Burton Albion v Ipswich Town
Friday 14th April 2017 – 19:45
Pirelli Stadium
Jamma's Opening Thought
I rounded off the last preview by stating why I thought the clash against Fulham had the makings of a free-flowing game of football. As it turned out, I was right, as an end-to-end encounter was played out in near-perfect conditions. But, while it would have been an entertaining 90 minutes for any neutrals in attendance at Craven Cottage, the open nature of the match didn’t really play into Town’s hands. In fact, this was an occasion which, ironically, might have been suited to an approach more in keeping with Mick McCarthy’s ‘safety first’ mantra for which he has borne the brunt of supporters’ criticism for so much of this season. The Cottagers served a reminder of their attacking verve within the opening five minutes, with Bartosz Bialkowski called into action by Floyd Ayité’s cross/shot and Stefan Johansen’s long-range strike. There was still time for Chris Martin to threaten adding to his personal goal tally against the Blues before another effort from the former Norwich striker rebounded to Ayité, who converted from close range. Wing-back Ryan Fredericks had been instrumental down Fulham’s right for both chances, and his equally effective counterpart Scott Malone scored the second with a precise finish which glanced off the far post. 2-0 down after half an hour, at the home of a play-off chasing side – at this stage the Blue Army would have been forgiven for wondering if their team would be facing a similarly chastening scoreline to Reading, who were being blown away at Carrow Road. We might also have thought that we wouldn’t get a better opportunity than David McGoldrick’s snatched shot that he skewed wide on the stroke of half time. And yet a more cohesive Town produced three more glorious chances in the early stages of the second half, with the energetic front two at the heart of the action. First, McGoldrick set up Freddie Sears following a typically jinking run, only for his strike partner to be denied from close range by Marcus Bettinelli. The roles were then reversed, as McGoldrick somehow failed to get enough contact on Sears’ cross when virtually on the goal line, before being thwarted by the goalkeeper with a rasping drive from the edge of the area. As if to underline the stark contrast between the two teams’ prowess in front of goal, Fulham promptly broke to score the killer third through Johansen, rendering Christophe Berra’s late header a mere consolation.
At least we got some long-overdue entertainment on Saturday, so much so that the result could conceivably have been 5-5. Even then, Mick would doubtless have been accused of playing for a draw! OK, maybe not, but it is looking more and more like the manager can do nothing right in the eyes of the supporters. To be fair to the 2,500 fans who made the trip to West London, they got behind the players, sustaining their support even when we went 3-0 behind. But this was alongside the anti-McCarthy and anti-Evans chants, which are getting more vociferous by the match. The most telling thing for me was the ovation given to the team as they walked off the pitch – not something you tend to see following a 3-1 defeat. A fellow Ipswich fan said to me that the players had put everything in from start to finish, as encapsulated by Sears and McGoldrick’s tireless running. The supporters were keen to show their recognition of this endeavour, subliminally acknowledging that McCarthy hasn’t lost the dressing room. The fact that this praise for the performance was accompanied by continued singing and booing directed at the management was notable, though, and said to me that any temporary respite from the win against Wigan had quickly been forgotten. So we now move on to an intriguing set of fixtures over the Easter weekend: a trip to Burton followed by the much-anticipated Sir Bobby Robson Day meeting with Newcastle. Most supporters would admit that it will take something special for us to cap off the latter occasion with the win. On that basis, should we be demanding 3 points from Good Friday’s game? Such a mentality piles on the pressure yet further, of course, and it will be anything but easy against a rallying Burton side. In October’s corresponding fixture at Portman Road, the Brewers passed up their own set of golden chances in defeat, and so will be eager to make amends, at a ground that has already accounted for Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and Norwich in 2016/17.
The Opposition – Burton Albion
Burton Albion can claim lineage from four now defunct clubs: Burton Swifts, Burton Town, Burton United and Burton Wanderers.
Burton Albion were formed in 1950, and joined the Birmingham & District League. They finished the 1953–54 season as runners-up, and in 1958–59 joined the Southern League North Western zone. In 1965–66, Burton missed out on the runners-up place on goal difference, but were still promoted to the Southern League Premier Division.
They avoided relegation in 1968, thanks to Stevenage Town folding, but were relegated to Division One after an unsuccessful 1969–70 season. Burton missed out on promotion on goal average in 1970–71, but finished as runners-up the following season and were promoted back to the Premier Division.
The next two seasons saw them relegated and then promoted back to the Premier Division again. They stayed in the same division until being relegated once more at the end of 1976–77.
League rearrangements saw Burton moved to the Northern Premier League, because of their location in the central Midlands, and then back to the Southern League in 1987–88, the season after losing in a replayed FA Trophy final to Kidderminster Harriers.
In October 1998, Nigel Clough was appointed as player-manager and he led the club to two successive runners-up spots, in 1999–2000 and 2000–01.
Burton were again moved to the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 2001–02, which they won by a margin of 15 points, and the club was promoted to the Football Conference for the first time.
The club was brought to national attention when they were drawn at home against 11-time winners Manchester United in the third round of the 2005–06 FA Cup. The Brewers held the Premier League team to a 0–0 draw at home, but lost the reply 5–0 in front of over 11,000 Burton fans, setting a record for number of away fans at Old Trafford.
In January 2009, Burton went on to set a league record for the most consecutive wins and, in February 2009, when the team was 19 points clear at the top of the table, Conference sponsors Blue Square declared Burton the winners of the 2008–09 title in a PR stunt in which they paid out all bets. However, a bad run of form only saw this confirmation take place due to other results on the last day of the season.
Burton finished in 13th place in their first campaign in the Football League.
During the 2014–15 season, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took over the managerial position at the Brewers and led them to the League Two title, which meant promotion to League One for the first time in their history. Hasselbaink left by mutual consent in December 2015 to join Queens Park Rangers as manager.
Nigel Clough returned to Burton to replace him for his second spell as manager and led the club to a second-place finish in the league, earning promotion to the Championship, another first for Burton, in the 2015/16 season.
The Gaffer – Nigel Clough
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Another 3 points would be most welcome
Media Watch - K L Blue
MM on securing Championship status
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31523/
MM On Andre Dozzell
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-4974198
Sears on this season
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31519/
MM on next season
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/31515/
Who's the biggest?
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/lets- ... r-ipswich/
Form Guide
Burton Albion Last 5 Matches – Currently in 20th place with 45 points
Burton Albion 1-1 Aston Villa
Newcastle Utd 1-0 Burton Albion
Huddersfield 0-1 Burton Albion
Burton Albion 3-5 Brentford FC
Burton Albion 1-0 Nottingham F.
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 17th place with 49 points
Fulham FC 3-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 3-0 Wigan Athletic
Ipswich Town 1-1 Birmingham City
Cardiff City 3-1 Ipswich Town
Barnsley 1-1 Ipswich Town
Fixtures of Interest around us on the table
BRISTOL CITY VS Q.P.R.
WOLVES VS BRIGHTON
ROTHERHAM VS BIRMINGHAM
Marko’s Caption Competition – THE DON CUP
Birmingham scores:
Nicscreamer 5pts
IpswichtownNo1 & Bluemike 4pts
Frosty & Supershred 3pts
Blueblood 2pts
Fulham scores:
Herforder 5pts
DerickIpsw 4pts
Nicscreamer 3pts
Ando 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
DerickIpsw 70
Gold&Black 65
Blueblood 65
Nicscreamer 65
Herforder 59
Bluemike 57
Frosty 56
Tangfastic 54
Ando 54
Number 9 31
Watership Down 30
Shed on Tour 28
Quasar 28
IpswichtownNo1 20
Patthegimp 17
Ashfordblue 11
Barmy Billy 9
Supershred 6
LoudNProud 6
Longjohn 1
Foxy Lady 1
ItfcTrev76 1
Burton caption:
Match Referee – Oliver Langford
Final Thought - Bluemike
Another round of games gone and still Nine points clear of the drop zone, with only Fifteen points left to play for I think we can safely say we are all but safe. The trip to Fulham was everything I thought it would be, a tough afternoon and nothing to show for our efforts, sometimes there is no great in depth enquiry needed, they were just better than us, pure and simple, yes we created several chances in the second half but footballing wise it was evident they were superior to us in every way. Tangfastic hit the nail on the head when he said that he had no beef with MM on this occasion, after all it was a starting Eleven that most, if not all of us would want to see, he also made the change at HT that everyone was crying out for so again how can he be criticised too much for Saturdays defeat ? Again Tang is quite right when he says it is the rest of the season that has defined the current situation at the club.
With the season drawing to a close no doubt all attention will turn to Mick's situation at the club and rightly so but for me I am just as intrigued to see what overhaul of the playing squad takes place, of course not much will happen until we do actually know who is the manager for next season but I was thinking the other day which players would I be sad to see depart and in truth there is very few that would sadden me greatly if they left. We need new blood in most areas to freshen the whole thing up, yes we have a few good players that if complimented by some new additions and allowed to play with some freedom will be ok at this level. I will refrain from listing my hopes regarding departures etc just yet as it is a good topic of discussion for the close season.
Good Friday sees us make our first visit to Burton Albion and I am looking forward to it as it is the final ground I need to visit to complete the current Championship participants. I think it is fair to say that survival for Burton was always their target and to be fair they have made a good fist of it, yes they are in a relegation battle but they have some big scalps to boast of already this season, Sheff Wed, Derby & Norwich have all been despatched at home while on their travels they have won at Huddersfield and drawn at Fulham so they are no mugs by any stretch of the imagination, It is about us and what we do though, play at our best and we can get something, even a win is certainly not beyond us, it would be so nice to end the season with a few positive results and what better place to start. I will put my positive hat on and go for a Town win by the score of 2-1
BURTON ALBION 1 IPSWICH TOWN 2
