Town Slump To Another Limp Home Defeat

Manager Mick McCarthy rang the changes last night as Luke Hyam, Grant Ward, Jordan Spence, Jonas Knudsen, freddie Sears and Tristan Nydam were all included in the team with Adam Webster, Martyn Waghorn, Callum Connolly and Myles Kenlock relegated to bench warming duties.

The Blues started brightly enough and Jordan Spence almost gave Town an early lead when he headed onto the post from a Bersant Celina corner but once Hull got their noses in front, you could sense that the mood in the ground had changed.

Just over 13,000 bore witness to this one and most of us probably wish that they hadn’t! Although Grant Ward had a header brilliantly saved by McGregor – who instinctively pushed his effort over the bar, there was little else to cheer about and once Hull went into a two goal lead with another goal largely against the run of play, the boos rang out around Portman Road once more.

The atmosphere at Portman Road is toxic these days and none more so than last night, when the vocal minority seemed at times like the vocal majority, such was the level of discontentment and frustration.

Hull went further ahead early in the second half and the jeers of derision echoed around the ground again. Mick McCarthy looked liked he had seen a ghost and maybe he had, because this was the ghost of football present that resembled so much of the football past under his regime.

As the final whistle blew, McCarthy got his players together in the centre of the field and told them to ignore outside forces and instead congratulate themselves on a good team performance.

He explained why he did it. ‘ I said that we`ve got to stick together. I was just making sure everybody knows that. I don`t think the atmosphere represented the way we`ve been playing to be quite honest. It was horrible. It was awful. It`s dreadful for them to play in that and it was to their eternal credit that that they kept going actually.’ In this respect, he is probably right.

So then, where do Ipswich Town football club go from here and will it be with or without manager Mick McCarthy?

A decision is imminent on his future apparently and after this showing, he will know that his number is surely almost up – regardless of what Marcus Evans happens to think of him.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich