Preston NE vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[TODD66]

All sounds quite encouraging.

Will it last?

[Bluemike]

So far so good and deservedly ahead, should probably have been 2 up

[marko69]

Great to see Lawrence getting yet another goal. The club certainly could do with making his contract a permanent one.

[marko69]

Lincoln 2-1 up on Brighton? Coupon burster!

[Dubai Blue]

Positive subs by MM. Big surprise.

[marko69]

Yes. Really positive. Fk.

[Tangfastic]

Bollocks.

[nicscreamer]

Normal service has been resumed

[shamm]

Would have been great to have a clean sheet today.
1-1

[Magicmark]

Lincoln 2-1 up on Brighton? Coupon burster!

3-1 to Lincoln now

[Bluemike]

So frustrating to concede so late but on balance of play the right result, we were better first half and they had the better of the second half, I felt a big turning point was when Diagouraga went off and Bru came on, we had been winning the midfield well but that changed it, positive signs with Diagouraga and Skuse though. We just failed to retain possession all second half and that was our downfall. Fair play to Keiffer Moore, he had some really good touches when he came on.

[phily bon bon]

Great result today and a great battling display. I will admit that I expected the worst. New faces always freshen things up but it's normally temporary, were as quality is usually permanent. Full respect due and let's hope that the new signings can help push us on.

[len]

Yet again we couldn't hold on to our lead!!
just goes to show how bad we are in defence!!!
and still in 14th place!!

[marko69]

Mate, with the way the season has gone, and with how difficult it's been for Mick to find the winning formula, (and he has definitely been striving to find that) I'm personally delighted with 14th in the league at this moment in time.

[bluejacko]

Yet again we couldn't hold on to our lead!!
just goes to show how bad we are in defence!!!
and still in 14th place!!

Dont know about the defence bit but we seemed to lose the midfield when Bru came on!

[Andym]

Sobered up, Andy? Bet you can't even remember posting that last night eh?

Just about.... didn't hear the commentary ...went to see Beautiful (the Carol king musical ) instead. Looking forward to reading reports.

[marko69]

Looking forward to reading the Carol King reports too, Andy.

[Mach_Polish_Blue]

Got back and I have to say it's definitely two points dropped today therefore mix of feelings for me. Cannot question players' commitment today that's for sure. Better then disgusting display at Lincoln or very poor at Huddersfield last week. We should have won today but for flawed McCarthy's philosophy: sit deep, frustrate them as much as we can and we may hold on. Lack of belief or ability to kill the game off was very disappointing.

First half in a nutshell was Preston having been better in operating the ball whereas Town had better chances. Yet another amazing Lawrence's goal and he was by far our most threatening player.

Emmanuel having had tough first 45 minutes caught my eye too. McGeady would constantly torment him and I dare say that the Preston winger will have been a toughest opponent that Emmanuel has ever faced so far. Yes struggled to contain him at times but given his age and still lack of experience he did well in general and I can't be critical of that. I'm sure that 'right-back' Chambers would have badly struggled if he had been told to clash with McGeady.

Preston players also showed us the dirty aspect of the game which is 'required' at times. Three cynical fouls on our players while we had a chance to hit them on the break. That is perhaps what our players ought to have done at Huddersfield last week instead of having allowed Brown to have a run in which he was unchallenged and that ended up with him scoring.

Diagouraga I'd say has had decent 45 minutes. Some neat passing, not being afraid of anything. I thought he was trying to be too careful and scared to make mistakes but based on today decent addition.

A few shots well over the bar from Preston forwards. Two moments in which there was lack of communication between Chambers and Bialkowski. Sears unlucky not to have added a second goal five minutes from half time. In general not bad first half but we expected Preston to come out of the blocks early after half time and that was the case.
Scary moment at the beginning but Bialkowski easily saved Robinson's weak shot on target.

Diagouraga had to be subbed after 58 minutes due to lack of match fitness. Unfortunately things got worse for us since that. Bru who replaced him turned out to be yet again a poor choice. We started to give ball away with big frequency. To be honest strange game since that substitution. A glaring lack of ability to retain the ball looked somewhat like an invitation for Preston forwards to have a go at us. At the same time our defensive display was nothing short of good. We put bodies on the line (Berra in particular has had a very good display today, much better than his previous poor few games) and even though Preston were pressing they didn't create an overwhelming amount of chances. The most dangerous one was McGeady's shot which went straight on Bialkowski.

Lack of ability or belief to kill the game off was very annoying and upsetting. But this is McCarthy's 'philosophy'. Lets sit deep and try to save what we have. Preston having pressed us at times were leaving gaps in their defence and that was our perfect opportunity to hit them on the break and put the game to bed. Any time we had chances to do so not many Town players were interested in surging forward. Preston goalie Maxwell was a spectator for the vast majority of second half and we didn't really test him. Lawrence following his long run on 87 mins could have done so but his shot was too weak to cause trouble.

Sucker punch one minute from time. Ex-Town target Horgan's cross and current Town target Hugill scores for them. Sheer sucker punch and it's hard to take.

An inability to keep the ball and failure to hit them on the break was our downfall today and that's what makes me somewhat downbeat and disappointed. However we've to be encouraged by players' commitment after last two abject displays.

MOTM? Lawrence. The player who 'negates' McCarthys philosophy. As we all know he loves having a go at opposition full-back and nothing different than that today. Overwhelming impact from him since he's joined us on loan. In my opinion our best loanee since Gio. Even better than Fraser. If he is available for 4-5m come summer we've got to do everything to entice him. That kind of quality is badly needed otherwise we'll rot in this league forever.

Skuse whom I badly slated last week as he was utter cack against Huddersfield has had a good afternoon today. I'm often very critical of him as he gets away with poor performances but today I'm holding my hands up. Perfect in his DM duties however I'd have liked him to have passed the ball towards our strikers too.

Berra very good in defence as I mentioned. Diagouraga decent debut too. Knudsen strange and mixed game.

Don't really understand what Ward's role is though. Allegedly a right winger but he spent large parts of the game in the middle.

Town target Jordan Hugill. Apparently his price has risen up to 4m today. Is he worth that? Don't know. I'm undecided. He was kept quiet for the majority of the game, one header went well over the bar in the first half but on the other hand he saved the day for them in the dying moments and perhaps that's a sign of a good player. Whether they go for him or not I 'demand' the club to spend money on Murphy's replacement. 4 months and 28 days and it's yet to be found.

Mix of feelings after today. Commitment wise fine but still missed opportunity due to a few factors mentioned above.

[marko69]

Good, thorough report, MPB, thanks for that.

Regardless of how great Lawrence is, I'll eat my Ipswich hat if Mevans offers 4-5M......., be lucky if all the summer signings added together add up to that. Nae danger, mate.

[Shed on tour]

Good, thorough report, MPB, thanks for that.

Regardless of how great Lawrence is, I'll eat my Ipswich hat if Mevans offers 4-5M......., be lucky if all the summer signings added together add up to that. Nae danger, mate.

I think If Leicester do decide to sell there will be more attractive offers for him than joining ITFC.
As Marko has said he will be well out of our price range anyhow.

[Bluemike]

I suppose on the face of it we would have grabbed a point with both hands before kick off, the general consensus of opinion was that we were going to get nothing from today's trip to Preston, unfortunately how the game panned out leaves me a little frustrated and disappointed that we did not come home with all three points today and as Mach says it is definitely two points dropped.

MM decided to revert back to a 4-4-2 formation with Two strikers on the pitch and a flat back Four. After a couple of weak Preston efforts it was Town that settled into the game the better and had got out of the traps quite well, it took only a quarter of an hour for us to take the lead with what yet another individual sizzler from Tom Lawrence, after leaving two defenders for dead he unleashed a rocket form the tightest of angles that flew across the box and into the far side of the net, a really great strike. Not long after Sears was put through but his effort was unsurprisingly weak anf didn't trouble the Preston keeper. At the other end Hugill was proving to be lively and had an effort which flew wide.

It had been a decent start from Town with the Midfield duo of Skuse & Diagouraga complimenting each other well, breaking up plenty of play and winning a lot of ball, Diagouraga was looking to spread the play from left to right and back again at every opportunity and was always looking for the ball and finding space, Skuse seemed to be less deep than usual and linked up with the forwards once or Twice which was pleasing to see. Lawrence was his usual menacing self, at the back as Mach stated young Emmanuel had his hands full with the impressive McGeady who was looking to get to the byline at every opportunity but aside from an early Hugill header that cleared the bar bart's goal had not been threatened. As the half drew to a close it was Preston that were finishing it that little bit stronger but Sears had a golden opportunity to give us a Two goal lead, unfortunately the defender & Goalie did enough between them to see his effort diverted wide when he truth he probably should have scored.

Preston came out for the second half looking to get level but still we looked quite solid at the back with Chambers & Berra standing firm, Emmanuel had grown into the game and was a bit more comfortable. Diagouraga was out on his feet before the hour mark and was replaced by Bru, unfortunately this is where I believe the game really changed as we suddenly found ourselves second best in Midfield where we had been comfortable for so long. Suddenly it was a different game and preston could sense we were not quite so comfortable, throughout the second half we had struggled to keep possession for more than a few seconds, we also failed to win many of the aerial battles as they had far greater height than us. One or Two half chances at either end came and went, Pitman fired over the bar from inside the box while Beckford & McGeady were still causing us problems.

I actually disagree with Mach in that I do not think we set out to sit back and hold what we had at all, I just think we could not get into our rhythem second half and failed to do the things we were doing in the first half, like keeping the ball and competing for every loose ball, for me Bru is not and never will be the answer while Ward seemed to have problems knowing exactly where he was supposed to be most of the time, yes he did some good things but all too often caught out of position. Keiffer Moore was introduced and agin showed some nice footwork once or twice to get free of his marker, he actually looks better with ball at feet than in the air ! Typically with the clock ticking down to full time we are punished, with Town pushing forward Preston break away down our Left, Knudsen decides not to go to the winger and with acres of space he puts in a good cross which to be fair gets a lucky deflection and falls straight at the feet of Hugill who rams it home, gutted is not the word as we are once again so close to the win.

There is no doubt that this was some way better than a fair few recent efforts and there are reasons to be hopeful going forward, I was impressed with the showing of Diagouraga, yes it was all simple stuff but he seemed to interact with Skuse very well and when fit I thin k he could be a real asset in the centre of the pitch. Lawrence continues to impress and his goals are just so vital for us right now, at the back Berra was far more solid and the skipper looks far better in the middle, with players coming back and maybe One or Two more arrivals Mick will have far more options at his disposal. No negativity in the crowd today and well done to the 300+ fans who got behind the team all game, we even got a chorus of "Super Mick"....Fickle bastards

Bart (6) Emmanuel (6) Chambers (7) Berra (7) Knudsen (6) Ward (5) Diagouraga (6) Skuse (7) Lawrence (8) Sears (6) Pitman (6) SUBS :- Bru (5) McGoldrick (5) Moore (6)

[charlton837]

Anyone else think Mick would have better saying nothing than calling criticism of him being defensive/pragmatic as a lot of bollocks? He just doesn't help himself in that respect. He will never get the majority back on side whilst he is always having a go. What he thinks personally is a different matter, just keep it to yourself.

He would have been better off when asked to just say that we haven't been good.enough and fans are entitled to their opinions.

[hallamblue]

Thanks for that Mike. Whilst disappointed to drop those pints I am actually really up beat and more. positive going into 2nd half of season now. These new additions, once match fit and adapted to new surroundings has me thinking we will be picking up points now. Starting with Derby Tues who I think we can catch out at set pieces.

COYBS

[marko69]

Thanks for that Mike. Whilst disappointed to drop those pints I am actually really up beat and more. positive going into 2nd half of season now. These new additions, once match fit and adapted to new surroundings has me thinking we will be picking up points now. Starting with Derby Tues who I think we can catch out at set pieces.

COYBS

Hallam, ok, the football will be a nightmare at times, but FFS, that ^^^^^^ !!!! DON'T FECKIN DO THAT. That's just a total waste. JAYSUS!

[number 9]

Good, thorough report, MPB, thanks for that.

Regardless of how great Lawrence is, I'll eat my Ipswich hat if Mevans offers 4-5M......., be lucky if all the summer signings added together add up to that. Nae danger, mate.

I think If Leicester do decide to sell there will be more attractive offers for him than joining ITFC.
As Marko has said he will be well out of our price range anyhow.

Agree with you there, Shed! I can't imagine Lawrence would want to come here, even if it was a possibility. I can see him ending up at Liverpool or Spurs.

[hallamblue]

Thanks for that Mike. Whilst disappointed to drop those pints I am actually really up beat and more. positive going into 2nd half of season now. These new additions, once match fit and adapted to new surroundings has me thinking we will be picking up points now. Starting with Derby Tues who I think we can catch out at set pieces.

COYBS

Hallam, ok, the football will be a nightmare at times, but FFS, that ^^^^^^ !!!! DON'T FECKIN DO THAT. That's just a total waste. JAYSUS!

LMAO!!!! ......ha ha. I laughed out loud at that. Bloody texting. I swear it changes what I've text after I hit the send button.