Carlos Edwards and Jimmy Bullard grabbed the goals to get Ipswich Town back to winning ways at home with a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Scunthorpe United.
Having suggested that he had some changes up his sleeve after 3 straight home defeats, Town manager Paul Jewell sprung a surprise by giving 17-year-old midfielder Josh Carson his first-ever senior appearance, taking up position on the left with Andy Drury dropping to the bench. He was joined by keeper Marton Fulop, with Arran Lee-Barrett starting between the sticks for the first time since the Blues lost at Peterborough in February 2010. Connor Wickham took up the lone striker role with both Scotland and Priskin among the substitutes.
Scunthorpe arrived at Portman Road with former player Tony Daws in temporary charge following the sacking of Ian Baraclough during the week, and the strugglers were nearly behind within the first minute of the game. Lee Martin slipped the ball across goal past keeper Josh Lillis, but Carson couldn’t quite get onto it before Scunthorpe captain Michael Nelson cleared it away. Carson was involved again soon after, playing a long ball to send David Norris through on goal past Eddie Nolan, but the skipper’s 18-yard shot was too weak to trouble Lillis.
Town were dominating the early stages and had another chance after just 6 minutes. Nelson headed Martin’s cross into the path of Jimmy Bullard, whose effort was charged down by David Mirfin to send the ball looping just wide for a corner. Lillis then saved from Carson before Scunthorpe finally came on the attack with Ben Gordon beating Carlos Edwards for pace on the wing, but there was nobody else forward to get onto his ball across the box.
Grant Leadbitter earned the first yellow card of the match for a foul on Lee Miller before Wickham headed wide from a Bullard free kick as the Blues kept looking for a way through. At the other end, Michael O’Connor’s free kick was parried away by Lee-Barrett with Miller narrowly missing the rebound before Mark Kennedy cleared. Martin then nearly set up Wickham with a delivery from the right two minutes later, but his cross flew just over the head of the striker.
Nonetheless, Ipswich didn’t have to wait long to make the breakthrough. With 26 minutes played, Carlos Edwards cut out a pass just inside the Scunthorpe half, and with plenty of room to run forward, the Trinidad midfielder lashed a brilliant 30-yard strike straight into the top-left corner for his 4th goal of the season in all competitions.
Town were well worth their lead and should have extended it as the first half went on. Gareth McAuley volleyed over from a Bullard corner when he perhaps should have done better before Carson met Edwards’ cross with a powerful header which flew narrowly off-target. Martin then skipped inside of Nolan but pulled his shot well wide before Lee-Barrett saved a volley from O’Connor as referee David Webb blew the half-time whistle.
With only one win in their last 8 matches, Town might have feared another letdown having scored just one goal in a dominant first half display. Indeed, they mighthave thought that luck was turning against them when Martin was brought down in the area by O’Connor only for Webb to controversially show the Blues midfielder a yellow card for diving. Worse still, that was Martin’s 10th booking of the season, ruling him out of Town’s next two matches.
On 53 minutes however, O’Connor was to receive his comeuppance. The midfielder was booked for bringing down Norris 25 yards out, and dead ball specialist Jimmy Bullard curled the resulting free-kick into the bottom-left corner for his fourth Town goal to send the Blues 2-0 up.
Having been the better side for most of the match, Ipswich now looked almost certain to end their losing run at Portman Road. Tony Daws replaced Gordon with Bobby Grant for Scunthorpe before Bullard tried his luck again from 25 yards, firing narrowly wide. At the other end, O’Connor sought to trump Bullard with an audacious free kick from 50 yards which dropped onto the roof of Lee-Barrett’s net. Daws then made his second change, sending on Michael Collins for Mark Duffy after Norris had volleyed over for the Blues.
Town were looking comfortable as the game moved into the final 20 minutes, Jewell sending on Drury with Carson coming off after a satisfactory debut performance. Gareth McAuley was booked before O’Connor escaped a second yellow despite a poor challenge on substitute Drury. With 7 minutes remaining, Chris Dagnall replaced Miller for the visitors before Nelson nodded well off-target from a set-piece. Colin Healy came on for Leadbitter before Webb brought the match to a close after four minutes of injury time.
The win takes Ipswich to 49 points, 14 clear of 22nd-placed Sheffield United and 15 ahead of Scunthorpe, who look destined for relegation after a dreadful performance against Town. Despite the Blues suffering a poor run of recent results, there was only going to be one winner at Portman Road on Saturday, and Jewell will be pleased with the two excellent goals that saw his side to victory. It’s two weeks before his team are in action again, though many of the players will be away over the course of the international break, and the boss will be hoping that they all come back in one piece.
Ipswich: Lee-Barrett, McAuley, Delaney, Carson (Drury 71), Leadbitter (Healy 87), Edwards, Norris, Martin, Bullard, Kennedy, Wickham – Not used: Fulop, Peters, O’Dea, Scotland, Priskin
Scunthorpe: Lillis, Gordon (Grant 56), Nelson, Mirfin, Nolan, M O’Connor, Hughes, Wright, Duffy (Collins 63), Miller (Dagnall 83), Garner – Not used: Slocombe, Raynes, Reid, Togwell
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