Firstly, what a great turn out from Ipswich fans, the first return to St Mary?s since last April when the Ipswich U18’s travelled down for the Youth Cup Final.
Whether it?s because St Mary?s is a new stadium for a lot of the supporters, the Ipswich faithfull really sung their hearts out for the lads and seemed to love every minute! (Around 2,500 attended.)
Alan Lee made a fantastic start for Town, and had a few clear-cut chances of scoring, by winning near enough every ball landing at his feet, head or having to challenge a S?ton player.
The first goal came about in the 4th minute through an excellent chip from Owen Garvan, Lee running onto the ball and sliding it past Smith. In midfield a lively Gavin Williams was constantly being hassled by Nigel Quashie, and in the 23rd min was subbed due to a challenge by the S?ton skipper, Matt Richards was brought on as replacement. Quashie later received a yellow card in the 2nd half for a foul on left-back Scott Barron.
Lee?s 2nd goal came from a direct pass from Scott Barron, and was scored in the last minute to seal a well earned victory, Lee celebrated in front of the Ipswich fans (located in Northam Stand).
Alan Lee was unlucky not to cap a brilliant performance with a hat-trick, a late header being palmed just over the bar by the Saints ‘keeper Smith.
In goal Supple had yet another good game, although only having to make 2 challenging saves from 5 shots on target. Towns defence were strong and restricted Southamptons attacks to long range efforts. Ipswich won the midfield battle with ex-saint Jim Magilton acting as midfield General
Overall, the whole team did a fantastic job of beating the Saints and there seemed an enormous amount of team spirit yesterday as they all fought together!
Lets all hope this fantastic football continues?
Joe Royle hails Lee and team performance
‘Alan scored two superb goals and showed everyone why we brought him to the Club.
‘He’s a big powerful front player with bags of pace and he caused them problems the whole game.
‘He took his goals really well, he’s just what we have needed and gives us a real physical presence up front.
‘It was a great result for us against a team that had a number of players playing in the Premiership last season.
‘I never felt we were threatened at any stage, only a few shots from distance and it shows that we are continuing to move forward, as we have done over the last four games.’
George Burley unhappy
‘I was not happy with what I saw today but that has been the case with most of the games since I have been here but that’s how it is and we cannot hide from it.
‘We started quite brightly but then gave away a bad goal and ended up chasing the game. We had three up front but did not create enough chances.
They only had one man up front and we had four defenders but we could not handle him and they looked lively on the break.
‘The fans’ frustration is understandable but this is a difficult time for the club and we all need to stick together.
Match Report by – Georgie
