A look at a few of the talking points coming out of Ipswich Town’s 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth in the FA Cup.
The magic of the FA Cup
It was plain to see which side placed the most value on what is still referred to as the world’s greatest cup competition. League Two Portsmouth went all out for the win to set up a clash with Bournemouth in round four, while Championship Ipswich looked happy to exit the competition, with a mix of youth and reserve players showing little fight and creating little after slipping 2-0 down in the first half.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ goal proved just to be a consolation, on a night when the Blues bowed out of a competition seen largely as an inconvenience.
We will see in May if it was the right decision.
The Blues have not won an FA Cup game since 2010. Not much magic there.
Tough night for Malarczyk
It was certainly a torrid night for Polish centre-half Piotr Malarczyk, who was pulled all over the pitch, gave away the penalty for Portsmouth’s opener and was eventually sent off for a second yellow card in the second half. He won his fair share of headers and made a couple of decent clearances, but this display only really served to highlight the importance of both Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra for the Blues’ promotion charge.
There were still a few bright spots
Bartosz Bialkowski made a number of important saves for the Blues even though it was all in vain, with the Pole serving a reminder of why Mick McCarthy believes he has two goalkeepers of equal ability. Josh Emmanuel was perhaps the stand-out performer amongst the Blues youngsters, looking comfortable on the ball and making a number of important clearances at right back.
Barcelona left on the shelf
Another away game against a team wearing blue, but the popular Barcelona away kit has still only had one outing.
Credit to the Ipswich fans
You have to give a lot of credit to near 800 Ipswich fans who travelled to the south coast on a very cold Tuesday night, in order to watch a reserve side in action. They were loud throughout the 90 minutes, while not really having an awful lot to cheer about aside from Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ strike on the hour.
What got you talking after last night’s game?
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