I am not sure if it is because we are too honest and do not look for penalties by diving – or simply because we are not creative enough in and around the box but the blues have only had three penalties all season, which is less than half of the amount our rivals have culled so far!
Of course one could argue that we should have had a lot more and this was down to some bad officiating but until we have a whip-round to buy the ref a guide dog, then I guess we will just have to accept that this is part and parcel of the game.
Contrast this with Norwich and you will see the difference. They have been awarded seven penalties to date but they have not converted as many as one might have expected.
They have scored four, missed two and had one saved by the keeper so this is hardly a scenario that will send shivers down the spines of the Tractor Boys. On the contrary it should act as a bit of an incentive I would have thought!
Gary Hooper has been the most consistent penalty taker with a 100 percent record but he has only taken two of them!
Graham Dorrans took one against Leeds United recently and he missed it and Wes Hoolahan scored with one at home to Nottingham Forest but 100 percent records can be deceptive, as this is the only one he has taken!
That accounts for four of them and the other three were taken by Lewis Grabban with a mixed bag of results. He has scored one, had one saved and he has missed one but we should not worry about him as he is still suspended anyway!
As for Town well you don’t need a good memory to recall Daryl Murphy blasting one past the Blackburn Rovers keeper on the 2nd of May and David McGoldrick scored one at home against Leeds way back in December when he was still fit.
Two out of three is not bad. The only blot on the penalty-taking landscape was the one saved away at Leeds.
If you recall, Murphy had come off the subs bench that day with just 25 minutes of the game remaining and although he took it quite well, their keeper pulled off a super save and Murphy was still a bit ring rusty, having been injured the game before against The Canaries I seem to remember.
As for our goalkeepers it also makes quite interesting reading. The Norwich keeper John Ruddy has faced eight and only saved the one, whilst we have only conceded one all season and that was when Dean Gerken was in goal in the 2-2 draw against Huddersfield Town, when Nahki Wells stepped up and scored for the away side.
So in many ways I have already provided the answer to my own question. Spot kicks should not be a penalty for Town. Of course the atmosphere at Carrow Road may be a boost for the home team but I can see a few feathers flying if they start to miss them and the crowd starts getting on their backs!
Tomorrow is judgement day and I hope that we can manage to do the business long before the need for penalties but if the worst comes to the worst, we should not fear the worst that’s for sure!
Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich
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