We Get What We Deserve

This could have been ugly. Few braving the trip would’ve been genuinely confident. The two teams were (and are) heading in two different directions, and for the first time in a decade and a half, Norwich weren’t the progressive, upwardly-mobile club. Despite plastering together a few results in recent weeks, Saturday could have been the nadir of what has been a turgid and frankly unacceptable season.

Our squad was the sluggish, tired outfit playing with no identity going up against McKennaBall – a scintillating brand of fast, aggressive attacking football. Our club, just a week ago, was doing its utmost to stoke disillusionment and detachment among its fanbase. The town of Ipswich was completely united. They’d only failed to win one home game this season. Along Came Norwich.

As we have since August, we lacked a style and a clear methodology

They created a lot of chances in the first half, they missed a lot of chances in the first half. Against Birmingham or Swansea or Stoke, these probably go in. But in derbies, they don’t and that’s hilarious. Previously they’ve lacked quality, now they lack composure. There’s no disputing they are the better team at the moment, and were the better team on Saturday. Norwich’s approach, however, was sensible and self-aware, using a lot of common sense – a lot of us, myself included, didn’t think we’d even be capable of that.

It wouldn’t be right to label it a ‘performance’. Rather, it was an effort. A shift. The prerequisites of a derby were there and for that, our players deserve credit. As we have since August, we lacked a style and a clear methodology in bringing the ball from our third to theirs. Who cares though. This was the most effective way in matching up to a slicker, more cohesive unit on the day. We had our limitations but we made it work. Playing the role of the annoying Mick McCarthy-esque outfit in these games, and succeeding, was fun but it’s not something we want to make a habit of.

For a team as desperate to end a hoodoo as much as they were, you’d have expected the kitchen sink.

Ipswich had 65% possession, 194 passes in our final third to our 55. They had three glorious chances before eventually making it 1-0. However, at 2-2, with half an hour to go, there was perhaps only one heart-in-mouth moment – Gunn made the save, although on the TV it looked for all the world like they had an opportunity at a rebound. Thank god their guy passed it up. For a team as desperate to end a hoodoo as much as they were, with us retreating more and more towards the end, you’d have expected the kitchen sink.

What Ipswich did manage to do, however, was retain their status as the shame of Anglia. They lit some fireworks, gathered to clap at a bus and threw a beer can at a car, and then pretended that drawing the ball game didn’t matter to them. Not that there aren’t scumbags in every fanbase – I’m sure there’ll have been some in ours who behaved poorly on Saturday. The minority doesn’t seem to be as small down in Suffolk though. I’ve never known us to sink to these lows. No apology from the club yet either at the time of writing. They must be aware of it – it’s been reported by both the EDP and EADT. Kieran McKenna in fact said how the fans “did the club proud with the atmosphere they created” before palming off a question about the pre-match incident. The rivalry isn’t just geographical. They’re a horrible club and a horrible town.

They claim we celebrated the draw. We did, but not because we enjoy sharing derby day spoils. We celebrated the longevity of this current streak which has now survived 15 years (by the time they next get a crack at it), several squads, several managers and several eras (of both sides). It’s some achievement when there’s meant to be very little between us, as the overall head to head would suggest. The cheers and chants at the final whistle weren’t of joy or relief – they were mocking Ipswich’s inability to halt this run. For all the gobbiness and hostility, time and again they end up just being a bit pathetic on their big day.

Connor Southwell described it best in The Pink Un’s preview content in the week leading up. A draw for Norwich is like retaining The Ashes. Until they take it, it’s ours. They were second in the table, playing great football under a talented young coach and all pulling in the same direction. They’d never been in a stronger position going into a derby since 2009. Norwich were divided, beleaguered and had never been in a more vulnerable position. Yet still they didn’t take it. 14 years.