So part two of this weekend's Football League double header came from Portman Road as Ipswich Town hosted Derby County in a top six clash in the SkyBet Football Championship.
With Brighton losing at home to Middlesbrough earlier in the day Derby knew a win would take them into second spot whilst the hosts knew a win would take them closer to those converted places as they sat sixth in the division, the last play off spot, some seven points behind their opponents.
The opening exchanges saw the hosts take the game to Derby as they looked to gain an early advantage and use their home status to maximum effect in front of a 20,000 strong crowd inside Portman Road. Freddie Sears in particular looked threatening down the Ipswich left hand side, going on several threatening runs towards the visitors penalty area.
Ipswich though failed to test Lee Grant in the visitors goal though and as the half wore on Derby began to see more of the ball and looked dangerous on the counter attack through Tom Ince down the right. The Derby line up included three ex Norwich players, Bradley Johnson, Chris Martin and Jason Shackell, which added an extra dimension to proceedings.
Martin was being his normal self, being a nuisance for the Ipswich defenders, whilst Shackell was partnering Andy Keogh at centre half. The main receipient of the home fans booing though was reserved for Johnson, who seemed to be the pantomime villan, and it certainly seem to fire him up somewhat.
However as the half went on neither side really tested each others keepers and the only real save of note was when Dean Gerkin made a comfortable save to his right to field a Ince free kick. It was as expected, a tight match between two good sides although Derby had probably shaded it by a small margin.
And then with six minutes of the first half remaining came the opening goal, amid some controversy. Johnny Russell saw the ball bounce of his leg after he went into a tackle and it fell into the path of Ince, who in my eyes and to most others around me looked a yard or so offside, but crucially the linesman in front of us didn't and Ince ran on to slot under Gerkin and give the visitors the lead. Ipswich were slightly unhappy as they had a player down injured in the build up too so they felt a little hard done by by the visitors probably deserved their slender half time advantage all the same.
Half Time Ipswich Town 0 Derby County 1
The second half began much like the first, with the hosts taking the game to their opponents, as they looked to get back into the contest. But like the first half, Ipswich failed to test Grant in the Derby goal and the visitors gradually began to dampen the hosts fiery start to the half.
The Rams were trying to slow the game down and stop the Ipswich attacking threat and this only added to the hosts frustration and the home fans were starting to become restless as they knew their side needed a goal to at least take something from this game.
Derby rarely threatened the Ipswich goal in the second period and as the match entered its final fifteen minutes the hosts began to crank up the pressure once again on the visiting defence. The hosts forced numerous corners as they looked to grab that all important goal but found a white wall of defence keeping them out. The only time they breached that wall they found Grant in excellent form as he turned a header away from goal.
Wasteful finishing also let the hosts down as they were running out of time to find a leveller. The hosts of course were prone to counter attacks from their opponents although the visitors were more interested in running the ball into the corner to waste more time. Johnson also made it a totally miserable afternoon for the home side when his powerful effort in stoppage time saw Gerkin beat away smartly but alas it was Ince's first half goal that ultimately separated the sides. County move up to second after this win whilst Ipswich remain sixth, only a point ahead of the chasing pack. There proves to be many twists and turns to come over the next few months no doubt. So another enjoyable contest was seen and it concluded my football weekend.
Full Time Ipswich Town 0 Derby County 1
Decent write up to be fair apart from this bit
ReplyDeleteAnd then with six minutes of the first half remaining came the opening goal, amid some controversy. Alex Russell saw the ball bounce of his leg after he went into a tackle and it fell into the path of Ince, who in my eyes and to most others around me looked a yard or so offside, but crucially the linesman in front of us didn't and Ince ran on to slot under Gerkin and give the visitors the lead. Ipswich were slightly unhappy as they had a player down injured in the build up too so they felt a little hard done by by the visitors probably deserved their slender half time advantage all the same.
Johnny Russell was clean through and it was a foul by his namesake that, as you quoted, bounced off his leg into the path of Ince.. so, no offside?
Sorry I thought it had bounced of the Derby man's leg into Ince's path and he looked a yard off and I wasn't alone in that fact around me either but fair point I don't get everything correct ;-)
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