berra
05 Smith
11 Anderson
19 Hyam
09 Murphy
25 Williams
12 Hunt
Substitutes:
01 Loach 15 Mings 16 Green 18 Tabb 24 Richardson 27 Ebanks-Blake 35 Nouble

The press reports from Brighton fans are they expect a comfortable win against Town and they do have a very good team with quality players and a foreign manager,Oscar Garcia, with loads of experience.
Keith Andrews and Matthew Upson play for Brighton who both have Suffolk/ITFC connections.
However this is just the sort of game though suited to Town to surprise everyone and go on and win the game!

COME ON YOU BLUES!…….

Brighton 0 ITFC 2

Well played Town! This is a good result for Town, an away win against a good side also trying for a promotion place. This results keeps Town’s slim play off chances alive. I still think it is unlikely Town will get to the sixth place play off position but it is great the team are still trying hard to end the remaining games well and are trying hard to get that sixth place! If Town can keep this effort and commitment up then it may be possible to get sixth place and it gives fans and players everything to hope and play for to the end of the season.

Today Wordsworth did well. He played the whole game and showed glimpses of his full potential. Well done to Tommy Smith who got the first goal and to Daryl Murphy who scored the second goal. Dean Gurken made a good save to help Town keep a clean sheet and with Brighton having several chances just going off target it is good Town didn’t concede. Jonny Williams also played well and the whole squad were great (Green & Tabb came on as subs for Anderson and Hunt)!

Next up is a home match on Tuesday against Derby

Goodluck to Town for this tough game against Derby and I know Town are good enough to beat Derby if they stay ruthless and focussed. After the Derby game is a match against Nottingham Forest. These are 2 important games and exciting times for Town.

GO TOWN

Come on you BLUES!!!

Championship table

Before commenting on today’s home match against Wigan here is the latest Championship table showing Town in 9th position

Yeovil vs ITFC Tuesday 11 03 14

Town are away at Yeovil tonight and need a good performance and really a win to keep any hopes of a play off position challenge alive.

Wigan are 2 points ahead of Town with 2 games in hand and are in a great run of form and are my choice to get a play off place unless Town can hit top form now and to the end of the season. I hope Town do hit form and put lots of effort into getting the necessary wins and points to get in to sixth place. We all know manager Mick would be content with a draw and an away point but even he must know that a draw tonight will not be enough for a serious play off challenge. Simply if Town do not win tonight the sixth position play off place will be out of reach and there will be no potential prize for them to play for the remaining games of the season. The season will fizzle to a somewhat disappointing end with Town in lower mid table….

Yeovil are at the wrong end of the table and fighting to avoid relegation and have all the motivation and commitment of a team trying to avoid relegation so it will be a hard game for Town if they are not alert and ruthless! Ishmael Miller is Yeovil’s main threat and is playing well.

Can Town beat Yeovil?

Certainly Town can beat Yeovil but they will need to play much better than they did against Middlesborogh (lost 0-2) last Saturday. Better individual and a better team performance/s is needed from Town.

So time for all the Town squad to knuckle down for a competitive game tonight and show the Town fans a good performance and some of their quality and ruthlessness and so prove to everyone (including themselves) that they want to compete for the play offs!

COME ON TOWN… GO TOWN…COME ON YOU BLUES..

Listening to Yeovil vs ITFC on Radio Suffolk

On 35 minutes Town get a succession of corners and go ahead with a goal from Christoph Berra! Well done Town!

Yeovil 0 ITFC 1

A good away win for Town! Well done Town team…This was a MUST WIN and Town won! Ebanks-Blake played for a while and overall it was a good result and good performances from Berra, Smith, Cresswell and Murphy and Williams came on and did well.

WELL DONE TOWN! Next up is a really tough game against Wigan…BRING IT ON!

This is what the team need, a chance to get in the play offs still, so still all to play for ITFC as the season comes to a close. Keep going Town and go for a good strong finish to the season!

GO TOWN!

Middlesborough 2 ITFC 0

Town lost away at Middlesborough today yet remain in ninth place in the league. This is disappointing though as Middlesborough hadn’t scored in several hours of play before today and this doesn’t help Town push on for the sixth promotion place.

Match analysis

I listened to the first half radio commentary with BBC Radio Suffolk and Paul Taylor had a good chance to score for Town but missed. Dean Gurken made a mistake and Danny Graham scored (he scored both goals).
It sounded like Cresswell and Chambers had much trouble from Friend and Town were toothless. How Town miss David McGoldrick who is still injured and likely to miss the rest of the season.

Here is the manager’s view:

Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy:

“We were second best, we got nothing and deserved nothing. We didn’t compete and that wasn’t like us.

“I actually think Middlesbrough played well and when they got the goal they got on top and didn’t let us play.

“We’ve not performed so I can’t take any silver lining from other results. To be in with any chance of getting into the play-offs, we need to be much better than that.”

That is Mick all over, brutally direct and honest! Nice one Mick!

All that remains is to hope the Town players can raise their games to do better in the last remaining matches (only 10 or so left now) and not let the season fizzle out in disappointment.

COME ON YOU BLUES!

Come on Town dig deep and put in a strong finish to the end of the season!

Today Town play at home against Birmingham City

This is a most important game for the Town. If Town can get a home win then Town can keep up a play-off place challenge but a loss will just add to a recent loss of form and lack of points through last month for Town. The games this month of March are so important if Town are to be challenging for the play-offs.

COME ON YOU BLUES……

Mick McCarthy’s pre match interview…

The game is about to start and as usual I am listening to commentary on BBC Radio Suffolk. I will be posting comment on the game after it is all over!

SO..COME ON TOWN…COME ON YOU BLUES….

HALFTIME: ITFC 1 Birmingham 0

Satisfactory so far for Town. A goal from Daryl Murphy with good play from Green and Nouble and the second half is just starting. So well done Town…keep it up for the next 45 minutes! GO TOWN….

FULLTIME: ITFC 1 Birmingham 0

WELL PLAYED TOWN!

A win for Town today-1-0 against Birmingham and good performances from Nouble, Taylor and all the squad! This is just what the team need to keep up a play-off challenge and let’s hope Town have a good remaining month in the next games. GO TOWN!

ITFC are now ninth in the table……(with 48 points).
IF Town have a good month it will be possible to get into sixth position and get into the play-offs.

Leicester 3 ITFC 0

Town take a hammering away at high flying Leicester and this is very disappointing but not surprising…

The big news ahead of the game for Town was that David McGoldrick would not play due to injury. So far I have not found out how he became injured and think it must have been a training injury? There was lots of talk on the radio about him not playing but I didn’t hear what happened to injure him! Manager Mick was then asked if he would get a loan striker in but his reply was very true that nowhere are there good players waiting to be loaned out at this point of the season. Teams are trying to avoid relegation or to get in the play-offs and will not be loaning out good strikers to help out other teams at this time! Also as Mick stated it is time for the other Town strikers and attacking players to step up and fill the gap left by McGoldrick.

Well I started listening to the match on Radio Suffolk but it sounded like Town weren’t in it and I went off to watch the TV and see England beat Ireland in the six nations rugby. I don’t think I missed much by not listening to the match commentary. I did watch the highlights on the football league show and saw Jay Tabb’s back pass go straight to a Leicester player who finished well to get the first goal. Then another defensive mess up and not clearing the ball gave David Nugent the chance for yet another goal against Town. At that stage it could have been a goal fest for Leicester but it was late in the second half until they got a third from Chris Wood and again with poor defending!

The highlights showed only 2 Town chances with Skuse having time to shoot from outside the box but not hitting the target and Tommy Smith going close with a header.

After match comment

Town now are slipping down the table with Blackburn, Wigan and others starting to hit form and challenge for the sixth play off position.

There aren’t many matches remaining now till the end of the season and Town players need to vastly improve if they are to challenge for that sixth position play off place.

It appears that my belief in the Town players is misplaced. Jay Tabb has not done as well as I expected and neither has Skuse or Edwards or Nouble. I am very disappointed!

As I have reported throughout the games this season Town need to be gritty and combative and ruthless as manager Mick McCarthy said way back at the Wigan away game, that they crumbled to a soft defeat when they had shown some good signs. I have seen glimmerings of character within the side during the season but it is just not enough!

The only player of real quality in the side has been David McGoldrick and now he is out, the other players are just not stepping up their game and team play. Why is this? Town had put themselves in a good position behind Reading but are not battling hard enough to go for the sixth play off place and the players who are given chances are not taking them! Meanwhile many other teams in the Championship are showing fight and determination eg Barnsley (as always battling against the bottom), Charlton, Yeovil and even Birmingham.

So next up is a home game next Saturday against Birmingham and that will be a tough game for Town but winnable. COME ON YOU TOWN PLAYERS..play for the team and the fans and the manager and finally for your own pride and put the effort in to at least try for a play off place!
LET’S BE HAVING YOU!

Barnsley 2 ITFC 2

WELL PLAYED TOWN!
Town showed lots of good qualities (good determination and character) to get this away draw after trailing 0-2 after 80 minutes. Town then scored 2 in the last 10 minutes of the game and could have scored more to win the game…

Match analysis

Even though Barnsley are near the bottom of the table again this season they are a good side (remember Jim O’Brien’s excellent goal for Barnsley in the 1-1 draw at Portman Road earlier this season?).

They played well in this game and went ahead with a good strike and finish from Chris O’Grady. I was dismayed when they scored again but all Town fans must applaud the Town team for battling back with late goals from Berra and McGoldrick. Stephen Hunt missed an open goal for Town (he’s done that before to….).

Manager Mick felt Town should have won the game but it is was important to get at least a point to keep the chase for the promotion place going (and Reading did us a favour by surprisingly losing). Town remain in seventh place and 3 points behind Reading who are sixth.

Town gave a debut to on loan midfielder Green (from Leeds) and there were good spells from Town with Nouble and Murphy playing well at times but it would be good to get some goals from Nouble…C’mon Frank!

WELL PLAYED ITFC…..

Next game..

The next game is a home game on Saturday 15th February 2014 15:00 against Blackpool. This will be tough but the Town could win it if they play well..so C’MON YOU BLUES…
GO TOWN!!!

ITFC vs Bolton

Today is a home game against Bolton and is a good chance for Town to get a home win.

Bolton have been in a poor run of form recently despite having a squad of potentially good players. It is hard to know why Bolton are struggling and it is important Town do not get complacent. Conversely Town have been showing much promise with hopes of maintaining good form this afternoon.

ITFC and teams news..

Yesterday was the closing day of transfer deadlines. Town have had two changes due to this with new loan signing Frazer Richardson as right back (from Middlesborough) arriving at Town.He was on the bench for the away draw at Leeds last Tuesday and is again on the bench today. Ryan Tunnicliffe has gone on to Fulham (an on loan deal from his parent club Man Utd) and it is a shame he has had to leave. Still the Town squad are growing in confidence and his departure gives all other squad members a chance to impress if given a chance. I have high hopes today for Stephen Hunt and Jay Tabb who start today and I feel if they do well Town will have a good chance for a win in this game.
Here is the Town line up:

22 Gerken
04 Chambers
03 Cresswell
08 Skuse
06 Berra
05 Smith
12 Hunt
18 Tabb
09 Murphy
10 McGoldrick
35 Nouble

Substitutes:
01 Loach 07 Edwards 11 Anderson 14 Wordsworth 15 Mings 24 Richardson 26 Taylor

Bolton have signed Town old boy Liam Trotter (from Millwall) and he is on the bench ready to come on for Bolton.

Again I’m listening to live match commentary from BBC Radio Suffolk with Brenner Woolley and Mick Mills. Bolton have just gone close to scoring after an even first 10 minutes…

COME ON YOU BLUES….COME ON TOWN!

I will post updates of how the game develops…..

Half-time..ITFC 0 Bolton 0

Not a classic match at all. The main problem for Town was Cole Skuse going off injured midway through the first half and Antony Wordsworth replacing him. The difficulty for Town is their midfielders now (Hunt,Tabb and Wordsworth) aren’t really balanced with Hunt and Tabb preferring to drift wide and not dominate in the centre. So with the injury to Skuse and with Higham out injured and Tunnicliffe no longer with Town, the midfield balance is disrupted and these 3 players now need to knuckle down to controlling the midfield area. This means especially keeping the Bolton midfield quiet and linking Town defence and attack.

This is a big ask for these three Town players but if Town are to play as a team today this has to happen. Otherwise Town will have to hope for some individual brilliance from any Town player to change the game to Town’s advantage. The second half has just started….

Town play better than Bolton in the second half and go a goal ahead from a penalty scored by David McGoldrick. When Bolton bring on Liam Trotter manager Mick McCarthy takes of Wordsworth and brings on Frazer Richardson just to mark Trotter and the game finishes as a very important win for Town & 3 points. Well played Town!

Post match comment…

ITFC 1 BOLTON 0

This was a good win today even though Bolton were not very good. Town stay in 7th place, four points behind Reading in 6th place and so are still in with a chance of getting into the play off positions.

The balance of the Town midfield has changed now with the injuries to Skuse and Higham but even so Town should be able to sort this problem area out with an understanding from the whole team and especially the remaining fit midfielders along with good tactical substitutions from manager Mick.

Town have a week to plan and train before their next game away next Saturday against Barnsley. Again this should be a winnable game for the Town so I am optimistic and I’m sure the Town players will be too!

COME ON YOU BLUES…

A draw tonight away at Leeds …Leeds 1 ITFC 1

Well played Town! An away draw is an alright result except that judging by the Radio Suffolk commentary overall Town were the better side.

However make no mistake, it is a good result to draw with Leeds away at Elland Road. The result keeps Town in seventh place and still in contention for a play off place. So well done ITFC!

Brief match details

Town had good chances in the first half and went a goal up when the Leeds keeper Paddy Kenny made a mistake from David McGoldrick’s long range shot. Then a soft penalty was awarded to Leeds and Ross McCormack scored to level the score. Not much else to say..a mention that Stephen Hunt didn’t play and was left on the bench while Jay Tabb had quite a good game. Paul Anderson played in place of Carlos Edwards and he was subbed off for Frank Nouble in 72 minute. New signing Richardson on the bench.

Town team details:
22 Gerken
04 Chambers
03 Cresswell
08 Skuse (Booked)
06 Berra
05 Smith
11 Anderson (Nouble – 72′ )
16 Tunnicliffe
10 McGoldrick
09 Murphy
18 Tabb

Substitutes: 01 Loach 12 Hunt 14 Wordsworth 15 Mings 24 Richardson 26 Taylor 35 Nouble

Next game..ITFC vs Bolton

So the next game is a home game against Bolton next Saturday. Again this will be a tough game against a good Bolton side who have underperformed this season. There is though, every reason to be optimistic that the Town team can win against Bolton and get the 3 points to keep up their play off position challenge.

COME ON YOU BLUES!