Back to back defeats (first time this season!) since my last article means we’re now down to 8th in the table. Not too bad, all things being considered, but we could have been third if we’d beaten Newcastle and Barnsley…yes that’s a big if considering Newcastle’s riches, but Barnsley (no offence to them, they’ve just recorded their second successive win) are still only sat in 11th!
We have 12 points remaining, before 2016 is up. Barely enough to take us to the summit of the table.
Our preferred keeper at this stage? According to the stats, it’s clearly Kuszczak, but he’s begun to leak goals! Should he be replaced by Legzdins? Probably not, in all fairness. Defence? Grounds, Shotton, Spector (though Cogley initially gave a good account of himself you’d imagine Specs will slip straight back into his role) and Morrison. Midfield? Maghoma, Davis, Kieftenbeld and Cotterill with an attack of Donaldson and Adams. Jutkiewicz is having a relative dry spell isn’t he, mind you, so are we! The whole team needs to start scoring more before we start plummeting down the table.
Our results were totally brought about off the back of a consistent defence. Letting in eight goals in the last three means we must need to get back to basics on the training ground.
The Tractor Boys are presently nine places behind us, in seventeenth, six points behind us, but thanks to our abject form of late on equal goal difference! Good wins for Ipswich this season include 4-2 at home to Barnsley, 1-0 away at Derby and 2-1 away at Sheffield Wednesday. They were also dumped out of the EFL Cup by Stevenage (wouldn’t happen to us…ahem) and thumped 3-0 at St James Park (erm…) and are presently winless in two (oh ffs)…
With no ex-Blues on the pitch, bench or manager’s dug-out today, the players to look out for will be Grant Ward and Luke Varney, who’ve scored 8 goals between them. On that subject, Ipswich have scored FOUR away goals this season, so we should be going all out to win this one…particularly ahead of the visit of Brighton!
I’m going to predict a confident 3-0 win as we try to prove our ‘bounce-back-ability’. Goals from Donaldson, Adams and Jutkiewicz will hopefully lift our performance towards the 4-1 aggregate win over them last season (we beat them 3-0 at home, Gary)…
Win this and we could rise to the dizzyish heights of fourth. If we lose, we could drop as low as thirteenth, (whisper it) below the Vile if they win. All the more incentive, if it were needed, to get three points in the bag Tuesday night…
Enjoy the Match and Keep Right On!
Russell Dempsey
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