Ipswich Town have recorded yet another unbeaten month, winning all four of their games in October. Alex Jones picks his award winners.
Player of the Month
As usual, there’s a number of candidates for this one. The front line continues to tear teams to pieces, while Vaclav Hladky could easily win the award for the second consecutive month. In the end, I just couldn’t go with him despite some incredible performances. I had to choose Leif Davis.
October was a huge month for the left-back, who kicked off with a Man-of-the-Match performance against Hull City, providing two assists and keeping a clean sheet. He then followed that up with an assist for Conor Chaplin’s opener against Preston North End and yet another clean sheet against Bristol City after the international break.
He wasn’t at his best against Plymouth Argyle, and there’s no denying that, but he still pulled off a moment of magic to play George Hirst through on goal with a superb through ball, allowing the striker to rifle home a shot that put Town ahead for the first time in the game, taking his total assists for the campaign up to six.
Even at his worst, he’s still doing incredible things. Yes, it wasn’t easy to pick him, but he just about edges it based off his energy, his work rate and his chance creation. He has a difficult job in this team, but he’s still standing out as one of the best players in the Championship.
Surprise package
This award was a little bit easier, but it was tough to pick between the two standouts. Brandon Williams has done some incredible things in an Ipswich shirt since working his way into the team, but I don’t think anyone expected Marcus Harness to have the impact that he’s had.
A player who was shifted out of the starting lineup at the start of the year due to the arrival of Nathan Broadhead, many supporters thought Harness would be on his way out over the summer. In hindsight, there was clearly no way that Kieran McKenna would allow that to happen.
No, he hasn’t been a regular in the starting lineup, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He wants to work hard and do the job that he’s asked to do. He doesn’t sulk, moan or complain. He waited patiently for his chance and got it against Hull, where he started on the left and scored the third goal to wrap up the win, converting Hirst’s low cross.
He thrives off the bench, which is how McKenna has used him for most of the season. He’s an intelligent player with a knack for game management, knowing exactly when to slow things down and how to move the ball out of the danger zone in difficult moments. He’s excellent on transitions and boasts an unbelievable awareness of what’s going on around him.
His goal against Plymouth, which came in a 25-minute cameo, was absolutely vital. It shows how important he is to this team in big moments, and any thoughts of him moving away from Portman Road now feel absolutely ludicrous.
Goal of the Month
Williams may have missed out on the ‘surprise package’ award, but nobody can say that he didn’t score the Goal of the Month for his amazing run against Preston. This one was a clear winner.
The match had a big build-up given the Lilywhites’ impressive start, pitting first against third at Portman Road. Chaplin’s clever set-piece routine gave Ipswich the lead, but they were pegged back by Mads Frokjaer-Jensen just before the half-hour mark, levelling the scores.
Williams seems to thrive in the face of chaos and adversity, which certainly suits games at Portman Road. He took it upon himself to get his side back in front.
Picking up the ball inside his own half with a tackle on former Norwich City man Robbie Brady, he carried it towards the edge of the area as Liam Lindsay sat off, allowing him to smack a low shot in off the post to make it 2-1.
The strike received huge praise on social media, helping Town pick up yet another big win at Portman Road.
Best individual performance
It was hard to look past Davis’ incredible outing against Hull, but I’ve gone with Hladky’s unbelievable performance against Plymouth, which undoubtedly kept Town in the game against their toughest opponents of the season so far.
This could be seen as a strange pick given that the goalkeeper conceded twice, although there was little he could do about either of Argyle’s goals. However, when things got tricky in the latter stages of the second half, he was the man that maintained the Blues’ lead.
He made four saves in total – two of which really stood out. He was quick to deny Dan Scarr from a corner in the 78th minute, leaping up to palm the ball over the bar from a corner. Then, in the 81st minute, he somehow kept out Joe Edwards’ close range strike, which had an unbelievable xG [expected goals] of 0.69.
He was also the most accurate passer (29 of 33 passes attempted, or 88%) of anyone to play more than 45 minutes, highlighting just how important he’s become to the way Ipswich play out from the back. That’s not even mentioning how brave he was to rush off his line and clear the ball countless times.
Across the course of the season, he's probably been Town's best player. He's prevented an astonishing 4.8 goals already this season, which puts him ahead of Millwall's Bartosz Bialkowski (1.9) and Leicester City's Mads Hermansen (1.5).
In fact, throughout the entirety of the 2022/23 campaign, only Norwich City's Angus Gunn (8.8), Rotherham United's Viktor Johansson (6.3) and Burnley's Arijanet Muric (5.0) have prevented more goals than Hladky after just 13 games this season.
Standout moment
There could only be one winner here – Ed Sheeran’s surprise appearance at Ipswich’s 3-0 win against Hull.
This was an amazing night for everyone involved. Town looked incredible, playing the Tigers off the park in arguably their most convincing win of the season so far. The players didn’t know that celebrity fan Sheeran had rocked up at Portman Road earlier that evening, where he was seen pouring pints for fans in the Sir Bobby Robson Stand before appearing on TownTV.
Perfect. @edsheeran | #itfc pic.twitter.com/JFURJDz4A4
— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) October 3, 2023
According to Sam Morsy, Mark Ashton brought the singer down to the changing room after the game, telling the players that a special guest was going to do the team talk. None of them expected it to be Sheeran, who led a rendition of his song ‘Perfect’, which really summed up a special night under the lights at IP1.
Best opposition player
I brought this category back to recognise Morgan Whittaker of Plymouth, who gave Town a torrid time at Portman Road. Sometimes you just have to put your hands up and say: 'fair play'.
The Blues were familiar with what he could bring, having faced him in League One last season, but he seems to have stepped up a gear in the Championship. Going into the game, he already had five goals and three assists to his name. He found the back of the net for the sixth time just seven minutes in.
It was some strike, too, cutting in from the right to beat both Davis and George Edmundson before curling an astonishing strike into the top left corner from the edge of the area.
He forced a good save from Hladky just four minutes later and seemed to play a part in everything the Pilgrims did going forward, showing exactly why he’s been one of the best players in the league so far this season.
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