Ipswich Town v Reading
Saturday 21st February 2015 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
Now that we are approaching ‘squeaky bum time’, we are into the part of the season where results take priority over everything else. Maybe this shaded Mick Mills’ thinking when he described Town’s 2-1 win at Craven Cottage as our best performance of the season. As Mick McCarthy would say, it was our most important game because it was our last one. Rather like against Sheffield Wednesday, no one could deny that we were deserving of all 3 points on Saturday but ‘professional’ would be the most accurate word to describe our display. The match followed a similar pattern to the reverse fixture, with Fulham enjoying lengthy spells of possession but Ipswich having the best chances and scoring at crucial times. In another similarity to the opening day, we let the Cottagers back into the match with an unfortunate defensive slip. Although we saw the remaining 20 minutes out relatively comfortably, this is not a habit that we want to be getting into over the final three months of the campaign. As I say, though, points on the board are all that matter now and two back-to-back victories have us once again looking upwards as opposed to over our shoulder.
The setback against Rotherham now seems a distant memory for the Blue Army, going by the chants of ‘We are going up!’ reverberating around Craven Cottage on Saturday. Excitement is inevitably building ahead of the East Anglian derby, with so much at stake for both sides. But McCarthy will not be allowing the players to look any further ahead than Reading at home, the latest ‘most important game of the season’. Daryl Murphy will be looking to add to his tally, having become the first Blues player to reach the magical 20 goals a season since David Johnson 15 years ago. It is no exaggeration to say that he has been integral to our success this season, with his game involving far more than just his impressive goals tally. While we are undeniably a team that is more than the sum of its parts, Murphy’s goals have proven the difference on many occasions, including against Fulham. His commitment to the cause was epitomised by the fact that he broke his nose when connecting with the defender’s head as well as the ball for the first goal. McCarthy has challenged him to go on and get 30 now and, if he does, we will surely not be far away come 2 May...
The Opposition – Reading
Reading were formed on 25 December 1871 and originally played their matches at the ‘Reading Recreation Ground’ .The club then moved to Elm Park for 102 years between 1896 and 1998. In 1998, the club moved to their latest home, the new Madejski Stadium.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985–86 Third Division campaign, and also the record for the number of points gained in a professional league season with 106 points in the 2005–06 Football League Championship campaign.
Reading finished eighth in their first ever season as a top flight club.
Reading were elected to the Football League Third Division South in 1920.
In more modern times, Reading were promoted to the Second Division as champions in 1986 under the management of Ian Branfoot, but were relegated back to the Third Division in 1988.
The appointment of Mark McGhee as player-manager in 1991, shortly after the takeover by John Madejski, saw Reading move forward. They were crowned champions of the new Division Two in 1994. 35-year-old striker Jimmy Quinn was put in charge of the first team alongside midfielder Mick Gooding and guided Reading to runners-up in the final Division One table only to be denied automatic promotion because of the streamlining of the Premier League, from 22 teams to 20.
In 1995, Reading looked to have booked their place in the Premier League only to lose against Bolton Wanderers in the play-off final. Quinn and Gooding's contracts were not renewed two years later after Reading had slid into the bottom half of Division One. Their successor, Terry Bullivant, lasted less than one season before being sacked in March 1998.
1998 also saw Reading move into the new 24,200 all-seater Madejski Stadium, named after chairman, John Madejski. Tommy Burns had taken over from Terry Bullivant but lasted just 18 months before being replaced by Alan Pardew, who had previously been reserve team manager before being released. Reading returned to Division One for 2002–03 after finishing runners-up in Division Two. The following season, they finished fourth in Division One and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost in the semi-final to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Alan Pardew moved to West Ham United the following October and was replaced by Steve Coppell.
Reading won the 2005–06 Championship with a league record 106 points, scoring 99 goals and losing only twice. Reading were promoted to English football's top division for the first time in their history. Reading defied pre-season predictions of relegation to finish the season in eighth. The second season was less successful and Reading were relegated back to the Championship.
Reading started the 2008–09 season with a 15-match unbeaten home run. They finished fourth and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost to Burnley in the semi-final. Manager Steve Coppell resigned just hours after the game, and was replaced by Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers left the club by mutual consent on 16 December 2009 and Brian McDermott was made caretaker manager the same day. Reading eventually finished 5th in the Championship to qualify for the division's play-offs, which they lost 4–2 to Swansea City in the final at Wembley Stadium.
In the 2011–12 season, a streak of good form in the second half of the season ensured promotion to the Premier League on 17 April 2012.
McDermott led Reading to their first Premier League win of the 2012–13 season on 17 November 2012 at the eleventh attempt. On 11 March 2013, McDermott left his position at Reading.
On 26 March 2013, Nigel Adkins was appointed manager and could not stop Reading from being relegated from the top flight.
Last season saw the Royals finish the season in seventh, one point off Brighton in sixth after being in and around the play-off zone all season. Only a late goal by Brighton prevented Reading from a chance of returning straight to the top flight of English Football.
On 16 December 2014, Clarke was appointed manager of Reading on a two-and-a-half year deal, succeeding Nigel Adkins, who struggled to repeat the performances of the previous season.
They are known as the 'Royals' .............. Poor Bastards
One To Watch – Ayegbeni Yakubu
If there’s a better-named strikeforce in the Championship than Reading’s, I’m yet to see it… Ayegbeni Yakubu’s return to English football means the prospect of a strike partnership of Russian powerhouse Pavel Pogrebnyak and Yakubu. They have instantly been christened ‘Pogreb ‘n’ Yak’, naturally!
The seemingly ageless Nigerian first arrived on these shores as a 20-year-old when joining Portsmouth for their Division One title-winning run-in of 2002/03. Having helped them over the line, he enjoyed a fruitful first full season as Pompey established themselves as a Premier League club. In all, ‘the Yak’ scored 29 top tier goals in 68 games on the South coast, making him the club’s top-scoring player in the Premier League. He continued breaking records, with his £7.5 million move to Middlesbrough the highest fee paid for a Nigerian player. Yakubu quickly adapted to life on Teesside and was ‘Boro’s top scorer in his debut season, his 19 goals providing the firepower to see the club to the UEFA Cup final. He was on the move again ahead of the 2007/08 campaign, signing for Everton, and – similarly to Mr. Murphy – wrote his name into the history books by becoming the first Toffees player for 16 years to score 20 goals in a season. The affable frontman soon became synonymous with his goalscoring exploits, leading to the chant ‘Feed the Yak and he will score!’. Now 32, Yakubu, who also counts Leicester and Blackburn amongst his former clubs, still knows where the goal is, as demonstrated with his coolly-taken winner at Derby in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The Gaffer – Steve Clarke
Spotted whilst playing for Beith Juniors, Clarke started his professional football career with St. Mirren. He was transferred to Chelsea for £422,000 in February 1987. He stayed at Chelsea until 1998, making 421 appearances. He was a part of the Chelsea sides which won the 1997 FA Cup Final, 1998 Football League Cup Final and 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final. The latter game, against VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm, was Clarke's final appearance for the club. In 2005, he was voted into Chelsea's centenary XI, occupying the right-back berth.
In 1998, Clarke joined Newcastle United as assistant manager to Ruud Gullit, his former boss at Chelsea. Clarke was part of the coaching team with Gullit, which helped Newcastle reach the 1998-99 FA Cup final on 22 May 1999, where Newcastle finished runners up to Manchester United in a 2-0 defeat.
Clarke was caretaker manager following Gullit's resignation, taking charge of one match, a 5–1 defeat against Manchester United.
After a stint in charge of the youth teams at Chelsea, Clarke was promoted to the position of assistant manager when José Mourinho was appointed manager in the summer of 2004. Clarke was a part of the coaching set-up which saw Chelsea win two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups over three seasons under Mourinho. During this period, he completed his UEFA Pro Licence in 2006.
When Mourinho departed Chelsea in September 2007, Clarke’s services were retained by Avram Grant, although Henk ten Cate was brought in as another assistant coach. Both Grant and ten Cate left the club at the end of the 2007–08 season.
On 12 September 2008, Clarke handed in his resignation to Chelsea, hoping to move to West Ham United to be assistant to former Chelsea teammate Gianfranco Zola. Chelsea initially rejected his resignation, demanding compensation worth two years of Clarke's salary. After a deal was agreed between the clubs, Clarke became West Ham's first team coach on 15 September.
West Ham finished ninth in the Premier League in the 2008–09 season, earning Clarke an extended contract that made him the highest paid assistant manager in the league. The club struggled during the next season, however, narrowly avoiding relegation. In June 2010, not long after the dismissal of Zola as manager, Clarke left the club by mutual consent.
On 10 January 2011, Clarke was appointed first team coach at Liverpool by Kenny Dalglish, after Dalglish had replaced the dismissed Roy Hodgson two days before. Clarke was credited (alongside Dalglish) for turning Liverpool's season around. On 12 May 2011, Clarke, as well as manager Dalglish, signed a three year contract to remain in his current role as first team coach.
On 14 May 2012, Clarke offered his resignation to Liverpool following the sacking of manager Dalglish and Liverpool's 8th place finish in the 2011–12 Premier League. The club declined the offer but, on 6 June 2012, following the appointment of new manager Brendan Rodgers, Clarke left the club. Clarke himself said that Liverpool sacked him.
On 8 June 2012, Clarke was announced as the new manager of West Bromwich Albion, having signed a two-year contract. The job was Clarke's first permanent management role for any club, though during his time the club referred to him as 'head coach'.
In November, the club won four consecutive matches in a row for the first time since 1980, defeating Southampton, Wigan, Chelsea and Sunderland. Due to his efforts in November, Clarke was awarded the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Month. Although the team would go on to lose their next three matches, Clarke's team were seventh in the table by Christmas 2012.
On 27 April 2013, Clarke's team secured a 3–0 away victory over Southampton, giving West Brom their fourteenth win of the season, their highest win total in the Barclays Premier League. West Brom finished 8th in the table on 49 points, their best finish since 1981.
Clarke and West Brom returned for the new season but the team initially struggled to score goals, eventually recording their first league goal in the fourth game of the new season. 28 September 2013 saw them secure an historic 2–1 victory against league champions Manchester United, their first win at Old Trafford in 35 years. However, under his managership, they won only one further game and, on 14 December 2013, Clarke was placed on gardening leave until May 2014, after a 1-0 loss at Cardiff City. This defeat had left the club two points above the relegation zone in 16th place. They had won nine of their previous 41 Premier League games.
On 16 December 2014, Clarke was appointed manager of Reading on a two-and-a-half year deal, succeeding Nigel Adkins.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Media Watch - K L Blue
It seems to me that since Daryl Murphy first came to us from Celtic, He seems to have changed a lot of people's mind's since he's been here
Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy has challenged red-hot striker Daryl Murphy to match the goalscoring feats of club legends Ted Phillips and Ray Crawford.
Murphy netted his 20th and 21st goals of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Fulham; breaking his nose in the process of heading home the fifth minute opener and then returning to the field to curl home a sublime second just before the break.
Ross McCormack’s 75th minute reply was a mere consolation in a convincing away win, Murphy becoming Town’s first player since David Johnson, in the promotion season of 1999/00, to hit 20 league goals in a term.
Having surpassed the 19 league goals tally recorded by Marcus Stewart (00/01), Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi (both 04/05), Murphy now needs one more to equal Johnson’s total of 99/00; 22 the number also achieved by Alan Brazil in 1981/82. The next target would be the 25 scored by Ray Crawford in 62/63 followed by the 28 netted by Ted Phillips in 61/62.
On his in-form number nine, McCarthy said: “Let’s not be lauding over him for getting 21, let’s see if he can get 30 and get past that. To be fair to him, he’s not sitting on his laurels, he’s still working hard at it. It’s a great tally for him but we want more from him.”
Murphy, 31, joked: “I didn’t even see the first one go in to be honest with you because my eyes were all blurred and watery, but if it takes a broken nose to score every week then I’d take it.
“They had to click it back in to place. That’s why it took so long to get me back on because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. It would take a sledgehammer to keep me off the pitch at the moment though.”
Asked how many more he could score in the final 15 games, Murphy said: “I don’t know! I just wanted to get to 20 as soon as possible, I’ve done that now, so I’ll just keep going and get as many as I can.
“I was delighted when that first one went in to get that number 20 out the way, then I get another. I’m still waiting for that hat-trick. Hopefully one of them will come along before the end of the season.
“To finish as the league’s leading scorer would be nice, but I’m not really thinking about that. It’s about the team and where we finish up which is the main thing.”
Stat Time
Head to Head
Ipswich Wins.......................22.....(43.14%)
Reading Wins......................20.....(39.22%)
Draws................................9......(17.65%)
Ipswich Goals......................83.....(1.63 Ave Per Game)
Reading Goals.....................72.....(1.41 Ave per Game)
Head to Head at Ipswich
Ipswich Wins.......................14......(56.00%)
Reading Wins........................7.....(28.00%)
Draws................................4.......(16.00%)
Ipswich Goals......................46....(1.84 Ave Per Game)
Reading Goals.....................34....(1.36 Ave Per Game)
The Predicted Teams
Ipswich Town
33 Bialkowski
04 Chambers
05 Smith
06 Berra
03 Mings
27 Bishop
08 Skuse
17 Bru
18 Tabb
20 Sears
09 Murphy
Reading
01 Federici
03 Kelly
14 Chalobah
05 Pearce
11 Obita
12 McCleary
23 Williams
06 Norwood
09 Robson-Kanu
07 Pogrebnyak
10 Cox
Marko's Caption Contest
"Sorry folks, not had a minute to properly score the Fulham week, so I'll score that when scoring this Reading week."
What is this cat "reading"?
Match Referee – Eddie Ilderton
Final Thought - Frosty
I was delighted with the 3 points we gained away at Fulham, this sort of side historically has proven a real menace to our fortunes, and one must keep in mind it was only our second win at the ground from 9 previous meetings.
This weekend the Royals are coming to Town! On paper it doesn’t appear to be the most frightening of opposition, but Reading in recent weeks have knocked over both Derby and Wolves (both results 2-1), and what’s somewhat more concerning is both these results were away! Funnily enough at home they failed to get any points from their meetings with either Wigan or Leeds …. Go Figure?
Rotherham, who didn’t do any favours for us a few weeks ago, did this week when they managed to draw their game against Derby stopping them going top. Also Dimi Konstantopoulos, the Middlesbrough Goalkeeper did us a massive favour by being sent off in their match against Birmingham today, the resulting penalty helped the Blues draw this game 1-1. However the one point gained by Boro from this match has seen them take the lead in the competition again, with Bournemouth and Derby a point behind, followed by ourselves in 4th place, 3 points behind. This week Derby have Sheffield Wednesday visiting Pride Park, but more interesting to our fortunes will be results between Brentford who host Bournemouth and Watford who square off against the Budgies. Middlesbrough host Leeds in the early game on Saturday.
The competition is starting to take shape overall now with two thirds of the season gone, depending whether Brentford and Wolves can keep pace with the leading bunch, there is now a gap on the table opening up between 9th placed Blackburn (on 43 points) and the 8 teams above.
With our winnable home fixture against Reading beckoning and a few tricky fixtures for our competitors, some who are maybe tired after a mid-week game, we have a great chance to come out of this weekend right back thick in the action near the top of the League.
For those of you lucky buggers attending the match on Saturday, have an enjoyable afternoon at Fortress PR.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 READING 1
