Ipswich Town beat Rochdale 2-0 yesterday. Andy Warren looks back at the events surrounding the game.
Ipswich Town are on a scoring streak – it’s been a long old time since we’ve been able to say that.
It’s now three successive 2-0 wins to start the League One season and, while six goals in three games isn’t exactly an avalanche, it’s notable from an Ipswich perspective.
You have to go back to last August to find the last time the Blues scored more than one goal in three successive games (Peterborough, Bolton, Shrewsbury), which is obviously not great.
And you don’t want to know how far you have to go back in the club’s history to find the last time Ipswich won three successive league matches, scoring more than once in each and also keeping clean sheets.
Ok, maybe you do want to know. It’s the 1998/99 season, more than two decades ago, with George Burley’s men achieving that feat three times during that campaign.
We all know there are bigger tests to come for Ipswich this season but it’s hard to argue with their start so far.
A view from on high
It’s not uncommon for managers to watch matches from the directors’ box, but I’ve never seen one watch a game from the comfort of the press box.
That’s exactly where Rochdale manager Brian Barry-Murphy was to start this weekend’s game, moving slightly during the first half to take a seat in the upper tier of Portman Road’s East of England Co-op stand.
He was linked up with the bench with an earpiece, of course, but the sight of an opposition manager watching a game from an area usually packed with home fans was the latest oddity during what is the strangest of seasons.
Should have gone to Specsavers
BBC Radio Suffolk’s Stephen Foster is the man on the mic at Portman Road at the moment and is a solid operator in the absence of Rob Chandler’s iconic voice.
But even the best make mistakes, as proven when Oli Hawkins was credited with Teddy Bishop’s opening goal. For some reason the error was all the more noticeable as Hawkins’ ghost goal was announced to an empty stadium.
Foz was able to style it out excellently, bringing a few laughs by suggesting ‘I’ll be going to Specsavers after the match’ when correcting himself on the public address system.
If he did indeed nip off for an eye test he better have been quick at the final whistle – they close at 5.30pm.
Moving on up
Luke Chambers is moving closer and closer to the Blues’ top 10 when it comes to league appearances.
He’s on 340 now, moving him level with Jason Dozzell in a tie for 11th.
Hair we go again
James Norwood is not the only Ipswich Town player who has undergone a transformation when it comes to his hair.
This column exclusively declared Norwood’s hair transplant a success back in October last year and we now have another situation unfolding before our eyes.
Emyr Huws is the new man, progressing from shot back and sides to a ponytail during the course of lockdown.
The next stage is an Alice band, and that’s exactly what the Welshman is rocking now.
More updates when we get it.
When the cat’s away
What happens when three goalkeepers are left to begin their warm-up without supervision from their coach?
Well we got to find out as Tomas Holy, David Cornell and Adam Przybek emerged without Jimmy Walker for their pre-match warm-up.
What followed was a collection of random stretches, a couple of jogs and a few kick-ups – all while exchanging a few jokes.
Walker did arrive 10 minutes later, though, and it was soon down to business.
There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ here but, if I was in (significantly) better shape, not aged 33 and taller than 5ft 6.5inch I would want to be part of Walker’s goalkeeping unit. It seems like they have a lot of fun together but are also supremely focussed. There are some really good characters in there.
Off and running
Idris El Mizouni is back at Cambridge for the season – a club where he enjoyed success last season before injury got in the way.
He was introduced from the bench for the final 30 minutes of the U’s 0-0 draw with Tranmere and, by all accounts, gave a good account of himself.
There will be better days to come for him I’m sure.
The Snap will be keeping a keen eye.
Track of the week
There’s only one way to end this edition of the Snap, and that’s with this deep house remix of some of Mick McCarthy’s best quotes, which popped up on Twitter this week.
‘Offski’, ‘tell him to shut his gob’, ‘yeah, yeah’ and a fair amount of throaty nonsense combine for an absolute banger which has been listened to nearly 500,000 times (and that’s just by me).
The only disappointment is the track doesn’t end with “I won’t have to listen to that again because that’s my last game. I’ll see you when I see you, I’m outta here”.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here