ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Forest Green, Burton, Shrewsbury, Accrington, Morecambe, Port Vale...
Ipswich Town have won six out of eight away games in League One so far this season.
The only points they’ve dropped away from Portman Road have been at table-toppers Plymouth and third-place Sheffield Wednesday.
One more win on the road would equal the number of away league wins registered across the entirety of last season (and the one before that).
Will that come at Charlton today?
The Addicks were on a 10-game unbeaten run at The Valley across all competitions up until the start of this week (W6 D4).
Then, on Tuesday night, they suffered a surprise 2-0 home defeat to an MK Dons side that had started the match bottom of the table.
BACK TO THE VALLEY
This fixture is a reminder of just how much the mood has changed in less than a year.
Rewind to Tuesday, December 7 and Ipswich Town went to The Valley in disarray.
Paul Cook had just been sacked after a 0-0 home draw with Barrow in the FA Cup.
Under the caretaker management of John McGreal, Ipswich’s freshly-assembled group of players, heads seemingly all over the place, crumbled after Jayden Stockley opened the scoring in the 26th minute.
It ended 2-0, but that scoreline flattered the Blues. ‘We ran all over them’ crowed home midfielder Alex Gilbey afterwards.
There were unsavoury scenes at the final whistle as large numbers of the 3,159 travelling support voiced their anger.
One fan jumped the hoardings and shoved keeper Christian Walton. Toto Nsiala confronted the baying mob. Years of false dawns and disappointments had reached boiling point.
Nine days later and McKenna was appointed.
Town’s record in competitive fixtures since then is W24 D11 L8.
On Tuesday night, in stark contrast to the aforementioned scenes, we saw joyous fans and players celebrating as one following a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Port Vale.
Town season ticket holders snapped up the 3,000 away tickets available for today’s match within half an hour of them going on sale earlier this month.
This time they’ll be heading to South London with the good type of nerves.
THE ADDICKS
A lot has changed at Charlton since then too.
After losing 4-0 at Portman Road on the final day of last season to finish 13th, the Addicks sacked manager Johnnie Jackson and replaced him with Ben Garner.
Garner, having just led Swindon to the League Two play-off semi-finals, immediately insisted: “Attacking football is what I believe in. I want the fans to enjoy coming to watch us play.”
Three of his seven summer signings – Jojo Wollacott, Mandela Egbo and Jack Payne - came from his former club. Highly-rated young duo Steven Sessegnon and Jasurun Rak-Sakyi were added on loan from Fulham and Crystal Palace respectively.
Impressive early home wins against Derby (1-0) and Plymouth (5-1) were quickly overshadowed by a string of draws and defeats.
Garner, having experimented with systems, eventually landed on something that worked in 4-4-2.
Three successive October wins against Exeter (4-2 at home), Portsmouth (3-0 at home) and Shrewsbury (1-0 away) lifted them to within two points of the play-offs.
Garner felt Tuesday night’s surprise 2-0 home loss to MK Dons ultimately only came about because of a harsh penalty, red card and free-kick decisions. But he also admitted his team lacked cutting edge.
Big centre-half Ryan Inniss will serve his one-match suspension today, while teenage top-scorer Miles Leaburn and tricky winger Diallang Jaiyesimi are both ruled out with ankle injuries.
WHO PLAYS?
Lee Evans is set for a spell on the sidelines (knee), but influential skipper Sam Morsy is available again today after serving a one-game suspension.
Will he replace Dominic Ball or Cameron Humphreys in midfield?
Ball brings physicality and leadership, while talented teenager Humphreys – fresh from a goal and assist on his full league debut - brings endless energy and left-footed guile.
McKenna has intimated that he will go with experience.
What about the front three? Predicting that is virtually impossible given the constant rotation.
It was Marcus Harness and Kayden Jackson in support of Tyreece John-Jules for last Friday’s 1-0 home win against Derby. They were replaced by Conor Chaplin, Kyle Edwards and Freddie Ladapo for Tuesday night’s 3-2 win at Port Vale.
And could there be a change in defence after some poor goals were conceded at Vale Park? Richard Keogh waits in the wings.
PREDICTION
Stylistically, this could well be an open and entertaining affair like the one we saw Ipswich involved in against Portsmouth at Portman Road recently.
Town narrowly came out on top in that one and I’m backing them to do the same again today.
Prediction: 1-2 Ipswich.
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