It is quite remarkable that Ipswich Town find themselves sitting in fifth place in the Championship table, two points behind the leaders and with a game in hand on those above them.
Perhaps even more startling is the fact that in all those victories, the Blues have struggled and yet come away with maximum points and with a seriously weakened squad.
On Saturday at Portman Road, Town once again struggled against the Championship’s bottom club, who found themselves with a minus ten goal difference coming into this one.
Yet it was Bolton Wanderers who looked the more threatening in the first half especially and Town lacked any kind of passion or indeed rhythm going forward. The away supporters must have felt they had every chance of gleaning all three points.
I was disappointed with the system manager Mick McCarthy employed and so I suspect was he, as he reverted to a more attacking formation at the start of the second half when Bersant Celina was finally introduced.
The reason Town were so poor in the first half was because we did the complete opposite to what was required against the bottom club who were low on confidence and with a frail defence and instead, McCarthy aired on the side of caution.
Our play was lethargic and far too defence orientated when we should have been dictating things. In fact, in the first half the opposite was true.
Bersant Celina was the game changer in my view and after he entered the fray and a new more attack-minded system was employed, Ipswich Town finally found their footballing feet!
David McGoldrick is a player that continues to frustrate me because he has a bagful of natural talent and yet he is largely profligate with it.
In the end though, it was the other side of his football personality the won the day for the Blues, as he laid on the pass that lead to the Cole Skuse strike that gave us the lead and after a series of missed opportunities, finally found the net himself.
This game won’t be remembered for much, except perhaps those three valuable points and the hope that if a team is playing badly and still winning, then be warned!
Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich
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