Jewell will be glad to see the back of this season

IPSWICH Town boss Paul Jewell will be pleased to see the back of this season, despite today’s 2-1 home win over already-relegated Preston.

Goals inside the first 20 minutes from Jason Scotland and David Norris proved enough for Town to end their Portman Road campaign on a winning note.

Bottom club Preston were the better team in the second-half, but their only reply came from Paul Coutts’ solo goal.

“I’ll be glad to see the end of this season,” confessed Jewell.

“It’s nearing the end of a difficult season, and I can’t wait to try and put together a team that is pushing for promotion next season, though of course there are no guarantees.

“We had the game won at 2-0, but you never get the feeling with this team that they are going to kill teams off,” added Jewell.

Town end their campaign at Leicester City next Saturday.

Meanwhile, Preston boss Phil Brown’s first words in his press conference were telling.

He said: “Can I ask you a question first? Was their second goal offside?”

Brown believed that Town’s second goal should have been ruled out for offside against Ronan Murray, in the build-up to Norris’ goal, and it certainly looked tight.

Brown also felt that Town defender Troy Brown should have been sent off for his rash challenge on Keith Treacy after just two minutes.

“Now that “intent” has been brought into the ruling, I think it was a sending-off offence because there was intent in the challenge,” explained Brown.

“It was a case of a centre-half leaving his mark on a winger. They were challenges of my day, and I thought those days were over.”