Can Town Do The Business Tomorrow Night?

At home we tend to beat them but away we tend to lose. Well that is the most recent trend at least but stats are there to be broken so let us start tomorrow night shall we!

Last season we suffered a demoralizing 5-1 defeat and the season before at the Madejski we lost by a single goal but they are a hard nut to crack at their place and most supporters I think would be happy with a draw in front of the Sky camera’s, away from home.

I have a feeling that we might do a little better than that and the good news today is that manager Mick McCarthy has said that he will stick with the same defence that performed so well against Preston and that means that Tommy Smith will keep his place in the side, which I think is justified as we did not concede a goal.

More good news is that Everton loanee Conor Grant is fit to play; along with Leon Best who has apparently recovered from his ankle strain and will probably play some part in this one.

Another change from last season when we took a hammering is that Dean Gerken has been replaced by Bartosz Bialkowski so the chance of another battering – even if our defence caves in, is not so great I would have thought.

Living here in the Netherlands means I do not get to see as many games as I would like so the opportunity to see them live on Sky television is something that I really look forward to and I think tomorrow night will be another tense affair.

Reading started their Championship campaign with a 2-0 loss at Wolves and were then defeated 4-1 at Newcastle United, which is not the kind of start they would have anticipated.

Since then however they have drawn with Brighton and MK Dons and last week defeated Cardiff City away so they are certainly no mugs that’s for sure!

Away from home they tend to play 4-5-1 but at home tomorrow night I expect them to line up with a 4-4-2 formation.

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy says he is not concerned about dropping defender Adam Webster from his starting line-up and explained his decision by saying, ‘I explained my reasons and I was justified in the way it turned out and the way the game finished last week so no need to change things.’


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich