Belligerent Blues Simply Cannot Lose

Ipswich Town football club have a wonderful chance of progressing to the play-off’s for the first time in more than a decade by beating Nottingham Forest at home on Saturday afternoon.

Everything appears to be in the blues favour, with home advantage in front of a big crowd and both Brentford and Wolves both having to play away.

We also have a three point lead on our rivals and a superior goal difference and it really is in our own hands now!

If we win we would be almost there because the other two – even if they were both to win as well, would go into the last game knowing that if we get anything from the last match at Ewood Park we would be more or less home and dry.

If we were to draw however this would be a huge disappointment. I see Wolves perhaps losing at Wigan but Brentford winning at Reading; which would mean they would be one point behind us going into the last match and they are at home and we are away!

They also play Wigan though in their final game and if the Latics had beaten Wolves, they would also be desperate for the points as well and we have a four goal advantage on them as things stand, if we ended level on points.

The worst case scenario of course is the unthinkable. We lose at home to Nottingham Forest and both Wolves and Brentford win!

Even though I have born witness to some devastatingly bad luck stories in the 45 years of supporting Town, I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine this would occur but football being football means you cannot take anything for granted.

Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor will have instilled into their players the need to focus on a win and by getting it, the pressure is largely off the last game if other results also go our way.

In an ideal Ipswich world, the blues would beat Forest handsomely so that we did not have to sweat out the last few minutes of this home encounter which is often the norm.

Then we would discover that both Wolves and Brentford had lost and that last game against Blackburn away would not matter anymore!

It could happen I guess but I am not betting on it. The most likely scenario I believe is that we will go into our final match in Lancashire needing to get something from it and we will be on the very edge of our seats as usual supporting the blues.


Frank Weston – Vital Ipswich