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Must Win Game For Town

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Our home form this season has been disappointing to say the least and if we have any serious hopes of making the play-off’s then we must start winning more games at Portman Road.

Today we face a Nottingham Forest side who are going nowhere in particular and this is a great opportunity for the blues to take all three points and at a time when we need them most!

There is a doubt over Daryl Murphy and if he does not play then I expect our strike force to consist of Brett Pitman and Freddie Sears and the midfield will be strengthened further with the news that Luke Hyam is back in the mix once again.

Forest find themselves in 15th place in the Sky Bet Championship and have had another indifferent season under Dougie Freedman. Ipswich have not lost in the last five encounters with our visitors but it must be noted that four have ended in draws!

Forest have the second meanest defence in the league, having conceded just 30 goals to date and only Middlesbrough have leaked less so this could be decided by a single goal.

The problem for them is that they have trouble finding the net and have scored just 32 goals so far this season in this division.

Their job maybe made even more difficult in this department if striker Jamie Ward fails to pass a fitness test. He was forced off early in the home defeat to Bristol City due to a tight hamstring and his condition will be monitored prior to kick-off.

Town really have to win this one in my view. Portman Road has not reaped the benefits for the blues of former years but if we could get back into the winning habit at home, then this could help us enormously because we have some difficult away games coming up.

Although Forest have scored just two more goals than they have conceded this term they have only failed to score in one of their last 14 league visits to Portman Road, which was a 6-0 thrashing way back in March 2005 so we have been warned!

Injuries to the Town squad means that Andre Dozzell may get a place on the bench and this would mean that he is getting ever closer to first team action and this has to be applauded.

Our visitors have lost their last three league fixtures and we have to go back to December 2011 to find the last time they lost four in a row but we can only hope that the fact that they are safe will aid our cause – especially if we score first!

I predict a 3-1 win to Town with both Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman both getting on the score-sheet this afternoon.

I hope I am right because the odds were very good for this unlikely score-line – given the tight defence that we will be facing today.


Frank Weston – editor of Vital Ipswich




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