Apart from that incredible 6-0 thrashing of a punch-drunk Doncaster side, who had travelled the length and breadth of England on their journey to Portman Road, our home performances have accrued very few points. If we are serious about a promotion challenge, we cannot go on like this. A win against lowly Shrewsbury is a must.
If you recall, our first three matches ended in 2-2 draws, and I cannot find any similar stat in our long football history where this has occurred. Perhaps Renegade Statsman can confirm this?
Here is our fixture list to date at Portman Road, and it does not make for great reading when you tot up the points gained, which, to be brutally frank, is not a lot.
Date Against Result Goal Scorers Points
7th August Morecambe 2-2 ( Fraser 61 minutes, Bonne 90 minutes) 1
21st August MK Dons 2-2 (Macauley Bonne 16 & 72 minutes) 1
28th August Wimbledon 2-2 ( Pigott 52, Burns 54 minutes) 1
11th September Bolton W. 2-5 (Bonne 5 minutes & own goal) 0
25th September Shef W. 1-1 (Conner Chaplin 91 minutes) 1
28th September Doncaster 6-0 (Bonne 13&72 Evans 32,70,76 Edmundson 80) 3
That amounts to a measly 7 points from a possible 18 at home, and by anybody’s standards, this is a very poor return. OK, many of the matches were very entertaining – even that horrendous 2-5 defeat to Bolton Wanderers, but it is far too reminiscent of the Paul Jewell era for my liking.
The squad that manager Paul Cook has assembled is arguably one of the best in this division, so he has to try to make things happen, sooner rather than later, for his own sake as much as anyone else’s.
He does not have to be reminded of our poor home record, and on Saturday, we must defeat the Shrews at all costs. Anything else would surely spell disaster – even at this early stage in our football league campaign. In the modern game patience is a deplorable rarity, and the longer we stay at the base of the table, the more troublesome it will become for everyone.
Please stop writing these “garbage” articles. You sit on more fences than a pigeon. You change your views more than I change my socks.
Well, Stephen, you are of course entitled to your opinion, and no one is forcing you to read these articles either. That is your prerogative, and my prerogative is to given the broadest view possible on what I see happening to the club I love.
We are a broad church of opinions here, but just because my view does not conform neatly with yours, does not make me any less of a supporter. If you consider the facts to be ‘garbage’ then you are much more short-sighted than I thought. Six home matches. Seven points. The table does not lie mate.
Perhaps you should change your socks more often Stephen because your odorous remarks could be deemed by some to be offensive. At least you had the good manners to say please, so all is forgiven.
Oh please forgive me Frank. I totally overlooked that you informed us Paul Cook has got until December until he’s “sacked”. Are you the “4th” lion? A (not so) silent partner perhaps??
That is not quite what I said, Stephen. What I said was that he has until Christmas to turn things around – not December. Anyway, if we continue to win, there will be no need to go down that route anyway.
Well said Frank – the facts speak for themselves.
I still come back to the horrible reality of the massive turnover of players , probably unprecedented in Football League history (apart from when the likes of Bury have folded), neatly summarised by the retention of Luke Woolfenden, I suspect to cover the one home grown player rule.
Some of the players like Edwards ,Harper, Penney, Edmundsen and Coulsen never played regularly for their clubs, even Chaplin was a bit part player for Barnsley.
I thought at the beginning play offs was probably a good end result after all of the changes and I still hold to that.
Thank you, Mark, for your thoughtful response, and I think this season, all things considered, we should be content if we make the playoffs. You cannot hope to achieve instant success when you off-load 27 players and then bring in 19 new ones. And some, as you suggest, have not played often for their parent clubs. I have hinted that it will take until Christmas to truly hit the ground running, and even that is a rather optimistic prediction.