I admired the way manager Paul Cook took our first-round encounter with Oldham Atheltic in the FA Cup so seriously. It has been a long time since this has happened, and although we did not win at Portman Road on Saturday, his team selection was not at fault.
The good news is that we are still in the bag for the next round. The bad news is that we have to travel to Lancashire just a few days before another long trip to Sunderland. The incentive for progressing in the oldest domestic competition in football is knowing who we will face next. The big boys don’t enter until the third round of course, but some ties might keep us interested.
The most obvious example of this would be if we were to draw Colchester United! It could happen. In the last round, they had to defeat local rivals Sudbury, and they did so relatively easily in a game that was televised live by the BBC, and it was good to see Freddie on the scoresheet again.
Former Town players reside there in abundance, and I am quite sure that Luke Chambers, Cole Skuse and Freddie Sears would be looking forward to it just as much as we would!
So then, what went wrong on Saturday? I think it was a combination of things. The small crowd at Portman Road probably didn’t help but neither did the attitude of some of our players. Sam Morsy was particularly culpable with a series of wayward passes, and complacency was apparent throughout most of the team.
It should not have been. This was the same side that defeated Wycombe Wanderers away 1-4 just days before, so why we took the foot of the gas is anybody’s guess, but football is a mind game and we went absent without leave. In the end, we were lucky to get the chance to fight another day.
Goalkeeper Christian Walton did not have a lot to do but what he did he did well. That excellent penalty save has kept us in the competition, but our dreadful record of one win in 20 games over in 11 years sadly remains intact.
Walton is starting to make that number one jersey his own, and it has been a long time since we have found a keeper who can save a penalty – let alone anything else. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but we must not forget he is on loan. He is only here because our two Czech keepers have so far largely failed to impress.
Couldn’t agree more Frank. Still, I for one think we will win the replay 2-1. Yes, we did look a bit complacent but I was really pleased that PC put out a strong team against Oldham and so he should!
Having seen the FA Cup final plus most of the other games in our cup winning run in 1978 not to mention the two matches with Leeds at Leicester in our successful 4-game marathon in 1975, I love the FA Cup. As a lad, I always looked forward to the 3rd round FA Cup draw.
Still enough of yester year. Despite making hard work of a tie we should have won 4-0, we are still in the cup and Town are moving forward again. Decent league crowds, averaging around 20000, lots of goals and moving steadily up the table, although the next three matches will put us to the test. Bring it on.
I admire your positivity Richard and I am in complete agreement. We are moving forward. Tonight I am going to write about a forgotten man at Ipswich. He is someone that you felt should be a part of the squad and who has served us well in the past.