Ipswich Town drew 2-2 at home to Norwich City yesterday. Stuart Watson reflects on the action.
THE BUILD-UP
For the second time this year, thousands of Ipswich Town fans lined the streets to welcome the team coach into the stadium.
If I’m completely honest, I didn’t enjoy it as much this time around. Back in April, ahead of the promotion-clinching 6-0 win against Exeter, it felt entirely organic, inclusive and joyously positive.
This time, given the nature of the game, there wasn’t quite the same feel. Was it wise for Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones' car to have directly followed the Blues bus through the crowd? Obviously not. That doesn’t excuse hyped-up adolescents and should-know-better adults alike chanting obscenities towards two people in their 80s. Not cool. That’s not what this club is about.
Inside the ground, by contrast (and I’m going to sound a little hypocritical here), a lot of the build-up to kick-off lacked a bit of intensity. The Portman Road DJ played a mega mix of ABBA’s ‘Voulez-Vous’, the Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ and Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ so that supporters could get their favourite player chants going. For me, it created post-match celebration vibes rather than an edgy pre-derby build-up mood. Did too many people in the stadium expect a win, rather than believe in one? I don’t know. I’m probably overthinking it.
To be fair, the atmosphere became increasingly electric in the lead-up to kick-off. Resounding cheers greeted each player’s name as the team sheet was read out, then came a unified rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ and subsequent roar as the teams emerged from the tunnel. That really got the hairs on the back of the neck standing up.
Finally, after all the talking, the action could get underway.
MISSED CHANCES
Ipswich averaged exactly three goals a game at Portman Road, in the league, going into this one. They should have hit that number by half-time but instead ended up with only one to show for their efforts.
In the 20th minute, Nathan Broadhead did all the all the hard work when sitting down both Shane Duffy and Jack Stacey with subtle drops of the shoulder only to lift his clipped effort from six-yards out the wrong side of the far post. What a shame. That would have been a derby goal to live long in the memory.
In the 24th minute, Broadhead again fired the wrong side of the post from another golden position inside the box following Wes Burns’ low delivery.
In the 28th minute, Broadhead seized on a loose Jonathan Rowe touch, George Hirst slipped a pass to Burns down the right of the box but the Town winger smashed over.
Finally, in the 34th minute, the deadlock was broken. Both Burns and Conor Chaplin showed great strength and desire in helping Ipswich go from one end to the other to win a corner. The delivery was half-cleared, Massimo Luongo headed back into danger, an offside Luke Woolfenden did well to leave the ball and Hirst nodded down for Broadhead to ram the ball home via a bounce of the turf. Third time a charm.
That earlier profligacy still ended up proving costly though. The usually deadeye Chaplin snatched at a couple of chances in this game too, dragging efforts wide from positions he almost always hits the target from. Cameron Burgess went close with a leaping header too.
"We're talking about players who have been really, really clinical,” said Blues boss Kieran McKenna afterwards. “Is that because you're a tiny little bit more tense in that situation than normal? It's possible. It can happen in a game that means that little bit extra.”
SCRUFFY GOALS AGAINST
When Broadhead broke the deadlock, most would have predicted that the floodgates were about to open. Certainly no-one would have foreseen the visitors, whose only threatening moments had come from set-plays, being in front come the early stages of the second half. That’s what happened though.
There’s certainly a lot that was unfortunate about Jonathan Rowe’s 40th minute equaliser. One, he’s potentially (though not definitively) offside. Two, he’s lucky that his bicycle kick attempt, not caught cleanly, comes straight back to him off Woolfenden’s thigh. Three, the ball looks to roll up his arm before he fashions an inventive finish.
Ipswich, however, did allow crosses to enter their box from both sides in the build-up though. That’s something they need to be better at stopping.
It was another scruffy moment that led to Rowe striking again four minutes after the restart. Following Marcelino Nunez’s long throw into the box from right, Hirst lost a wrestling match with Shane Duffy, the ball bounced off the Town striker’s backside and Rowe’s drilled effort went straight under keeper Vaclav Hladky. The Czech keeper, in his defence, did have two team-mates and Ashley Barnes (another shout for offside) obscuring the well-struck shot. It may even have taken a slight nick off the heel of Leif Davis.
Looking back, it’s a Broadhead lapse in concentration to become separated from the goalscorer. For all his attacking talent, he needs to work on his defending at set-pieces.
Yes, both goals had elements of bad luck. Yes, both goals came from moments rather than at the end of a backs-to-the-wall phase. They can’t just be dismissed either though.
This is the eighth time this season the Blues have conceded twice on home soil. You can’t keep getting away with that.
SLIGHTLY FLAT FINISH
Burns’ well-placed low shot from the edge of the box, through the legs of Sam McCallum following some neat footwork, drew the teams level. Ipswich still had plenty of time to win the game. The final half an hour was a bit huff and puff though.
Why was that? Norwich defended en masse with organisation and desire. Credit where it’s due. Ipswich had, remember, expended a hell of a lot of physical and mental energy in clinching on the road wins at Middlesbrough and Watford just a few days earlier.
Chaplin bent a free-kick just past the post, while Broadhead saw a curling shot pushed away by Angus Gunn. There was no lack of effort. This just wasn’t to be.
Thankfully, there was no suckerpunch deep into stoppage-time after Woolfenden’s tired foul on sub Onel Hernandez. The deep free-kick delivery was only half-cleared, but Kenny McLean rifled wide.
BIGGER PICTURE
You can’t win them all. It’s just a shame that Ipswich couldn’t win this one.
Town’s 14 year wait for an East Anglian victory goes on. It will be almost 15 years by the time the reverse fixture at Carrow Road comes around next April.
Naturally, everyone felt a bit flat at the final whistle given that this really felt like ‘our time’. Hopefully, those feelings have subsided a bit now.
McKenna’s right when he says that were this game to be played 10 times over then Ipswich would have emerged winners more often than not.
He’s also right to point out that Norwich, like it or not, have got some good players. Gunn and Gabriel Sara cost £6m and £5m respectively. The likes of Duffy and Ashley Barnes have vast Premier League experience. They’re a team who score goals. We should never get blasé about Ipswich’s ability to outplay such teams at this level, no matter how regular an occurrence it has become.
Norwich fans are loving this result. Fair play. It would be exactly the same if roles were reversed. We’ve just got to suck up that banter for a little bit longer.
Seeing them wildly celebrating a draw in this fixture is a reminder, as McKenna was quick to point out, of just how far this club has come. There are 21 points between the teams before we’ve even reached the halfway stage of the season. Ipswich are right in the fight for back-to-back promotions. Norwich are destined, on this showing, for midtable mediocrity. From a purely stylistic point of view, I know which team I'd rather be watching every week. One club’s got positive momentum under ambitious owners, the other is potentially heading for a period of stagnation. All that matters more than a one-off result.
Middlesbrough, Watford and Norwich... Ipswich have taken seven points from a very difficult three fixtures over eight days. Meanwhile, Leeds drew 1-1 at home to Coventry. It means Town go to Elland Road next Saturday with a 10-point gap over Daniel Farke’s men still intact. After that, it’s a top-of-the-table clash with Leicester City at Portman Road on Boxing Day.
Big, televised games in the national consciousness keep on coming. That, remember, wasn’t the case not so long ago.
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