Ipswich Town remain second in League One after winning 2-0 at Exeter City yesterday. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
BACK TO BASICS
Ipswich were the second top scorers in the division but came into this match having conceded seven goals in three games against Port Vale, Charlton and Cheltenham.
Exeter’s 18 league games, meanwhile, had involved 58 goals.
So everything suggested this could be an entertaining, wide open goal fest.
“I don’t think there are any guarantees that is how the game will be, to be honest,” said wily Blues boss Kieran McKenna in the build-up.
He was right.
Exeter boss Gary Caldwell, wary of Ipswich, went with a more conservative 3-5-2 system as supposed to his usual 3-4-1-2.
Ipswich, keen to get back to basics after some sloppy moments of late, didn’t go too gung-ho in their approach either.
“They defended really deep compared to how they have been, so they showed us a lot of respect to change their game plan from what they have been doing,” said Caldwell.
McKenna explained: “Today we wanted to be a little bit more compact and have that feeling of real solidity as a team.”
The result was that Ipswich, led by standard setting skipper Sam Morsy, always looked calm and in control. Around the two goals (more on them in a moment), they dialled the tempo up and down when required.
Christian Walton only had one save to make. Janoi Donacien and the exceptional Cameron Burgess headed away the few crosses that did make it into the box.
Town have now played 42 league games under McKenna and, remarkably, kept a clean sheet in half of them.
FIVE IN FIVE FOR FREDDIE
A straight ball clipped into the box by Morsy, an unmarked nod down by Marcus Harness and Freddie Ladapo was there to convert with a stooping header.
So simple, yet so effective. After a cagey start to this match, Town found themselves ahead in the 11th minute.
Ladapo, who drew a fine reaction save out of keeper Jamal Blackman with another header in the second half, now has nine goals for the season in all competitions.
Five of them have come in his last five outings.
It’s not just his goal return that is improving either. The 29-year-old's overall play as the lone striker, a role he’s had to adapt to after years of playing in a front two for Rotherham, is getting better by the game.
He’s mixing up pressing from the front, smart link play and fox-in-the-box movement.
It was great to see his broad smile in the post-match television interview.
SET-PIECE GOALS
Ipswich upped the tempo after going 1-0 up, but a second goal would not come.
They upped things again midway through the second period and found a killer second.
Donacien’s surging run, which involved a give and go with Wes Burns, led to a corner. Leif Davis’ dipping, inswinging delivery was headed in by Harness.
It seems a long time ago now that Ipswich fans were sarcastically singing ‘we’re going to score from a corner’.
Lee Evans v Bolton, Conor Chaplin v Accrington, George Edmundson v Morecambe and Charlton, Luke Woolfenden v Cheltenham and now Harness v Exeter.
The Blues have scored from six corners this season (the most in the division). It’s seven if you include Cameron Humphreys rifling in after a corner was half-cleared at Port Vale.
You can throw in Chaplin’s direct free-kick against Barnsley, plus the Tyreece John-Jules header at Charlton (a second phase free-kick goal) as examples of goals that originated from set-plays too...
All of the above account for 24% of Town’s league goals so far.
Now keep that number in mind when rewinding McKenna’s comments at a Fans’ Forum back in April.
“It’s 16 games that we haven’t scored from one and I would say it’s borderline impossible to get out of this division with that record on set plays,” he said.
“Around 25% of goals usually come from set plays and I believe in this division it’s even higher.
“In a way I see it as a positive that we’ve been able to get the results we have without scoring set plays.
“If we can add that to our artillery then I think we can be a different threat as a team. It’s something we need to work on.”
That work has clearly paid off. Not that McKenna sees it as mission accomplished just yet...
“We’ve worked on it from the start of pre-season right through to now,” he said.
“The players had to buy into how important it was going to be and that we were going to have to spend more time on it.
“At the moment, we’re doing that and we’re getting the rewards but there’s a long way to go. We’ve scored corners, but we want to get better on our wide free-kicks, on our indirect free-kicks as well and, of course, on our attacking throw-ins.”
TV HAT-TRICK
It took Town 36 attempts across the best part of eight years to win three live televised games.
They’ve now gone and won three on the spin in front of the TV cameras.
With this victory coming hot on the heels of the televised wins against Derby and Bracknell, McKenna said: “It’s not something we’ve spoke about a lot internally.
“I didn’t mention it before the Derby game but we did have a little laugh and joke about it afterwards with the players.
“When a football club has had an unsuccessful run of years there are going to be a long list of negative superstitions and memories.
“I guess for the fans maybe it’s one less thing to worry about.”
REWARD FOR THE FANS
Town won seven of their 23 away league games last season. They’ve already matched that number in 10 away league matches this campaign.
Such a strong record on the road is fine reward for the ever-magnificent travelling support.
Exeter is 260 miles away from Ipswich. This game kicked off at 12pm. It would have been easy to stay home and watch it on the TV.
But the Blues’ record of having more than 1,000 fans at every away game this season remains in tact.
There were 1,208 of them at St James Park, to be precise. Plenty set off from Suffolk at the crack of dawn to get there. And they still brought the noise.
“Incredible,” said McKenna. “There must have been a lot of early buses and trains and overnight stays.
“Exeter have a big bank behind one goal and that can be a big weapon for them, but I thought we neutralised that as a club today with the support that we had at the other end.
“It felt like more of a balanced crowd, if not in our favour.”
ONE NEGATIVE
The only dampener on an otherwise perfect afternoon was the sight of Leif Davis limping off holding his hamstring in the second half.
Hopefully the fact that he re-emerged to walk over and clap the travelling fans at the end indicates it’s nothing too serious. Let’s wait and see.
On a more positive note, Greg Leigh warmed up with the team before the game, while Gassan Ahadme came on for the final few minutes.
Hopefully those two can start getting back up to speed in this week’s cup games against Portsmouth and Buxton.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
This feels like an important win.
A draw or defeat would have seen Town replaced in the top-two by Sheffield Wednesday.
A fanbase scarred by years of false dawns and disappointments would have understandably wobbled slightly after previous frustrating draws against Charlton and Cheltenham.
A win, however, means the narrative centres around cutting the gap on leaders Plymouth to two points and opening up a very healthy 10-point gap to fourth.
“I thought last weekend (against Cheltenham) was an excellent performance. I thought this was a good performance, no better than last week, to be honest,” said McKenna, with his usual healthy sense of perspective.
“For me it’s always about maintaining consistency in the level of your performances and we’ve been pleased to do that all across the season really.”
Again, he’s right. As the halfway stage of the campaign fast approaches, ask yourself ‘what’s been the worst 90+ minute performance?’ There has been the odd flat/wobbly spell and some sloppy moments, but nothing that can be labelled an overall dreadful day at the office.
Town could easily have got more points from the games against Bolton (late chance), Barnsley (disallowed goal), Sheffield Wednesday (two ahead), Plymouth (50/50 affair), Lincoln and Cheltenham (dominated both).
And you certainly can’t describe any of the 12 wins as fortunate.
The Blues can be very pleased with their points haul, but even more heartened by the consistency of performance levels.
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