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Town Hanging On To Play-off Hopes!

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Daryl Murphy was the hero and the villain at Portman Road yesterday afternoon.

He scored after just nine minutes to put the blues in front but then missed an absolute sitter early in the second half to deny Town all three points.

The Town boss rang the changes once again. Some were enforced in the case of Kevin Bru who was injured and replaced by Richard Chaplow in midfield and others were made in an attempt to strengthen the heart of the team.

Back came Dean Gerken in goal for Bartosz Bialkowski who has lost a bit of confidence of late it seems.

Town started brightly and that goal by Murphy lifted the mood but it was not to last for long. On 25 minutes Jonathan Douglas headed equalizer meant that once again the blues had failed to keep a clean sheet. A change of keeper yes but no change of fortune.

Town huffed and puffed as usual but it was not until early in the second half that they carved out a wonderful goal opportunity that was woefully scorned by you know who.

Murphy had the goal at his mercy having been put through by Jonathan Parr and with an open goal in front of him he somehow managed to put the ball over the bar when it seemed so much easier to score!

This was a glaring miss and it summed up the blues day. Chance after chance went begging but non of them was as bad as that horrendous Murphy miss and he was inconsolable in the dressing room afterwards we’ve been told.

Town had started with Murphy and Sears upfront but for some inexplicable reason McCarthy decided to replace Freddie Sears with Chris Wood with a half hour remaining and this decision baffled everyone – including the Radio Suffolk commentary team!

Mick McCarthy explained later that there was nothing wrong with Sears but he made the change because he wanted a win and felt that the young striker was running short on ideas.

How he felt that partnering Murphy with Wood would work is beyond me as they have very similar styles and our attacking contrast had gone and we became very predictable going forward.

Luckily for the Tractor Boys, a lot of the other results went our way again. Now there are four team leading the table on 66 points and Town – although in seventh and out of those play-off places for now, are not completely out of the race.

There are some big games coming up including our next one at Middlesbrough next Saturday. If we get back to winning ways sooner rather than later then who knows what the future holds?


Frank Weston – Vital Ipswich

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