Portman Road Is Finally Back On Song

Brett Pitman had said before this one, that the players were behind under siege manager Mick McCarthy and his wonder goal near the end summed up the commitment of the striker himself.

Town played with a passion not seen at Portman Road for some time but as always the first goal can turn out to be decisive and so it was to prove; although a mix up in defence between Christophe Berra and keeper Bartosz Bialkowski threatened to ruin the Christmas party, when the visitors leveled just after the break.

The goal that got Town off the mark was created by the ingenuity of winger Tom Lawrence on the left, who found some space before delivering a dangerous ball into the box that Kevin Bru got on the end of, to guide it into the net from close range.

I was pleased with the way The Blues applied themselves and Town could have won by more but near misses in the second half from Freddie Sears especially, meant the final scoreline would be a narrow one again.

The winning goal, when it arrived, was well worth the wait however and it was good work by Freddie Sears on the right that lead to it as he jinxed his way past a defender to cross high into the box where Brett Pitman was lurking to scissor-kick the ball home with aplomb from the edge of the box.

This result will come as a mighty big relief to manager Mick McCarthy – although to beat a side that was one place behind us in the league is nothing to write home about.

What is more important perhaps is the manner of our victory which was engineered by a far more fluid midfield, after McCarthy dropped Jonathan Douglas and replaced him with the much more footballing articulate Kevin Bru.

Next up is out of form Queens Park Rangers away on Monday and Town must go into this one with considerably more confidence after their home performance last night and another three points would make for a wonderful start to our New Year celebrations.

Ipswich Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (captain), Webster, Berra, Kenlock, Skuse, Ward (Sears 77), Lawrence, Bru (Dozzell 71), McGoldrick (Varney 89), Pitman. Unused subs: Gerken, Emmanuel, Knudsen, and Leon Best.

Bristol City: Fielding, Little (Moore 47), Flint, Magnusson (O`Dowda 66), Golbourne (Bryan 47), Freeman, Brownhill, Pack, Tomlin, Wilbraham (captain), Abraham. Unused subs: O`Donnell, Paterson, Reid, Engvall.

Referee: David Coote

Attendance: 15,640