Preston have visited Portman Road without winning for about 300 years now, and on Saturday they didn't even come close to changing that dismal record.

They were under the cosh pretty much from the off, with several chances being wasted or scrambled to safety. In fact it seemed we would never score, especially so when Ian Westlake had a perfectly valid goal not given by the linesman, who I can only assume was behind play as the ball crossed at least 2 feet over the line. The "clearing" defender's standing foot was even over the line!

Actually, to say that Preston weren't in the game was not true for the opening periods. They had attempted to seize upon a couple of gifted opportunities to try to break the deadlock but to no avail. Thankfully the defence rode their luck successfully before Town took hold of the game.

Another incident had the home crowd seething, when Darren Bent raced forward into the box and was clumsily barged over by a Preston defender, notably the "last man" too. Whistle? Penalty? Don't be daft, not so much as a free kick.

We were all thinking that half time would be taken up with whinging about these injustices, but very late on Town deservedly went ahead. It was Shefki who spared us the frustration, he chested (no, not hand-balled..) the ball past the last defender and chased into the box, slotting it low under the 'keeper. I felt the stand shudder as he dived to the floor in celebration. He's a man in form at the moment, and obviously enjoying it. His workrate is second to none and gets 10 out of 10 for effort alone.

One would've been fine, but it was to be two goals before the break, this time from Tommy Miller, who mopped up a cleared effort by Westy after Bent had provided a good cross. We easily deserved the lead, but of course it should've been 4....

The second half looked comfortable for Town as they set about putting the game out of reach. The third goal took a while coming though, but it was worth waiting for. Westlake was heavily challenged but stayed on his feet and ran on, crossing to Bent who took a step then lashed a thunderous shot as straight as an arrow into the top corner. He'd had a great game and deserved the goal.

Town ended up with what looked like a very strong attacking line-up after Wilnis had to be substituted through injury, with Bent and Kuqi still on, but with Deano and Pablo joining in too. Strangely though, Town failed to add to the scoreline (did anyone else think that Pablo wasn't up for it?).

Shame that Preston manager had to be bitter in defeat. Billy Davies reckoned that Shefki handled the ball for his goal, but he conveniently ignores the fact that Town should've scored much earlier on when the ball clearly crossed the line, and that Bent should've had a penalty. I think we'd have run up a cricket score had we scored earlier, so I think they got off lightly.

A day for the rainproof, and those unfortunate enough to be sat towards the edge of the stand at Watford certainly needed one as the wind drove the rain in. Nice ground Watford! Getting parked can be a pain in the arse too, and as a result I can't comment on the first 10 minutes of the match.

I don't think I missed much though, judging by the rest of the half. The game was disjointed and understandably affected by the rubbish weather. Despite the strong wind, the ball was played in the air a fair bit when surely keeping it down would've been the order of the day. It was a fast surface given the water.

Pablo started the game along with Shefki Kuqi and Darren Bent, a positive sign of Joe Royle's intentions to press Watford. We threatened occassionally but rarely a chance went close. The best of the half was a Bent effort that hit the inside of the post. Earlier in the half Shefki had rounded the Watford keeper but had been forced wide, and by the time more Ipswich players were in the box to receive a cross, the Watford defence had closed in too.

Although Watford had some good spells of possession they never made the most of it and seemed to lack a cutting edge. Town were arguably the better side in the first half.

The second half resumed in a similar vein, and it only took 5 minutes for Town to take a lead at last. Ian Westlake was to be the man to open the scoring for the second time in a week, getting on the end of a quick ball and muscling his way into the box with a defender on his shoulder before shooting into the bottom corner.

The goal had given Town confidence and they were now passing better, and carving out chances. Bent had a couple of clear-cut opportunities but his finishing was weak in both cases. It was to be third time lucky though, when he fed Westlake into the box who turned and gave it back to him on the edge of the area allowing him to deliver a powerful shot into the net.

An unassailable 2 goal lead was soon assailed by Watford however, when they struck back from a corner just 3 minutes later.

Despite Town having dominated they were now under the cosh at times, and with chances squandered to put the game beyond doubt, somewhat inevitably Watford got the equaliser. It was again from a set piece, this time a free kick way out, which was hit low and hard into the chest of the diving Lewis Price who couldn't hold the wet ball. A brief scramble followed but a Watford foot lashed the ball into the net.

We're fast becoming draw specialists, which isn't something that'll keep us up in the higher reaches of the table, although as luck would have it we stayed 3rd. As JR said, we need that clean sheet again.

Any Leicester fan who'd been to watch them over the last month would've told you this game would finish in a draw - they might have told you that they'd score an own goal too.

Last game out it was our old friend Chris Makin who got on the scoresheet for Leicester at the wrong end, inadvertently sticking in the equaliser and confining them to another draw. Makin had been given quite some grief from the Town fans for the whole match due to his ungentlemanly departure from Portman Road at the beginning of the season, and it would've been pleasing for many if he'd made the gaff but unfortunately it was Matt Heath who gave Town a deserved point late on.

Conversely another former Tractor Boy James "not Jamie" Scowcroft was afforded a great reception from the travelling faithful. Thankfully he looked relatively quiet in comparison to some of his better performances for Ipswich, still winning a few trademark long-ball headers, notably one for the first equaliser but perhaps missing Wrighty punting pinpoint clearances his way!.

Town couldn't have asked for a better start to the match, scoring after a minute with fit-again Bent having an effort parried by Pressman and Ian Westlake cleverly following up with a looping chip over everyone before him and just under the crossbar. Long may this new habit continue.

The first half was Town's early on, but soon Leicester were back at us and had a period of sustained pressure during which they passed the ball well, getting too much of it down the right and being allowed to get the ball into the Town box too often. The equaliser was coming, you could say, and indeed it did with a good effort from Connolly. I'd decided I didn't like him quite early on, he dived a few times and, well actually I never liked him at West Ham. Strikes me as an arrogant little prima donna, could be wrong though.

The second half began positively for Town who enjoyed much of the possession, however it was the home side that scored to take the lead for the first time. Their doomed-to-be-short-lived hero was Matt Heath who's speculative shot was beyond the reach of Lewis Price.

Cue Joe to make some changes, on came Pablo for Jim. It seemed to do the trick, gee-ing up Town who now pressed Leicester and began to dominate. There was a period for about 10 minutes when the ball seemed not to leave the Leicester half, during which Town had a hundred (or so) corners. It seemed inevitable that we would score, such was the pressure, but it faded without reward and Joe decided to make another change, bringing on Bowditch for an inconsistent Bent.

He was soon in the action and was involved in a controversial moment when Town thought they'd got the goal they deserved. Deano had got on the end of a cross and forced Pressman into a save, the 'keeper spilling the ball in the wet conditions allowing the alert Kuqi to nick it into the net. There was disbelief from the players and fans when the ref disallowed the goal, presumably for some imaginary infringement on the 'keeper. For the second game in a row a mistake by the ref denied Town a chance to score. Goal keepers are way too over-protected these days, and the official simply took the easy option of presuming the 'keeper had been fouled, despite his assistant indicating otherwise. What hope is there if the ref wont even talk to his assistant who clearly had a better view? Get back to Sunday League man.

Justice was to be served up for Town though when with two minutes left, Town were still seething from that incident and pressing on for the equaliser, Matt Heath fantastically contorted to head a cross behind him and into the net instead of safety.

The home fans streamed out of the Walkers Stadium, their own song of "Cheerio Cheerio Cheerio" now echoing back at them (the home crowd strangely sang the same to us with 10 minutes left and no one was leaving).

Ipswich showed good spirit in coming back from conceding the lead, and could easily have taken all the points but for a disallowed goal, but Leicester had their share of play and on balance perhaps a point was just. It moved us up to 3rd too.

"Boring Boring Burnley". How can the Burnley fans sit through that week in week out? They deserve a medal for the support they give their team, they sang pretty much continuously while watching their side's defensive display. Not that Burnley exactly had that much pressure to soak up.

After a few early chances for Town, we did the usual. Something else which is getting boring is watching Town gift the opposition a goal. It was Naylor who got caught out, when Town should've been breaking up the field there was one too many pass at the back and Micah Hyde nicked it from him to pass to an unmarked Robbie Blake who could not miss.

And just a few minutes later it became clear that it was going to be "one of those games", and indeed that we had "one of those referees". Westlake was cleverly given the ball by Bowditch very deep in the Burnley box and got in a cross, only for it to be cut out by Frank Sinclair. It was a blatant, solid gold (22ct), no-brainer penalty, but unfortunately the ref obviously had neither brain nor bling. The apparently 14 year-old lino had a clear view but he too either bottled it or had something in his eye and missed it.

The officials continued in the same vein for pretty much the whole match, the ref missing a clear corner moments later, and insisting that Shefki leave the field of play after Jim Magilton received treatment for injury! Why do we have to put up with sub-standard officials? Some of these guys obviously love the attention they draw to themselves, blowing the whistle like a continental ref and strutting around like a peacock. They should piss off to Italy if that's what they want.

Anyway, penalty aside, I don't think they had too much bearing on Town's performance. We surely would have done better if we'd have equalised that early on, but we ought to be able to break down team's like Burnley. It's all down to not taking our chances. Our injuries too had a part to play, but De Vos made it after all, and although Bent was out we did have opportunities to score. Pablo got back into the action, and although I thought he was pretty quiet for most of his time on the pitch, in the furious finish to the match he was influential, setting up Miller's chance, and unlucky with the resulting follow-up which was well saved.

If only that Miller effort had gone in, I think Burnley would've got what they deserved, nowt. Well, that's what I thought at the time, angry as I was with the game's proceedings, but on reflection the point was not that bad.