Cool Luke Gives Town A Helping Hand

On reflection, I think it is time to eat a large chunk of humble Pie. Yesterday I wrote that journeyman Luke Varney would struggle to score in a brothel, only for him to get the only goal of the game against his old club and steal all three points for Ipswich Town!

I went further and suggested that if we were struggling in the game or worse still behind, then manager Mick McCarthy should resist the temptation of bringing him on and instead install Lion Best in his attack and perhaps wisely, our manager ignored everything I said!

Mick the Man likes nothing more than to prove his doubters wrong and maybe ‘Our Reg’ feels much the same way?

Certainly the goal he scored bore all the hallmarks of a proven striker when he expertly cut inside and then delivered a long distance drive that caught Derby keeper Scott Carson by surprise!

In truth, it took all of us by surprise but credit where credit is due and it was our first shot on target in the whole game and got us three vital points on our travels.

Before and after that, the Town rearguard defended well and special mention must go to Mr.Reliable Bartosz Bailkowski in goal and defender Jonas Knudsen, who saved our bacon in the closing moments with a reflex block on the goal line, when a goal seemed an absolute certainty.

In the case of Jonas, he must feel that he has gone some way to repairing the damage done when he gave a last gasp penalty away in our last encounter with Reading. He may have been the cause of us losing a point then but he has saved us another two points last night!

And finally, I think a word of praise should go to Mick McCarthy for doing when he thinks fit and not listening to people like me! As I have alluded to many times before, his stubbornness is both his strength and his weakness and on this occasion it was this that won us the game in the end.

We defended wonderfully well, without the need for any rash challenges and when we got our chance, it was Luke Varney of all people, who had the wherewithal to take the game to the opposition and to do what all good strikers tend to do and that is look for goal if there is nothing else on.

Our next big test is at home to newly relegated Aston Villa at the weekend and we can only hope that our fourth consecutive 0-1 win in the league at Derby will do us the power of good!

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich