Ipswich Town beat Blackburn Rovers 4-3 at Portman Road yesterday. Stuart Watson reflects on the action.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!
The days of turgid 0-0 draws with Burton and 13,000 home crowds seem a lifetime ago.
Ipswich smashed the likes of Exeter, Charlton (both 6-0), Morecambe, Forest Green, Burton and Wycombe (all 4-0) on Suffolk soil last season. Manager Kieran McKenna subsequently vowed to ‘attack the season’ a level higher in the Championship and has been true to his word.
Town have kept up their guard and counter-punched on the road to grind out 1-0 wins at QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton. Back at Portman Road, backed by near 30,000 capacity crowds, they’ve simply thrown down the gloves and traded blows.
A 2-0 win against Stoke, a 4-3 defeat to Leeds, a 3-2 comeback win against Cardiff and now a 4-3 win against Blackburn. Are any other fans across the country getting better entertainment value right now?
There was a time, only a few years ago, when disillusioned season ticket holders couldn’t give their seats away and young fans were pleading to leave early as Ipswich suffered death by a thousand cuts in the Championship.
Now, after a long and often tortuous road back to the second-tier, the club has had to introduce a ticket touting policy, such is the demand, and the next generation of supporters are hooked.
Be careful what you wish for.
FANTASTIC FOUR
The January 2023 transfer window will take some topping for Ipswich Town. The business done at the start of this year just keeps looking better and better.
All four of those mid-season recruits – Harry Clarke, Nathan Broadhead, George Hirst and Massimo Luongo – scored in this game.
MORE: Watch Alex and Stu's video verdict on Town's 4-3 win against Blackburn
Clarke took a few games to get fully up to speed this season, after an injury-disrupted summer, but was superb defensively at Southampton in midweek and back to his swashbuckling offensive best in this one.
The sight of him wheeling away in pure ecstasy after his thumping finish high into the net was a special moment. That's been coming. He's living a boyhood dream.
Conor Chaplin’s cushioned pass and Nathan Broadhead’s fine low finish from outside the area made it 2-1. Boy can the Welshman put his foot through a ball. ‘Foot like a traction engine’, as Alan Partridge once said. Watch his impassioned reaction for the winner too. Homegrown or not, all these players are deeply invested.
Cameron Burgess, whose improvement under McKenna’s management has been vast, provided a world class low flighted pass over the top for George Hirst’s stabbed one-v-one finish. The Town striker, who was only handed two league starts by Blackburn during a loan spell last season, certainly enjoyed his celebrations in front of the away end. A point proved there. He's enjoying being somewhere where he's appreciated.
Then Massimo Luongo capped a superb individual performance with the match-winning goal, controlling a dropping ball on his chest and rifling a volley into the net from the edge of the box. To produce that sort of technique in a pressure moment was quite remarkable. A reminder that he was picked up on a free transfer. Thanks Middlesbrough.
Now, hands up who’s been humming the tune of ABBA’s Voulez-Vous all weekend.
FINISH THEM!
It seems an odd thing to say after a four-goal performance from what has generally been a free-scoring side, but Ipswich do need to be more clinical.
The wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton could have been more comfortable if good chances for killer second goals were taken. It was the same here.
Broadhead hit the post right on half-time and saw a big chance saved soon after the restart. Clarke curled just wide, Hirst headed over, while livewire substitute Omari Hutchinson had several good openings. There are other moments too.
To say Ipswich could have hit double figures for goals is not an exaggeration. They finished the game with 29 shots.
“We can say that we need to defend better, and we do in some moments, but on the other hand we have to go 4-1 and 5-1 with the chances that we had,” said McKenna.
“The only way to kill that game off is to open up a four or five-goal margin. Even at 4-3 we had chances at the end to go 5-3 and 6-3. That’s something that we need to improve.”
SQUAD DEPTH KEY
The yellow card shown to Sam Morsy early the second half looked a soft one. With five bookings to his name this season (and bans competition specific), Town’s skipper will be suspended for next Saturday’s game at Huddersfield. It’ll be interesting to see if Jack Taylor or the more defence-minded Lee Evans gets the nod for that one.
Leif Davis, who started this game just one week on from hobbling off at Hillsborough, rocked his right ankle again towards the end. He limped his way through seven minutes of stoppage-time due to the fact Ipswich had used all five subs. Hopefully that’s nothing too serious.
These sort of absences have and will really test Town’s squad depth. This last week has provided plenty of encouragement that’s it’s not just a strong starting XI that McKenna possesses.
Brandon Williams, Taylor, Hutchinson, Marcus Harness and Dane Scarlett all came on and played their part in getting this one over the line after the monumental efforts of the previous two games started to show, understandably, in a few legs.
Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup third round clash with Premier League side Wolves, at Portman Road, will provide an opportunity for some of the above to get more match hardened while others rest up ahead of another busy spell.
SAMMIE’S SHUSH
Town’s defence looked a bit flat-footed for Arnor Sigurdsson’s leveller. To be fair, it was a good bit of interplay from a Blackburn side that has earned plenty of plaudits this season.
Could Clarke have done much more when turning a deep cross into his own net under pressure? I don’t think so. Ipswich were probably guilty of collectively dropping a bit too deep after a spell of away pressure though.
MORE: Alex Jones' player ratings following 4-3 win against Blackburn
There were a couple of missed tackles in the build-up to Blackburn’s third. Should someone have been tighter to Sammie Szmodics on the edge of the box? Probably. It was a clever spin and expert finish though.
Ex-Colchester man Szmodics, just as he done when scoring at Portman Road for Peterborough in 2020, looked to wind up the home crowd. Before he cupped his ears to the North Stand. This time he held his fingers to his lips in the direction of the South Stand. Thankfully, Ipswich had the last laugh.
You can see why Blackburn have created more chances than anyone in the Championship so far this season.
Vaclav Hladky, who had an off game with his feet, made one smart stop from Andrew Moran at 3-1 and a flying save to deny Harry Leonard at 3-2.
This game could have had an even wilder scoreline. Ipswich will look at ways they can improve at both ends of the field. Ultimately, however, the stats – more shots (29-10), more shots on target (11-5) and more corners (10-5) – coupled with the eye test, shows McKenna’s men deserved all three points.
Winning is a habit. Ipswich – and this is scarcely believable – have now won 20 of their last 23 league games.
There’s a hell of a long way to go this season, but what a platform Town have given themselves to really attack every game and play without fear.
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