Ipswich Town vs Reading FC Preview & Matchday Thread
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:33 pm
Ipswich Town v Reading
Saturday 2nd March 2019 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike
You Couldn't Make It Up
Ipswich Town the team that have an uncanny knack of grabbing defeat from the Jaws of victory !! Time and time again we are undone with late late goals, this time Wigan were the beneficiaries of our shortcomings as a certain Joe Garner pounced in added time to hammer yet another nail into our already Air tight casket and at the same time break the hearts of near on Nine Hundred Tractor Boys & Girls who had had to sit through yet another nail biting Ninety plus minutes in the faint hope we could hang on, but yet again it was not to be.
Of course it wasn't just a case of Town failing to hold onto a vital Three points, it was far more involved than that as is often the case with Town these days. The red card handed out to Jonas Knudsen is now old news but what it did was change the way Town approached the remainder of the game, a game which we were dominating and in total control of let me add, Knudsen was reckless, of that there is no doubt, however I am still one Hundred percent convinced that was never a Red card in a Month of Sunday's but from that point in the twenty Fifth minute it was backs to the wall, it has even been suggested the Referee was informed by the Fourth Official that it should not have been a Red card and so "evened things up" by awarding us a softish Penalty at the first opportunity, a bit of a wild conspiracy theory but it would never surprise me One bit. Having got the lead we battled manfully to keep them out and were so close to doing so, I genuinely believe that had Will Keane not limped off injured we would have saw the game out, of course we will never know but it again changed our tactics etc.
The thing that has really jarred me off and what many Town fans who weren't present probably don't realise is that just prior to their goal One of their players went down injured, we kick the ball out for him to get treatment, upon the restart we can expect to be given the ball back as good will, no not Wigan, they keep it, go on the attack and not long after score, I bloody well hope Lambert tells our players never to do it again, cheating Northern Bastards.
The Run In
So even now there are some Town fans refusing to accept the blatantly obvious and are hanging on to the belief that we can still pull off the greatest escape of all time I would love to be in that camp and I am generally know as One of the most Optimistic Town fans there is but please, get real, it is not going to happen, I have never wanted to be more wrong about anything in my life but I would wager Thousands on this if I had it, Relegation is a cert, that is not being negative at all, just very realistic. BUT, let's take a look at the run in to see if those nutters are not so nuts after all, work it out for yourselves.....
Town
Reading (H) WBA (A) Bristol City (A) Forest (H) Hull (H) Bolton (A) Brentford (A) Birmingham (H) Preston (A) Swansea (H) Sheff Utd (A) Leeds (H)
Rotherham
Blackburn (H) Sheff Utd (A) QPR (A) Norwich (H) Derby (A) Forest (H) Villa (H) Stoke (A) Swansea (A) Birmingham (H) WBA (A) Middlesbrough (H)
Reading
Town (A) Wigan (H) Leeds (H) Stoke (A) Preston (H) Hull (A) Norwich (A) Brentford (H) Bristol City (A) WBA (H) Middlesbrough (A) Birmingham (H)
Bolton
Swansea (A) Millwall (H) Sheff Wed (H) Wigan (A) QPR (A) Town (H) Middlesbrough (H) Derby (A) Villa (H) Blackburn (A) Brentford (H) Forest (A)
So there you have it, I have Bolton finishing rock bottom with Town & Rotherham going down with them, Reading surviving by the skin of their teeth.
Next up
In keeping with the last Dozen or so games this weeks visit of Reading is being billed as a must win, potentially the gap could be down to Six points if we do manage to finally win another one and the belief will go up a couple of notches, our squad is getting pretty thin on the ground at present and you have to wonder where the goals are coming from, especially if Will Keane has joined the growing list of crocks.
It is sure to have the atmosphere of a team chasing the play offs what with cheap tickets, a large Reading following and Paul Lambert insisting it is not yet mission impossible, this in itself is as Lambert says, quite remarkable given we are rock bottom and have been most of the campaign, he says he has never known a situation like it and with that in mind the Town fans can feel proud of themselves again at long last. I predicted a win here with Town still going down so anything less is unthinkable, it won't be easy and it will only be by one goal so it's a home win for me and the start of a Twelve game winning run. COYB'S
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 to 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 of the Football League 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, shortly after the takeover by John Madejski, in 1991 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 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 qualify 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 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 the 11 March 2013, McDermott left his position at Reading.
On 26 March 2013, Adkins was appointed manager and could not stop Reading from being relegated from the top flight.
The 2013/14 season saw the Royals finish the season in seventh, one point off Brighton in sixth after being in and around the playoff zone all season.
The 2014/15 season was a different story however as Reading could only muster 50 points and finished in a disappointing 19th place on the table.
The 2015/16 season saw the Royals rise two places to finish 17th place in the Championship.
In the summer leading up to the 2016-17 season the club announced the departure of Brian McDermott and eventually he was to be replaced by former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam. Under Stam, Reading achieved their highest finish since relegation back to the Championship by finishing third and reaching the play-offs, where they beat Fulham on aggregate before facing Huddersfield Town in the final at Wembley where they lost on penalties following 0-0 draw after extra time.
On 21 March, Stam left Reading with immediate effect. Two days later, 23 March 2018, Paul Clement was appointed as Readings new manager.
Clement was sacked on 6 December 2018 after poor results left the club outside of the relegation zone only on goal difference with José Manuel Gomes becoming the new manager.
Last season Reading finished in 20th place with 44 points.
The Manager – José Manuel Gomes
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 24th place with 21 points
2 Feb Ipswich Town 0 - 1 Sheffield Wed
10 Feb Norwich City 3 - 0 Ipswich Town
13 Feb Ipswich Town 1 - 1 Derby County
16 Feb Ipswich Town 1 - 1 Stoke City
23 Feb Wigan Athletic 1 - 1 Ipswich Town
Reading Last 5 Matches – Currently in 21st place with 30 points
2 Feb Reading 0 - 0 Aston Villa
9 Feb Sheffield Wed 0 - 0 Reading
13 Feb Reading 2 - 1 Blackburn
16 Feb Sheffield Utd 4 - 0 Reading
23 Feb Reading 1 - 1 Rotherham
Marko's Caption Contest – THE DON CUP
Few beauties for the Wigan caption. Nice 5pts for the missing word on the T-Shirt, Watership.
Wigan scores:
Watership Down 5pts
Ando (blow Jonas) & Nicsreamer (prostate) 4pts
Blueblood (Titanic), DerickIpsw (blonde) & Nicscreamer (smells) 3pts
Ando (support), DerickIpsw (Pies) Number 9 & IpswichTownNo1 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
ANDO 79
NICSCREAMER 76
DERICKIPSW 71
FROSTY 63
BLUEMIKE 61
AYLESBURYBLUE 55
BLUEBLOOD 45
TANGFASTIC 45
NUMBER 9 42
IPSWICHTOWNNO1 39
WATERSHIP DOWN 24
JOHNNYB 13
PATTHEGIMP 12
KERRY BLUE 11
BLUEPETER 11
BLUEWILF 7
MASSEYFERGUSON 6
SHED ON TOUR 6
BARMY BILLY 6
QUASAR 4
TODD66 3
MARVINBAY1973 2
ASHFORDBLUE 1
GOLDANDBLACK 1
CHARNWOOD 1
KL BLUE 1
OHIOTRACTORBOY 1
Reading caption picture
Match Referee – Darren England
IPSWICH TOWN 2 READING 1