This one started out so well, we ran Stoke ragged in the early stages, but it all went downhill from there. The equaliser triggered a Stoke wake-up and from that point both sides struggled to dominate, and the second half was more than disappointing. At least we were treated to a fantastic opening spell.
The line-up looked more like a side Jim would've picked earlier in the season with Alan Lee returning up front with Pablo Counago, and Jason De Vos back in after a knock meaning Fabian Wilnis made way. Jon Walters played in the left of midfield. The pace at which Town started also was reminiscent of one of our stronger early season performances, but unlike many of those games we never made it count and as it tailed off we were punished for it overall.
Danny Haynes had one of his better days, running rings round the opposition out on the right and carving out chances for himself and others, and to cap it all he scored a superb goal. He showed his intent in the first few minutes, after racing away down the wing he appeared to cross the ball which soared high over the keeper towards the far top corner from an acute deep angle, the keeper just tipping it over. Cross or shot?
Stoke had their chances in the opening stages but were not as tidy as Town in their build up. They were boisterous from the start without being nasty, and certainly had a physical presence which they used to their advantage.
I took just 18 minutes for Town to unlock the Stoke defence, with Alan Lee feeding Danny Haynes out wide towards the edge of the box. The ball tempted the defender out towards it but Haynes just beat him to it and nicked it around him neatly, this left him free to lash home a shot across goal which went in off the far post, a really sturdy finish.
The same player almost doubled the lead a few minutes later but this time keeper Simonsen was equal to it. As efforts came in from Owen Garvan and Alan Lee to name but two, it looked like we had settled ourselves and has Stoke on the ropes, but instead we faded, sat back thinking we had it in the bag maybe and allowed Stoke back into it.
It was around the half hour mark when the visitors got back on terms. Former Town man Ricardo Fuller was put through wide of goal but just 10 yards out, and he hit a very hard and low shot through Neil Alexander and in at he far post. It hadn't been coming, although there had been several warnings that might've encouraged the Town defence to get an earlier foot in.
Stoke were obviously lifted by this and finished the half in postitive fashion. After the break Town made efforts to rediscover the rhythm that had been lost in the closing stages on the first half, but Stoke defended solidly. A Tommy Miller free kick never really caused trouble, but Ipswich came really close to regaining the lead from the not-as-unlikely-as-before-but-still-unlikely source of David Wright, who walloped a 25+ yards effort narrowly over the bar.
We soon began to resort to the long ball over top, which given Pablo's height was perhaps a little hopeful. Alan Lee was barely noticable after the break and so it seemed unlikely that he would be gathering such balls. Town had spells of play that almost sparked us back into life, but frustratingly the ball always seemed to be a yard beyond our feet, or the defender would intercept in the nick of time, that sort of thing. Pablo had a shout for a penalty turned down when he was clearly held with 2 arms around his neck a couple of yards from goal. One of those days.
A crucial point of the game came with 20 minutes left, when Ricardo Fuller broke free of all around him and found himself one on one with the keeper. Alexander came out to meet him and as Fuller tapped the ball around him, the Town keeper kept his composure and dived perfectly gathering the ball with 2 hands at arms length. Fuller should have done better, but the timing from Alexander was spot on. At this point I think I realised I'd be happy with a point.
Points of note then, Danny Haynes had a blistering show, really hit the ground running and kept going until the end. Sito was again excellent bar the odd lapse, perhaps exposed once or twice by Haynes not tracking back. Neil Alexander made some good stops and denying Fuller through that brilliant save was itself worthy of the point we took.
Town can consider themselves hard done by after a great performance against one of the Premier League’s best away sides was spoilt [once again] by a very poor refereeing decision. Liam Trotter was sent to the dressing room for nothing more than a hard challenge midway through the first half, a moment that tarnished what was proving to be an exciting cup tie.
Pompey looked strong, they did not stoop to weakening their team beyond recognition, their African stars were present as Portsmouth would lose them to the Africa Nations Cup after this match anyway, so nothing to lose. Town are obviously not in a position to do so anyway, but were forced into changes by illness and injury. The most notable and concerning change was Jon Walters missing out altogether. Jaime Peters joined the party on the bench alongside long term absentee Richard Naylor. Fabian Wilnis started and as Jason De Vos was injured, he was handed the Captain’s armband. Billy Clarke started the game alongside Pablo Counago.
Pompey’s composure and class was quite clear from the outset, they did most things well and looked like a threat whenever they broke forward. Thankfully their shooting seemed more than a little off today, and in fact overall they didn’t seem 100% interested in the game, not in an arrogant way but maybe minds elsewhere. For the opening stages, we largely matched them shot for shot.
It took less than 25 minutes for the game to be ruined by referee Mark Halsey, and in spectacularly mad fashion. Liam Trotter who had been having a steady game, challenged Pedro Medes in the wide midfield. The tackle looked hard, and Mendes appeared to get to the ball first, but it didn’t look malicious let alone two footed. Halsey called over Trotter and gave him a talking to, no other players got involved in what looked like a normal challenge, and perhaps a booking. But after an age during which he obviously consulted someone via his earpiece, Halsey reached for his back pocket and showed a red card. Ipswich players and fans alike were stunned, as was Liam Trotter. It was clear that Halsey was going to give a yellow, and in fact Trotter himself confirms that this is what the ref told him, but something changed his mind. A moment later Mendes, who had obviously been recovering from some sort of multiple gunshot wound, sprang to his feet and received pats on the back from team mates. Premier League football had come to Portman Road.
The whole incident just served to spur Town on. The game was still well balanced and both sides had chances, with Town having an Pablo effort cleared off the line. It was good to see that Ipswich kept their tails up, and at half time were still very clearly in with a shout.
After the break we saw David Nugent come on for the theatrical Pedro Mendes who had been constantly booed by the home fans after the sending off. “Oh no, he hasn’t failed to score at Portman Road in 5 or so previous visits, he’s bound to… yes, one nil”. We’d had a chance saved at the other end, but just 5 minutes into the half Nugent broke through the middle after a huge punt forward. Clearly onside, the Ipswich back line faltered arms aloft before giving chase. Despite being bustled by Alex Bruce, Nugent knocked the ball past Neil Alexander from 15 yards to score what would be the only goal of the game.
Pompey now enjoyed a more buoyant spell with 2 or 3 good shots, one cannoning off the bar beyond a stranded Alexander. Town did keep at it and showed great character to keep up the pressure on the visitors, but they were now getting some of their best chances of the game and only their poor finishing really kept them from scoring again. The most glaring miss came as former Blue Herman Hreidarsson crossed right across goal, and with not a defender in sight Utaka jumped to tap home from 3 yards but completely missed the ball.
This almost proved costly as Town upped their tempo in the final 20 minutes and carved out good chances for themselves. David James was now the busiest Pompey player, and he made 3 or 4 fantastic saves. Alan Lee came on for Gavin Williams ten minutes from the end, added a bit more muscle in the final push for an equaliser and he got in a powerful header that James stopped. Jaime Peters had replaced Billy Clarke slightly earlier and had added some pace on the left which gave Portsmouth some trouble.
Danny Haynes was also running on all cylinders and was proving a handful for the visitors. He managed a couple of cracking efforts, the last being our final chance to pull anything out of the hat, when late sub Richard Naylor laid off the ball to nearby Haynes on the edge of the box who lashed in a goal bound shot. It looked to be going inside the post but James dived full stretch to save the low level effort to cap a great performance from him.
Had the game finished with the same score line with both sides having 11 players on the pitch, I might have felt comfortable with this result and still pleased with the performance from Town. But after the ridiculous red card handed Portsmouth the advantage, it all seems a little sour. Who knows how the game might have panned out? One thing though, the ref has once again played far too great a part in our downfall in the FA Cup. It was a really poor showing from a “Premier League Ref” and I hope he is man enough to admit the mistake. I hope the matter is probed further too, and that we find out exactly what the conversation was over his head set. But on both points, I doubt it.
Town put their Christmas blues behind them and came up with a great display of what they are capable of on the pitch, and against the league leaders too. West Brom are most peoples tip for the title, and therefore presumed a very tough cookie even with our fantastic home record. It was business as usual for Town at home however, and the 2 nil score line was well deserved.
Luis Castro Sito was back in the side after his short spell out with concussion. He was straight back into his recent form though, and completed the whole game with a very good shout for man of the match. Alongside him, Alex Bruce was fit again. Alan Lee was rested for most of the game, sitting it out on the bench until the latter stages. Jonathan Walters and Pablo Couñago paired up at the front with Liam Trotter earning himself a start. Tommy Miller found himself suspended; Gavin Williams was slotted into the midfield once again.
It looked bad for Ipswich from the off as West Brom came at us as expected, and came close to scoring. Most of the first 10 minutes was in the visitors favour. But we eventually settled and play balanced out, and we were far more creative than we had seen at Leicester and Coventry. Town had a guilt edged chance to take the lead within the first quarter of an hour after Walters was clean through onto a ball from Pablo. Advancing into the box he looked sure to score, but very un-Walters like he blazed over from 15 yards.
Town were easily equal to the Baggies now, and it was end to end stuff, both sides having good chances on goal. Liam Trotter was getting involved with some nifty exchanges from the midfield up to Pablo, and got into shooting situations himself. Gavin Williams had been putting himself about in the middle of the park, but continually gave the ball away after doing the hard work, which was earning him a bit of negative attention from the crowd.
Another excellent chance passed without reward as Town found themselves with 3 men in space on the edge of the West Brom area. With Walters and Pablo closer in on goal and virtually unmarked either side of him, Danny Haynes chose to shoot from outside the box, with his effort rising over the bar as we all seemed to know it would!
Very soon after the Baggies missed a sitter, with Ishmael Miller finding himself free of the attentions of the defence wide of the back post but unable to direct a powerful header on target, although only narrowly over the bar.
The best effort of the half went to Pablo though, who carved out a chance for himself left of goal then unleashed a curling effort towards the far post. Keeper Dean Kiely was beaten but the ball frustratingly rebounded off the inside of the post before being cleared. Pablo was really running on all cylinders now, chasing everything that was remotely near him and skipping over challenges with the ball at his feet.
Town had several good chances that were in fairness mainly well defended by West Brom, although a few were narrowly off target. The Baggies had a few good efforts that reminded us who we were playing, Kevin Phillips rattling the bar with a long range effort.
Both teams restarted after the break at a similar pace, however Town soon established more of an attacking pattern and were creating more of the chances. West Brom continued to look threatening but were becoming wasteful. It seemed that chance after chance was going begging for Town and as the game wore on it began to look like “one of those games”.
It wasn’t until 15 minutes from time that we finally unlocked the Baggies defence, but the goal was worth waiting for. David Wright played the ball out of defence and to Jon Walters who in turn fed Liam Trotter wide left. Trotter galloped forward and sent in a cross from a deep position which was met by Wright following up the move at the near post. His header beat the keeper for what must be one of the most satisfying goals all season, a cracker.
Just a few minutes later Town almost doubled their lead after Sito tricked around a player in his own half then sprinted into the oppositions half. He rounded another before taking the ball on into the box and knocking it back to Pablo in the centre who’s shot was saved. Sito was close in at this point and was surprised by the rebound which the keeper was able to gather. A goal for Sito would’ve been the icing on the cake.
Alan Lee came on shortly before Ipswich wrapped up the points. Town were awarded a free kick a good 25 yards or more out and left of the area. Gavin Williams consulted closely with Jason De Vos over the ball as the ref marched out the ten yards, before sending in a decent delivery to the back post which was met by De Vos who headed home. Straight off the training ground by the looks of it.
Late sub Billy Clarke almost got a third for us as he was sent clear but his touch was too close to the advancing Kiely who got something on it and leapt to his feet to catch the looping rebound.
This was a truly fantastic result, one of our best performances of the season, in a game where keeping a clean sheet was itself an achievement. Two very good goals to claim the points, and results elsewhere having been kind to us over our Christmas blip, we are now back in the top 6. Will steer clear of the subject of away form for a fortnight or so. I will give the ref a mention, who was absolutely dreadful in his inconsistency and lack of grip on the game.