Mixed Emotions

After weeks of unseasonably mild weather the winter has finally arrived in Suffolk and the visiting Wolverhampton manager Kenny definitely needed his jacket as he watched his side come from behind twice to grab a draw at a very cold Portman Road.

Sharon and I were at the ground early to get a couple copies of Dave Ablitt's book 'Howda Town Git On?' from Planet Blue, along with some Christmas presents. He was doing a book signing session along with Ray Crawford, who wrote the foreword for the book. Sharon took them home as she had decided not to go to the game, so I met Max at The Thomas Wolsey for a lime and soda (still no beer!)

All signed up with Dave Ablitt & Ray Crawford

Ray Crawford part of the 1962 Division One (Premier League in old money) Championship winning team

There was a minutes silence before kick-off in memory of former Town keeper Márton Füllöp who died at the age of just 32 on November12th after battling cancer along the victims of the terrorist attacks that happened in Paris the day after.

Town definitely let Wolves off the hook twice and really should have taken all three points from the match. Jonathan Douglas, scoring his second goal in as many games, gave us a sixteenth minute lead. The visitors, against the run of play levelled from a corner through James Henry, seven minutes before half-time.

Daryl Murphy, with his first goal of the season at Portman Road, got Ipswich back in front in the fifty-fourth minute, but as in the first half, we huffed and we puffed but just couldn't blow the house down! Then with a quarter of an hour of the match left to play the wolves levelled again when Benik Afobe headed in a great cross from substitute Adam Le Fondre.

There was a nice touch from the Portman Road crowd in the twenty-first minute when all four stands joined in with a minutes applause for our former keeper Füllöp. He was signed from Sunderland by Roy Keane in 2010 and wore the number 21 shirt. I felt that this was a more fitting tribute from the Town fans than the earlier sharing of the minutes silence.

Although it’s not quite pantomime season, Grant Holt, who is on loan at Wolves, played the part of the villain very well. The unused substitute got a rousing reception from The North Stand when he came up for a stretch, midway through the first half. There was a torrent of abuse aimed at him and a rendition of every Grant Holt and budgie song known to man. He lapped it all up and I swear it was the longest ‘stretch’ that I’ve seen all season. My favourite moment was when the crowd sang ‘Did you shag Delia?’ he turned to them and nodded and gave a wry smile!

Millers Time

Well, that was an enjoyable day out!

We're into November now and this was only my second away game of the season so far. A packed Astra, with Sharon, me, Max, Darren and Henry left Ipswich at 9am and made it to Rotherham in just under three hours, after a rain swept journey up north.

They say 'It's grim up north' but the sun was shining as we arrived!

I noticed the 'old school' pylon floodlights of Millmoor as we drove into town and so I took a minor detour to have a look at The Millers former home.

Rotherham left Millmoor at the end of the 2007/08 season to play their home games five miles down the road, at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield. This was as a result of a falling out over the cost of rent with the grounds owners, the Booth family.

I was actually surprised to see the ground still standing. Even more surprising was learning that the club had been in the process of building a new stand, which was never completed, there must have been a serious fall out behind the scenes!

I can't help thinking that I would have liked to have seen a game here

I wonder if the local business man Ken Booth who originally brought the club in 1987 (whilst it was in administration), before selling it to a supporters group for a £1 in 2004. He paid off the clubs three million pound debt, but kept the freehold of the stadium and the clubs training ground.

I wonder if he ever thought about his reggae star, namesakes lyrics 

'And l would give everything I own.

Give my life, my heart, my home.

Just to have you back again'

as he watched the New York Stadium being built across the A630, within sight of the defunct Millmoor?

Millmoor with its incomplete stand to the right and The New York Stadium in the background

We were informed by the security guard that the stadium is due for demolition and he allowed us to wonder around the outside to have a closer look. Ironically they offer football parking on the site!

After our visit we parked the car near to the New York Stadium before taking a short walk into town centre, where we found a Wetherspoons pub The Corn Law Rhymer. Sharon and I had coffee followed by Lime and Soda, no carbs, no beer! We left Max Darren and Henry in there and had a wander around the town before making our way to the ground. Rotherham is not quite the dump that I expected to find!

There was a very well observed minutes silence before kick-off as it was Remembrance Day on Sunday.

Ipswich were fast out of the blocks and it was one of those days when we could have easily scored nine or ten goals. Brett Pitman opened the scoring after just eight minutes, then Jonathan Douglas scored his first goal for Town fifteen minutes later. There was huge relief from everybody associated with ITFC two minutes before the break when Daryl Murphy finally opened his account for the season!

The feeling at half-time was that we could easily go on and knock up a big score in the second half and that was underlined when Murphy added his second goal within three minutes of the restart. Surely it was game over?

Not according to the home side, who suddenly came alive and out of nowhere Brandon Barker and Matt Derbyshire scored two cracking goals within in the space of just two minutes. So with more than thirty minutes left to play the Millers sensed that perhaps they could get something out of the game after all. Rightly so, given Town's recent record of throwing away late points at both Brentford and Forest.

Truthfully though, watching the game I couldn't really see that happening, the game was really open now and the home crowd had finally found their voices.

However Murphy silenced them when he completed his first ever hat-trick in an Ipswich shirt with seventeen minutes left to play, much to the delight of the thousand plus away fans.

Murphy celebrates his second goal

Game, set and match ball for Murphy

The end of an enjoyable afternoon in The New York Stadium

Yet another international break beckons, so no more 'proper' football for two weeks, perhaps Murphy will be able to get on the scoresheet for the Republic of Ireland in their two legged Euro 2016 play-off qualifier against Bosnia.

"Thank F**k For That"

At last! 

There was relief all round Portman Road after what seemed an eternity, as we finally managed to win a game at home and in the process, welcome back a long overdue celebratory fist pump from skipper Luke Chambers.

I'm not sure how poor a team struggling Bolton really are, but Town looked so much better than in previous games, even Daryl Murphy looked confident!

Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored his first goal in a Town shirt in the thirteenth minute with a low curling shot, in fact it was his first senior goal.

Although Ipswich never looked troubled by the Trotters, It took until the seventieth minute to add a nerve settling second goal. Man of the match, Freddie Sears, picked up a clearance deep in his own half by the touch line and tore into the Bolton half before releasing the ball to Brett Pitman, who unleashed a terrific shot which keeper Ben Amos could do little about as it smashed past him and into the net.

Three clean sheets in the last four games, hopefully this is the start of a decent run of form.

Cheers Mick!