It’s Tight At The Top For Ipswich Town

In all the time we have been stuck down here, I have never known a season quite like this.

As soon as a club gets into a position to gain the ascendancy, they throw it away almost immediately and this has been the pattern of the whole season in the Sky bet Championship to date.

We are not immune from this bad habit also and there have been two or three occasions this term when we could have gone top but have blown the chance with a wayward performance.

The Brighton loss was to some extent excusable however. You only have to watch their showing against Arsenal in the FA Cup yesterday to realize that they are far better than their league position would suggest and this is why there are few easy victories in this league anymore.

Only one point separates the top three of Bournemouth, Middlesborough and Ipswich but hot on their heels is Brentford just a point adrift and with Derby having a game in hand in fifth if they win it they would be joint top too! Now how crazy is that?

This season is exceptional in that there is no runaway leader and that works in Town’s favour because at this stage in the season both automatic promotion places are still there for the taking!

The trouble of course is that this is what all the top six are thinking because Watford too are just three points behind the blues and in a rich vein of form – slamming Blackpool 7-2 at the weekend, having trailed by two goals at the interval.

It seems likely that those two automatic promotion births will go to any two from the top six though, although anything is possible!

Norwich blew their chances of edging closer by losing at home to The Bees on Saturday and they remain seven points behind the Tractor Boys to the delight of all of Suffolk, as Alex Neil tasted defeat for the first time as Norwich boss.

But you only have to look a little further down the table to see teams that you would expect to find in the higher echelons of the Sky Bet Championship.

Of the clubs that went down from the Premier, Cardiff and Fulham have seriously struggled and the ‘ sick as a parrot’ Canary story has just enhanced our season even more!

Then we have the teams that you would expect to do much better. Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United have all have underwhelmed again this season to the detriment of their loyal and far from meager following.

It is easy therefore to see why we have been down here for so long but perhaps this is our year after all?

I like what we have done in the main so far and the new additions of Noel Hunt and Freddy Sears up front, certainly strengthens our attacking options and I am please Mick McCarthy has addressed it.

There is of course a long way to go and if Town do finally hit the top, then let us hope it is on the last day of the season because nobody could catch us then!



Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich