Tractor-Boys.com

Ipswich Town v Burton Albion


Saturday 4th March 2023 – 15:00

Portman Road







Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike



Last Saturday's crucial win at stadium MK may not have been as comprehensive as many were hoping for but it was so important in the context of Town's season. I just had a feeling last week that Plymouth would come a cropper at Peterborough, and so it proved, so it was vital we did our bit and pick up all Three points to not only close the gap further but also to keep our unbeaten run going which now stands at Six games, with Three clean sheets on the bounce too. The upshot of it all is that we now find ourselves a mere Five points behind second placed Argyle having not long ago been looking at a target which was double that, that is how quickly things can change.

Of course as is customary with Town we did not have things all our own way, certainly in the opening period of the game which saw MK Dons come closest to taking the lead, one goalmouth stramash in particular saw and incredible chain of events as Two incredible defensive Blocks and two great stops from Christian Walton somehow kept the Town goal intact. Once Town had regained their composure they gradually started to take control and look the more likely to win the game, a great strike from influential skipper Sam Morsy midway through the First half was ultimately going to prove to be the difference between the two sides despite Town having a few other good chances to make it more comfortable, with Twenty One shots on goal it should in all probability have been a bigger winning margin, one miss from Nathan Broadhead in particular had to be seen to be believed but thankfully it did not come back to haunt us on this occasion.

Grinding out the 1-0 wins makes a huge difference, you only have to look at Sheffield Wednesday to see how important it is, I think I am right in saying they have now done it Eight times in the League so far and that is why they are top of the pile, they've scored less than us but know how to defend when things are tough. Going back to the game itself I thought our skipper was superb once again, he is such a pivotal player and a real driving force, not just for his winning goal but the endless running, closing down, tackling etc, without him I believe we would struggle, it was also good to see Christian Walton back to something approaching his best, while for me Cameron Burgess was without doubt the pick of the defence, also a mention to George Hirst who has not overly impressed me since signing but I thought he led the line so well and looked really sharp.

The frustration myself and others felt in recent weeks with Town's inability to win games they really should be putting to bed was tempered somewhat by the excellent interview carried out by Matt Holland with Kieran Mckenna and Mark Ashton, personally I thought it was excellent listening and very reassuring, it does bring a certain grounding back to my thought process anyway and i genuinely feel we have some excellent owners at the club now who will strive to bring us the success we crave, in Ashton I believe we have a real asset at the club too, the way he speaks of how dedicated Mckenna is to the role informs us of stuff we maybe forget in the heat of the moment at 5pm on a Saturday evening, in fact I am not in agreement with those that feel failure to go up in the next season or two would see changes at the club, I feel they will stick with this set up for longer than that until we get to where we want to be.

So we have chalked up Two wins on the spin, something that has not happened nearly as often as we have needed or indeed expected it to, but with two very winnable home games in the space of Four days Town really do have a golden opportunity to close that gap to the top two even more while stretching the winning run to hopefully Four games, Burton Albion & Accrington Stanley may appear a walk in the park but how often have we felt that in the past only to come unstuck, every team deserves respect and have to be beaten on merit, Cambridge Utd still sits uneasy with me and has to be a lesson learnt. Burton in particular have had some decent results of late and have climbed away from immediate danger so they will be wanting to keep that improvement going, while Accrington are fighting for their lives and currently sit in the drop zone, taking them both for granted will be foolish, I am sure it won't happen and with Argyle facing some tricky games in the upcoming fixtures we could just turn the heat up even more on them. It's a Town win for me, possibly by two or Three goals and another clean sheet to boot before we move on to Accrington Stanley Tuesday evening. The tractor keeps rolling. COYB'S.



The Opposition – Honours



Leagues


Football League One

Runners Up: 2015–16

Football League Two

Winners: 2014–15

Football Conference

Winners: 2008–09

Northern Premier League

Winners: 2001–02

Southern Football League Premier Division

Runners-up: 1999–2000, 2000–01


Cups


FA Trophy

Runners-up: 1986–87

Southern League Cup

Winners: 1963–64, 1996–97, 1999–2000
Runners-up: 1988–89

Northern Premier League Challenge Cup

Winners: 1982–83
Runners-up: 1986–87
Northern Premier League President's Cup

Runners-up: 1982–83, 1985–86

Staffordshire Senior Cup

Winners: 1955–56
Runners-up: 1976–77

Birmingham Senior Cup

Winners: 1953–54, 1996–97
Runners-up: 1969–70, 1970–71, 1986–87, 2007–08



The Manager – Dino Maamria







League Table







Form Guide



Ipswich Town



4 Feb Cambridge Utd 1 - 1 Ipswich Town

11 Feb Ipswich Town 2 - 2 Sheffield Wed

14 Feb Bristol Rovers 0 - 0 Ipswich Town

18 Feb Ipswich Town 4 - 0 Forest Green

25 Feb Milton Keynes 0 - 1 Ipswich Town




Burton Albion



4 Feb Fleetwood 2 - 3 Burton Albion

11 Feb Burton Albion 1 - 0 Exeter City

14 Feb Portsmouth 1 - 0 Burton Albion

18 Feb Bristol Rovers 1 - 2 Burton Albion

25 Feb Burton Albion 0 - 0 Accrington




Head to Head








Match Referee – Carl Boyeson






IPSWICH TOWN 2 BURTON ALBION 0

Today I learned a new word

stramash

Mauswara wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:42 am

Today I learned a new word

stramash

Me too. I wondered if it was a typing error for "scramble" - but stramash is a scottish word.

The stramash! Was there one of these in Bonnyrigg on Tuesday night, Mike?
First time i heard it was either Arthur Montford or Archie “comb-over” McPherson during a Dundee United game at Tannadice back in the early 80s. A stramash in the box.

Nice preview, and yes, not to be taken for granted. Burton wont be easy. Because of that, going for only a 3-0 home win.

Ref caption:

Me: “Andy? Is the reason you can’t do joinery work for me on a Saturday because you’re a League One referee in England going by the name Carl? Am i right?”
Andy aka Carl: (picture)

(Could be his identical twin…… dour faced git)

Looking forward to being at PR for the second home game in a row, but I don’t think this will be an easy game - but we have to win if we want to be taken seriously.

Hoping for a fairly similar lineup to the last two matches, wouldn’t be against Jackson for burns - and Ladpo for Hirst maybe but I suspect we’ll see a bit more rotation on Tuesday rather than for this one.

Voted to win and we got to essentially. Anything other than three points could real jeapordize any promotion push at least in terms of automatiic chances.

Potential banana slip given the nature of opposition and general expectancy of a home win but we're stronger in just about every department. Would be real disappointed to miss out on what seems to be a straight forward victory but all things are subject to change on any given game day. Got no time or inclination to participate in any game thread, just hope and expect to win and pick out relevant talking points once it's reached a conclusion.

ITFC 2 Burton 0

Can't see Town bodging this up.

Think Hirst will start and show why so much faith in him. If we come at them fast and get an early goal, could see us putting 3 or 4 past them.

I don't think Plymouth will slip up at home to Charlton but if they do, it really is game on.

JohnnyB wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:45 am

Can't see Town bodging this up.

Think Hirst will start and show why so much faith in him. If we come at them fast and get an early goal, could see us putting 3 or 4 past them.

I don't think Plymouth will slip up at home to Charlton but if they do, it really is game on.

And Ladapo starts!

That's our best team

Bluemike wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:05 pm

That's our best team

Can't disagree with that. I don't get to see much of the games, but particularly liked what I saw of Luongo in his cameo appearance against FGR. Think he adds something different to our midfield, halfway between a Morsy and Evans. If he stays fit he will be a key player this season with his experience. By your statement you seem to rate him too, would that be correct Mike?

I like the team KMck has picked today

Morecambe 0-0 Bolton. That's a good scoreline, leaving Bolton level on points having played 2 games extra. Seems they've hit a bad spell, now lets make the most of it.

AzzurroMark wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:08 pm

Bluemike wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:05 pm

That's our best team

Can't disagree with that. I don't get to see much of the games, but particularly liked what I saw of Luongo in his cameo appearance against FGR. Think he adds something different to our midfield, halfway between a Morsy and Evans. If he stays fit he will be a key player this season with his experience. By your statement you seem to rate him too, would that be correct Mike?

With what is available to us Mark yes definitely, I didn't like the Luongo signing when it happened but you can clearly see a marked improvement in our Midfield when he comes on for Humphreys, that is not knocking the kid but he has had to play far more than was intended and at times has shown glimpses of fatigue and looked a little lost recently.

Just switched over from watching Man City v Newcastle and delighted with McKenna’s team selection today. I like what I’ve seen from Luongo especially last week when he freed up Morsy to play further forward and I always like Freddie in the starting line up. With the exception of Evans who’s still sidelined I think this is a good as it gets and the bench still has strength too.

If we could get this group playing well together as a settled starting X1 I think we could still salvage this season without resigning ourselves to another season in this Division.

COYB’s, can’t wait to get this game underway. Only pleasant surprises today please.

Bluemike wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:26 pm

AzzurroMark wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:08 pm

Bluemike wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:05 pm

That's our best team

Can't disagree with that. I don't get to see much of the games, but particularly liked what I saw of Luongo in his cameo appearance against FGR. Think he adds something different to our midfield, halfway between a Morsy and Evans. If he stays fit he will be a key player this season with his experience. By your statement you seem to rate him too, would that be correct Mike?

With what is available to us Mark yes definitely, I didn't like the Luongo signing when it happened but you can clearly see a marked improvement in our Midfield when he comes on for Humphreys, that is not knocking the kid but he has had to play far more than was intended and at times has shown glimpses of fatigue and looked a little lost recently.

Agree Mike but if we are two or three in front and Morsy has not been booked I would give Humphreys a bit of game time.

Anyone else struggling with ifollow, I have a fantastic picture but no sound ?

No worries, it’s now working !

Get in Chaplin

Very well taken goal from Conor Chaplin, good build up play to give CC his 18th goal of the season and make up for the earlier attempt which was so close.

2-0 Broadhead get in .

Woohoo 2-0 Broadhead

And Broadhead. Lovely stuff

Get in Ladapo

More great link up play down the right between Harry Clarke Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead for the second. . Good to see two January signings involved.

Was reading a bit about Burton wanting to come here and give us a game, credit to them. However, I think they are finding that to be an unwise tactic going head to head with us.

Freddie Ladapo, nice one son, nice one Freddie let’s have another one

I can’t believe we’re three up before Plymouth or Wednesday have got off the mark, that’s the first for a while.

I think Freddie has done more in this first than Hirst has done in all his games played but I am biased

Took us 30 mins to get going then we were very Clinical. .

Started a little slow but had an excellent 25 mins where couldn't live with us. More of the same after the break please, no let up.

Some good first half performances there, Freddie very effective playing much deeper than his normal role and Luongo too giving Morsy much more freedom and with help close by playing less aggressively which could reduce his card count which would be helpful.