Ipswich Town v Burton Albion
Saturday 10th February 2018 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike
This time last week I was writing about nothing else but doom and gloom and bemoaning the state of the club, everything seemed wrong and there was little to be upbeat about, however a week is a long time in Football and following the fine win away at Sunderland I have felt just a tad more positive the last few days, that is not to say that everything in the garden is suddenly rosy because it most certainly isn't, most of my thoughts have not changed but the efforts at the team did lift my spirits somewhat. We proved again that when we play football it can be very effective and yield results, after a dodgy Twenty Five minute spell when we were second best we got ourselves ahead and never looked back and by the time the final whistle went we were comfortable and worthy winners, trying to play Football as it should be played too, no long ball hoofing at all which was great to see but it really does have me scratching my head as to why it is not always the case that we play this way, we did it at Millwall and won, at Derby and won, at Leeds and should have won, home to Sunderland and thrashed them, I think you get the picture, we are clearly at our best when on the front foot and taking the game to the opposition.
Some players really do have me split on my opinion of them, Grant Ward being a classic case in point, all too often a player that flatters to deceive and yet on his day a potential match winner and a real handfull for opposition defences, thankfully against Sunderland it was the latter where for me he had his best game for as long as I can remember, unfortunately I believe that at times he is a player that hides when things are tough, he should be one of the players to make things happen when we need that spark of inspiration and this is why I am not his greatest fan if I am honest. Despite the win we still find ourselves Eight points adrift of the play off places and with games starting to run out that boat is slowly starting to look like it has well and truly sailed although you just never know, it would take another Ten wins at least and with only Sixteen games remaining can any Town fan honestly see us achieving that many victories especially given how inconsistent we are.
With Leeds this week having poached Barnsley's manager there is much talk about the possibilty of Mick McCarthy "returning home" to Oakwell, for me this really is something that could become reality, the only thing is with them being in such a precarious league position they really need a new man in place sooner rather than later and I just dont see MM departing during the campaign so that could well be a stumbling block, I suppose they could put a temporary man in interim charge but what a gamble that would be. I think there is no doubt he would do a good job at a club of this standing and with investment following the takeover it could just be he would be in a similar position to the one he was in at Wolves when of course he did the business. The whole scenario does have you thinking what might have been here had Mick arrived before either Jewell or Keane, the backing from Marcus Evans would still have been there and who knows what we could have achieved.
This week sees bottom club Burton Albion come to Town, they are having a really tough time of it right now and have just lost Four on the spin to drop to the foot of the table, add to that they are leaking goals for fun and the injuries are starting to hit hard (we know only too well what that can do). They are still in touch though and all is not lost which is why this will be no easy game at all, they are fighting for their lives and are capable of pulling off shock results, wins at Reading & Sheff Wed show they can deliver on their travels while a goaless home draw with Norwich was also a decent result so we have to take them seriously, it doesn't go unnoticed that they have leaked 58 goals, the most in the Division and with players out we have to attack them from the off, an early goal would do the trick for me as I feel we would go on to win this relatively comfortably, none of this sitting back nonsense, get at them and keep them pinned back. I can actually see us winning this one fairly well which would send us into the Norwich game on the back of Two wins which would be a massive confidence booster so I am going for a good Town win by Three to nil. COYB'S.
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.
Last season Burton managed to stay up by 1 point, finishing in 20th place on the table.
The Manager – Nigel Clough
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
[youtube] [/youtube]
Media Watch - K L Blue
Will he/Won't he?
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5387095
Skusse's new deal? Good or Bad?
https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2018/februa ... -new-deal/
Skusse on MM possible departure
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5388069
Celina up for goal of the month
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5387245
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – currently in 12th place with 43 points
2 Jan Fulham 4 - 1 Ipswich Town
13 Jan Ipswich Town 1 - 0 Leeds Utd
20 Jan Bolton 1 - 1 Ipswich Town
27 Jan Ipswich Town 0 - 1 Wolverhampton
3 Feb Sunderland 0 - 2 Ipswich Town
Burton Albion Last 5 Matches – currently in 24th place with 24 points
1 Jan Sheffield Wed 0 - 3 Burton Albion
13 Jan Burton Albion 1 - 3 QP Rangers
20 Jan Fulham 6 - 0 Burton Albion
30 Jan Burton Albion 1 - 3 Reading
3 Feb Aston Villa 3 - 2 Burton Albion
Fixtures of Interest
SHEFFIELD UTD VS LEEDS UTD
DERBY COUNTY VS NORWICH CITY
BRENTFORD VS PRESTON N.E.
MIDDLESBROUGH VS READING
Match Referee – David Webb
IPSWICH TOWN 1 BURTON ALBION 0
As most on here have stated, if we go for the jugular and just attack we should manage a win, 4-0, 
Waghorn 2 Celina 1 Ward 1
