Bounce Magazine February 2016

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 2016 | ISS 2016 UE #40 | ISSUE | SPORT #40
SPORT
was the polar opposite. Leeds United came to
Portman Road and stunned all inside the old
stadium with a goal inside 12 seconds.
HECTIC WEEK AT IP1 SHOWCASES
THE BEST AND NOT-SO-BEST
SIDES OF IPSWICH TOWN...
It’s never easy following Ipswich
Town – as three quick-fire home
matches perfectly illustrated.
A scrappy, disjointed FA Cup performance,
drawing 2-2 with League Two
Portsmouth, was probably to
be expected.
Mick McCarthy stuck to
type by bringing in several
of his fringe players – in a
move mirrored by many
Championship managers
entering the competition,
not to mention the Premier
League of course.
Disappointing for some,
it did give the likes of Tommy Oar a chance
to show his worth – but in slightly false
circumstances amid several players looking to
do the same in an unusual-looking starting XI.
The likes of Piotr Malarczyk and the newlysigned
Paul Digby would have surely looked
better, and certainly more confident, having a
Christophe Berra alongside them.
Portsmouth were polished and excellent,
Ipswich were just poor. But they didn’t lose, so
some confidence can be gained from that.
Three-and-a-half days later, the performance
It was the quickest in the Football League this
season and earned Jonny Ogle, the club’s excellent
digital media editor, some online fame after he
admitted on Twitter he missed the goal.
Fortunately, Jonny and the Town fans were able to
sit comfortably there on in as Ipswich proceeded to
produce their best performance of the season.
The winner might have come late, courtesy of Brett
Pitman’s head and Ryan Fraser’s exquisite skill, but it
was well deserved.
A hectic home week was concluded by the visit of
Preston when Ipswich played like I felt – jaded and a
little under the weather.
Town were denied a stonewall
penalty but Preston were also
unfortunate to see a goal ruled
out for offside with a 1-1 draw
ultimately fair, though feeling
like points dropped after some
odd results at the top end of the
Championship.
What does three home games in
eight days tell us about Ipswich?
Probably nothing we didn’t
already know. They are not the best team in the
Championship, but they are one of the most hardworking
who never know when they are beaten.
Admirable qualities and ones that mean I remain
convinced we will be seeing them in the play-offs
at the end of the season. And if they could just
bottle that 90 minutes against Leeds, well around 75
minutes, then we really would be getting excited.
JANUARY FIXTURES
Saturday 6th February: QPR (A)
Saturday 13th January: Bristol City (A)
Saturday 20th February: Blackburn (H)
Tuesday 23rd February: Hull City (H)
Saturday 27th February: Huddersfield (A)
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