Fuller Flavour: The Ipswich Town players who deserved to be in League One team of the month with Norwood

Karl Fuller

Published: 6:00 AM September 10, 2019

Updated: 6:31 PM October 11, 2020

Flynn Downes has arguably been Ipswich Town's best player at the start of the season. Picture: STEVE WALLER - Credit: Picture: Steve Waller

The second month of the new season has started well with plenty to be happy about and that’s without the opportunity of putting another three points on the board over the weekend, writes Karl Fuller.

Karl Fuller says Paul Lambert has given Ipswich Town fans their club back. Picture: STEVE WALLER - Credit: Picture: Steve Waller

First up, I attended last Tuesday night's EFL trophy game with my daughter Angel for what was her first experience of watching a game in the lower North Stand.

On the way to the game, I tried to explain that there would not be many people there and paint a picture of everything that was not the norm. She certainly had plenty of questions about what she should expect!

I can understand people not wanting to attend the game both from a competition viewpoint, and perhaps more so because of the disapproving stance of Premier League Under 21 sides being allowed to enter the tournament.

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My view was that I wasn't going because of who the opposition were. I was going to watch my team and the bottom line was that it was still a competitive match.

We may have made eleven changes, but it was still a good side fielded by Paul Lambert and it was an upgrade on many of the Under 23 matches that I have watched.

It was also a rare opportunity to watch a couple of our youngsters in first-team action and, given that it was the Spurs kids providing the opposition, I thought that two of our own - in Armando Dobra and Idris El Mizouni - really stood out.

An example of how good the spirit is amongst the team at present was witnessing many first-team players warming up with the team even though they didn't even have a place on the bench.

Angel was very happy to see Thomas Holy step over the North Stand wall during the warm-up to have a photo taken with her. After attending many games without seeing a win, we were both happy to witness two wins in four days and the first step to Wembley was accomplished with relative ease.

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Blue Action provided plenty of noise to keep us entertained and the 5,500 or so Town fans in the ground enjoyed the occasion, especially when interacting with Ed Sheeran, who was also present.

Wednesday night saw the ITFC Ladies team take on their Norwich City counterparts and I was delighted to hear that they ran out 4-1 winners. Any win over the Budgies is always welcome and a massive well done to all those involved.

Armado Dobra in action during Town's 2-1 win over Spurs U21s at Portman Road Picture: ROSS HALLS - Credit: Archant

I read that Paul Lambert not only took the time to pay the girls a half-time visit, but he also caught up with the Ipswich Fanzone guys present to further underpin his relationships with as many people as possible in and around the club.

I hear so many fans saying that we've got our Ipswich back and Lambert is responsible for so much of that feeling.

The League One team of the month was announced at the end of last week and while it was no surprise to see James Norwood included,there was a huge case for other Town players to be included too.

It was therefore pleasing to see Luke Woolfenden also in the side, but I must question as to why there was no place for either Cole Skuse or Flynn Downes in the centre of the park.

Either of those could have a pretty strong case for being our own Player of the Month. Their exclusions were somewhat baffling.

We also saw on Friday the first glimpse of what the Kevin Beattie statue will look like. The miniature model produced by Sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn is amazing.