Poor Town Go Down To Sad Away Defeat

This was a bad day at the office for Ipswich Town football club. The game itself lacked any real passion and the only time the home supporters found their voice was when they went two ahead, early in the second half.

The match itself was very forgettable and until Martin Braithwaite broke the deadlock just before the interval, there was nothing to choose between the sides.

Chances were few and far between for both sides but Middlesborough got their noses in front at the right time and increased their lead early in the second half through Patrick Bamford and the game was effectively a non contest from that moment on.

Manager Mick McCarthy tried to freshen things up as he removed Emyr Huws and brought on Joe Garner after the break.

Then he made a double substitution, bringing on Teddy Bishop and Freddie Sears for Grant Ward and Bersant Celina – who had just been booked for needlessly pulling on a player’s shirt.

Nothing changed and this was a highly forgettable game and a result that we would all probably want to forget as well.

For some strange reason, the Blues passing was inept throughout and even when Ipswich tried to attack, they often fell short of really threatening the opposition due to some wayward passing.

The timing of the two goals certainly influenced the Town performance but in truth, this was a below par display by the Tractor Boys and they never really looked like scoring.

Boro manager Garry Monk will be pleased with the outcome and this victory for his side, came after three defeats in their previous four games and saw them leapfrog Town into eighth place in the Championship table on goal difference alone.

Middlesbrough: Randolph, Christie, Ayala, Gibson, Fabio, Leadbitter (captain) (Forshaw 90), Howson, Downing (Johnson 77), Braithwaite, Bamford (Gestede 80), Assombalonga. Unused: Konstantopoulos, Friend, Fry, Traore.

Ipswich Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers (captain), Webster, Knudsen, Skuse, Connolly, Ward (Bishop 61), Huws (Garner 46), Celina (Sears 61), Waghorn. Unused: M Crowe, Iorfa, Downes, Kenlock.

Referee: Robert Jones from Merseyside who was replaced by Geoff Eltringham of County Durham in the second half.


Attendance : 22,989 of which almost 500 were Blues supporters.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich