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Town Grind Out Vital Bolton Victory

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Image for Town Grind Out Vital  Bolton Victory

Freddie Sears said before this one that a victory in whatever shape or form would do.
‘ We need a win and even if we struggle and grind out a 1-0 win that would do for now.’

His prophetic words were realized in a game that could so easily have turned sour for the Town, who huffed and puffed before finally blowing the Wanderers house down.

This was anything but a classic performance, which I suppose was to be expected given the blues indifferent form of late. In fact, it was Bolton who looked more threatening going forward and this was especially apparent in the first half when they missed a host of half chances and were very dangerous on the break.

Stubborn Mick McCarthy made only one change to the side that lost 4-1 at Middlesbrough at the weekend and this was enforced. Bialkowski replaced Gerken in goal, as had been anticipated before hand.

Town started on the front foot and should have gone ahead when Freddie Sears dispossessed a Bolton player midway inside his own half and raced away unattended.
Sadly however, and with only the keeper to beat, his shot was parried away to safety.

Cole Skuse showed much more attacking intent than normal for this defence minded midfielder and had two shots in the second half that went narrowly wide of the mark.

One speculative delightful chip went just over bar and the other grazed the post but Town had to wait until much later in the game to seal the win.

In the first half, Sears linked up well with Tyrone Mings who went on a mazy run that almost produced the first goal. Mings finally sent the ball out wide to Sears who returned it to Mings but the defender could not get enough venom in his shot to trouble the Bolton keeper and the chance was gone.

In the end the match winner came from an unlikely source. Jay Tabb diverted a bobbling ball into the ground and it bounced up and into the net to give Town all three points.

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy said he was as nervous as anyone watching this encounter but he must feel somewhat vindicated in picking the same team that finished against The Boro and gaining all thee points and keeping a clean sheet in the process!

Other results around Town did not all go the blues way. Brentford won away at Blackburn 2-3 and Wolves also won.

Further up the table though there was slightly better news. Norwich could only draw 2-2 with Huddersfield away and Cardiff grabbed an unlikely 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth. Derby also lost 0-1 at their place to Middlesbrough who stay top but our next opponents were once again victorious against Wigan and are joint leaders on 72 points.

Vicarage Road and indeed Watford is not a happy hunting ground of late but if ever we needed to reverse this trend it is this weekend.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich

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