Ipswich Town v Newcastle United
Saturday 21st December 2024 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-match Thoughts - Mike
What an incredible feeling that was last Saturday at Molyneux as Town snatched a priceless victory right at the death to bring Three precious points back to Suffolk, it made such a refreshing change to be on the right end of a last gasp goal and the celebrations amongst the players and fans alike told you just what it meant to everyone, I can remember some really special moments in the dying seconds following Town on the road, Carlos Edwards rocket away at Derby County and Richard Chaplow's breakaway goal right at the death at Watford are Two that spring to mind but this most definitely has to be right up there the way the celebrations went.
I think over the Ninety minutes we were worthy of the win, certainly in the first half Town had put in a decent performance and while Wolves too had their chances and moments I just felt we looked the better side and more likely to score. After the break it was definitely not quite so comfortable with Wolves upping their game and looking more like what I had expected before the kick off, however even when they were in the ascendancy we still had Two really good second half chances with Wes Burns stinging the hands of the keeper before Liam Delap just failed to get a good enough touch on Burns cross with the goal gaping.
The goal that put Town ahead may have had an element of luck attached to it but the move beforehand was good and how Hutchinson failed to score after some incredible work from Delap beggars belief but thankfully Conor Chaplin had the composure that Hutchinson lacked and his goal bound effort finally found it's way into the net following a couple of deflections off wolves defenders.
As is always the case with Town we just cannot kill games off and do things easily and so it proved once again, the clock was ticking down as slow as I can ever remember and sure enough their equaliser duly arrived, again it was a poor goal to concede and for me Muric should never be beaten at the near post like he was, I think judging by some of the glances from his teammates in his direction they thought the same thing also. the following few minutes were about as uncomfortable as it gets but Town also kept going and weren't just sitting back as we entered injury time.
What followed in the final second can only be described as utopia, sheer heaven as Two of our subs Jack Clarke & Jack Taylor stepped up to provide the moment of the season so far, a pinpoint cross followed by a towering header sealing the win with the whistle about to blow, what followed was incredible and a fantastic moment to savour. Once the final whistle had blown some of the home players decided to show a bit of passion at last with some aggressive and unacceptable behaviour and not for the first time in recent days either, they really do come across as a nasty bunch and in disarray. The down side is Liam Delap got himself booked and misses this weeks crucial game which is not great but we have to cover him with what we have.
The win certainly makes the league table look so much better as we were in danger of being cut adrift and with a tough run of games coming up we could well have found ourselves well behind, that said looking at some other sides fixtures I don't think we are the only one's by any means with a hard schedule coming up, Leicester & Everton in particular have equally hard games in the coming weeks.
I thought Jens Cajuste, Cameron Burgess & Darragh O'Shea had excellent games and this run of form Burgess is on has really shocked me as a few games prior to it I was convinced he was our weakest link so it has been a real bonus to see Cam step up while Jacob greaves is absent, we are certainly going to need more of the same what with Newcastle, Arsenal & Chelsea on the horizon.
Next up in our final game before Christmas with the Geordies from Newcastle coming to town for what promises to be yet another difficult game for the Boys in Blue. getting home wins is crucial at this stage but I am not sure we can put this One down as a home banker by any means, in fact a point would represent a good days work although it does depend on what Newcastle turns up on the day. At times they look fab and others bang average so who knows what to expect, what I do know is that we just have to turn up or we lose, it's that simple. The team is going to look a bit different for sure with Delap unavailable but as Jack Taylor showed if you get your chance you have to take it and earn the right to be in the Manager's plans, maybe it's the turn of Sammy Szmodics, Nathan Broadhead or Ali Al-Hamadi to be the hero, it looks like One of those will lead the line.
I am edging towards a share of the spoils in this One and I would not be too disappointed with that although a large part of me is secretly hoping beyond hope for another big win, we can do it, we are good enough but as I say virtually every week, we have to be error free, we have to take our chances and we have to come out of the blocks firing and take the game to them, it worked against Villa so why not Newcastle ? How wonderful would it be to go into the festive period on the back of another win and our first at Portman Road, presents don't come any better than that. COYB'S.
I would just like to wish each and every One of you a very "Happy Christmas" with your loved One's and health and happiness for 2025, not to mention everything we wish for for our beloved Ipswich Town FC.
The Opposition – Newcastle United - Honours
League
First Division / Premier League
Champions: 1904–05, 1906–07, 1908–09, 1926–27
Runners-up: 1995–96, 1996–97
Second Division / First Division / Championship
Champions: 1964–65, 1992–93, 2009–10, 2016–17
Runners-up: 1897–98, 1947–48
Cup
FA Cup
Winners: 1909–10, 1923–24, 1931–32, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1954–55
Runners-up: 1904–05, 1905–06, 1907–08, 1910–11, 1973–74, 1997–98, 1998–99
Football League Cup / EFL Cup
Runners-up: 1975–76, 2022–23
FA Charity Shield
Winners: 1909
Runners-up: 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1996
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Winners: 1968–69
The Manager – Eddie Howe
League Table as at 19.12.2024
Form Guide
Ipswich Town
24 Nov Ipswich Town 1 - 1 Manchester Utd
30 Nov Nottm Forest 1 - 0 Ipswich Town
3 Dec Ipswich Town 0 - 1 Crystal Palace
8 Dec Ipswich Town 1 - 2 Bournemouth
14 Dec Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Ipswich Town
Newcastle United
25 Nov Newcastle Utd 0 - 2 West Ham Utd
30 Nov Crystal Palace 1 - 1 Newcastle Utd
4 Dec Newcastle Utd 3 - 3 Liverpool
7 Dec Brentford 4 - 2 Newcastle Utd
14 Dec Newcastle Utd 4 - 0 Leicester City
Head to Head
Match Referee – Stuart Attwell
IPSWICH TOWN 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1
hows that like? When were they awake? 
