We were all a bit worried about facing Liverpool in our first Premier League clash in 22 years. In the end, we acquitted ourselves rather well and although the scoreline could have been worse, all things considered, it was a good Town team performance.
Our stoic defending had a lot to do with keeping the score down in the end, but our backline did us proud throughout. I think we all knew that we would probably concede some goals and yet, when we got to the interval break we were still very much in this game and were probably edging it in terms of goal-scoring opportunities. Strangely, Town only gave away 9 fouls which was exactly half the amount that the visitors committed. That said, we ended up receiving 3 yellow cards to Liverpool’s 1. Incredibly, Captain Sam Morsy was not one of the offenders! He still has a clean bill of health!
Town had their chances in that first half, and the best one fell to Omari Hutchinson who raced clear from the halfway line having been fed with a long through ball from Liam Delap. If that ball had been straight and not angled which forced Hutchinson to move inside onto his preferred left foot, then Town could well have scored. It was a close one.
The sell-out home crowd of 30,000 plus included new shareholder Ed Sheeran, and he left at the break when Ipswich were still level, as he had to fly to Serbia for a concert that evening. It was perhaps, the best time to leave as the second half belonged to Liverpool, who began to boss the game after they scored two quick-fire goals on 60 through Diago Jota and Mo Salah on 65. Both players and supporters can hold their heads up high. We gave 100% and did not disgrace ourselves against one of the best sides in Europe – if not the world. Now we can dust ourselves down and head to the Etihad to confront Manchester City next week, knowing that we can cope at this level.
