Town Fall To Rare Home Defeat

Although it is hugely disappointing to see the blues lose to our closest Championship competitors, it is not all bad news.

The Tractor Boys are still just one point off the top due to an unlikely source of assistance.

Bournemouth also lost at home today to our fiercest rivals from Norfolk who battled their way to a 1-2 victory having been reduced to ten men with 25 minutes remaining.

In the context of things this is not such a poor result. Our luck may not have gone our way on the field at Portman Road but elsewhere it largely did.

Middlesbrough could only draw with Reading away and only Brentford were victorious from the top six – apart of course from Derby, with a narrow win at home.

Town started well against The Rams and if Daryl Murphy had have got his usual meat on the ball when it fell to him on the edge of the box we could have taken that much needed early lead.

As the game wore on Derby became much more of a threat but when they did score in the second half, it was moments after we should have got a penalty.

The ref seemed to be in a good position to spot it but he waved play on to the obvious fury of the players, coaching staff and the fans!

In truth though, the blues were not at their best and I suspect nor were County. Mick McCarthy said afterwards that all the hype for this one probably impacted on the players and certainly Town were a pale shadow of their former selves for long periods.

Tommy Smith apologized to the gaffer and the fans for his mistake that lead to the goal but a strong wind and some physical aggression from Chris Martin did not help his cause. He has been magnificent all season and as our manager so rightly said, everyone is entitled to the odd mistake.

So then, we go into the FA Cup replay on Wednesday against Southampton with our fingers burned. It might just be the incentive we need to show the nation our true worth on the BBC and now that we have that blank out the way we could just do the biz.

Here is our chance to forget about this defeat quickly and a win at home in front of a bumper crowd might just be the catalyst for kick-starting our league campaign once again!BR>



Frank Weston – Editor Vital Ipswich