After so much good news enjoyed by all of us loyal Town supporters, I guess it was almost inevitable that some bad news was waiting around the corner.
We have been on a massive high for many months now thanks to our new ownership, the Ed Sheeran shirt sponsorship deal and a plethora of high-quality players joining our ranks.
Was it too good to be true? Well, perhaps it was. Today we discovered that Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has confirmed our worst fears. His first-choice left-back Marc Bola was self-isolating before he sustained an injury and although he is now back in training, Warnock has failed in his attempts to strengthen in this department.
Cardiff left-back Ciaron Brown was their top target but former Town boss Mick McCarthy turned down Boro’s bid for the player. Warnock explained their position. “I’m not sure. I think a lot depends on what Mick McCarthy says really. I think it’s a fair offer what we’ve done.” And he elaborated on the situation regarding Town target Hayden Coulson too. “Bola is training again now. Coulson is not. There’s no way Hayden is going out on loan at the moment, you’ve seen the squad tonight. We’re very thin.” It means he is no going anywhere any time soon.
Whether Town eventually gets their man remains to be seen. They may look elsewhere though, because the new League One season is just a week away, and as I write this, the Blues have just lost 0-3 at home to Millwall. I know this is nothing more than a pre-season warm-up, but it does tend to suggest that we still have serious defensive issues to attend to and we must address them fast.
Where do we go from here? Let us hope that this is just a little blip and we can tweak a few things in a week, that will make all the difference. We need to because this scoreline is a cause for concern.
Ipswich Town: Hladky, Vincent-Young (Jackson 81), Nsiala, Woolfenden, Penney (Humphreys 81), Burns (Donacien 71), Harper, Evans, Dobra (Ward 89), Pigott (Norwood 81), Bonne (Chaplin 70)
Substitutes: Holy and Ndaba.
Millwall: Bialkowski, McNamara (Romeo 61), Cooper (Pearce 76), Hutchinson (M Wallace 62), Evans (Thompson 76), Ballard (Leonard 62), Kieftenbeld (Mahoney 62), Saville (Mitchell 62), J Wallace (Bennett, 62), Malone, Afobe (Smith, 62)
The referee was Andy Woolmer from Northamptonshire.
