The ACN Match Review – Ipswich (a)

The line-up

Dimi Giannoulis was a big loss and Sam McCallum struggled in the first half, caught out of position on several occasions as Ipswich found themselves in acres of space to attack down the right, but he grew into the game and made some useful interventions.

Hurrah moment

Jonny Rowe smashing it through the keeper’s legs and running towards the away end. The wild celebrations within it may have been tinged with a bit of disbelief given the level of pre-match expectation and it was a shame we couldn’t hold on for the win, but it was fun while it lasted.

Boooo moment

Ashley Barnes failing to catch in his mouth the pie that was thrown out of the stands during the celebrations for the aforementioned second goal. If I had to put a bet on which of our players would be most likely to successfully catch a flying pie in his mouth it would be Barnes every time, and yet it missed his agape gob and crashed in a blaze of molten gravy and pastry. At least he tried, but what a waste.

Hero of the match

If you’re going to big yourself up on Twitter in the week leading up to the derby, you need to make sure you turn up on the day – and it was never in doubt that Jonny Rowe would. Our undisputed star of the first half of the season once again produced a couple of unerring finishes in the box, and he knows a finger on the lips is the only way to celebrate at Portman Road.

The atmosphere

A big welcome on our first visit in over five years from our excitable southern friends, a large contingent of whom had nothing better to do pre-match than chant through the tiny gap between two police vans parked next to the away turnstiles. While the atmosphere from the home stands had its moments, the acoustics of Portman Road as heard from the away end have never been great and there were lengthy lulls as their promised cakewalk fell flat.

Our post-match takeaway

Ipswich fans consoled themselves on Twitter on Saturday night with talk of their 21-point gap, which is indeed a thing, but I saw the look on their faces as they silently lined the away fans’ route back to the station (cheers for the guard of honour, lads). These were the faces of people who were regretting having spent the early hours of the morning setting off fireworks outside a hotel, and these were the faces of people who knew that their best team in years had blown their big chance to stop us singing incessantly about being unbeaten for 14 years and counting. That our hoodoo over them continues despite the clubs’ relative positions is just very, very funny.

Beyond the derby context, a point at the team with the best home record in the division is a very solid result, though we were fortunate to get it – they should have been out of sight in the first half, we were caught in possession far too many times, and some of the substitutions were baffling. While we have markedly improved in the six weeks since that horror show against Blackburn, we are still not at the level we could be. But the effort and spirit was there on the pitch and in the stands, and we dug in for this result. Time to put the derby back in its box and look forward to a big Christmas period ahead with some important players coming back.