Whether it be the people of Suffolk or the people of Norfolk who will be rejoicing in a couple of weeks, is in the hands of the football Gods but Town need to go to Carrow Road with some sort of lead to stand any realistic chance. One thing is certain though and that is that one kind of ‘folk’ will win!
In some ways those incredible goal scoring opportunities that Freddie Sears missed against Blackburn Rovers might not be such a bad thing. For a start, it is unlikely that lightening will strike twice and I have a feeling he will get goals in these ties and of course in the end, those errors did not matter at all!
Daryl Murphy too seems to have got back into the scoring habit at just the right time and Norwich will be without Luis Grabban who is suspended, having received a direct red recently.
My fear these days is no longer the midfield. Teddy Bishop and Cole Skuse in particular are playing very well and of course we have Jay Tabb, Jonathan Parr and Kevin Bru to compliment them when required.
A lack of goals in this department is still a concern but what is more worrying is our leaky defence!
We really seems to struggle to keep out goals. Sometimes it is sheer misfortune like the third one against Blackburn but other times it is because we have stopped concentrating at the back.
Jonathan Parr of all people was to blame for the second Blackburn goal at Ewood Park because he completely lost his marker and I am sure that Mick McCarthy must be concerned about our bad habit of conceding silly goals and failing to keep clean sheets.
The problem still lies in playing Luke Chambers out of position so that Tommy Smith stays in the team. Effectively we are playing with three centre-half’s and one wing back and this has made us look unbalanced and has narrowed too our attacking options.
Don’t get me wrong I like Tommy Smith because he is a totally committed centre back who wades in with some vital goals but the reality is that he is also very accident prone and he never fills me with complete confidence when he is marking up.
Our only genuine wing back at the moment is Tyrone Mings and it is pleasing to see that he has rekindled some form of old and his crossing was excellent last weekend.
Luke Varney is also a nice addition to the squad and he has excelled beyond all expectations when he has been drafted into the team. He may be a football journeyman but he is giving it his all!
The game this weekend will sadly come to soon for both David McGoldrick and Luke Hyam; although they are now both training again apparently.
Noel Hunt has made a miraculous recovery from a terrible knee ligament injury and will bench warm again and we also have Darren Ambrose back in the frame if required which is nice.
The first game against our fiercest rivals it expected to be a sell-out so there should be a wonderful atmosphere at Portman Road on Saturday and let us hope that we can finish the day with a two goal advantage.
Anything less and we may really struggle at Carrow Road.
Frank Weston – Vital Ipswich
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