Ipswich Town drew 1-1 at Lincoln City yesterday afternoon. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
CLOSE AT CORNERS
League One’s set-piece kings were so close to adding to their tally in the latter stages of the first half.
Collective eyebrows were raised at the unusual sight of Sam Morsy going across to take a corner from the left on 20 minutes. It soon became clear why.
In a move clearly straight off the training ground, the Blues skipper flighted a delivery in behind the attacking pack and straight onto the boot of Lee Evans. Sadly, the Welshman’s side-footed volley from near the penalty spot went a foot wide of the post.
Sone Aluko increasingly picked up the ball in dangerous pockets of space and produced some mesmerising footwork down the inside right. After an even start to this match, Ipswich were starting to get on top.
With 39 minutes played, the Blues went even closer at a corner. This time keeper Carl Rushworth punched away Evans’ swirling delivery and, after efforts from both Aluko and Marcus Harness were blocked, Luke Woolfenden’s close-range effort cannoned down off the underside of the bar and just the wrong side of the line.
Had either of those glorious dead ball chances gone in then this game could have been very different.
Ipswich would have been playing a team forced to chase an equaliser and be more open.
Instead, the hosts were soon given cause to shut up shop.
JACKSON V JACKSON
Centre-half Adam Jackson was Lincoln City’s hero at Portman Road last October after repeatedly flinging himself in front of shots throughout the second half to secure a gritty 1-0 win.
There was to be no final 45 for him this time around though.
Sam Morsy’s through ball deflected kindly into the path of Kayden Jackson and left his namesake lunging in from the wrong side on the edge of the box.
Town players immediately surrounded the ref to indicate an obvious goalscoring opportunity had been denied and referee Declan Bourne, after buying himself some thinking time, eventually produced a red card.
Evans forced Rushworth into an arching save from the subsequent free-kick and Greg Leigh headed over at the corner that followed.
Ipswich, having already dominated possession and created the better chances against 11 men, were surely in the box seat to go on and win this now...
WHAT WAS THAT FOR?
Let’s quickly skip forwards to the 64th minute and the moment in which Lincoln, controversially, took the lead.
When an Imps corner came into the box, multiple players from both teams ended up in a heap on the floor following the usual grappling and shunting.
This time Bourne had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, much to Town players’ bemusement and anger, and Jack Diamond converted for 1-0.
McKenna said that the referee explained afterwards that it was given for ‘inappropriate marking’, while Cameron Burgess revealed that the referee said to the players that the award wasn’t for any one particular foul.
Hugely frustrating, yes. You’d undoubtedly get umpteen penalties a game if every single one of these sort of dead ball tussles was punished.
But there are some important things to note here before we all get on our high horse.
One; Ipswich looked to have got away one late in the first half when Ben House appeared to have his heels clipped in the box by Janoi Donacien. So the subsequent award may have been influenced by that.
Two; Town players had been given fair warning about contact at corners. Morsy had trod a pretty fine line when engaging with Paudie O’Connor in the first half.
Three; Cameron Burgess’ equaliser at Portsmouth a few days earlier appeared to come from an offside position. So It’s not like Town have been completely luckless on the decision front.
McKenna using a fair chunk of his post-match press conference to complain about officials was maybe something of a deflection technique picked up from the likes of mind game masters such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
Ultimately you make your own luck in this game.
FRUSTRATED AND FRUSTRATING
Sometimes, as the old cliché goes, ‘it’s harder to play against 10 men’.
Digging in deep is the Imps’ super strength. We saw that at Portman Road. Just last week they’d held on for a 1-1 draw at home against Bolton after playing for more than half an hour with 10.
But as much as Ipswich were frustrated in this second half, they were also frustrating.
Prior to Lincoln taking the lead, Jackson and Wes Burns had both got in behind down the right only to produce disappointing cut-backs.
Ipswich’s best chance, once again, came from a corner as Burns’ angled header on the run was beaten away at the near post.
McKenna, who had been preparing a triple sub before the Lincoln goal, then changed his entire front three. Off went Aluko, Harness and Jackson. On came Conor Chaplin, Kyle Edwards and Freddie Ladapo.
That gave Town some added tempo. But when a golden opportunity from open play was finally created, it was wasted.
Ladapo looked destined to score when Burns won a towering knock down from Edwards’ high ball to the back post. But the Blues striker put his close-range header straight at Rushworth. It was an effort which lacked both power and precision.
POINT SALVAGED
In the end a homegrown teenager came to the rescue.
Cameron Humphreys was Ipswich’s fifth and final substitute.
Introduced in the 75th minute, he was deployed in a central attacking midfield role but soon showed the striker’s instincts which had previously been lacking.
Chaplin’s teasing clipped ball was superb and Humphreys drifted between the two centre-halves to glance in a stooping header.
Ipswich ended up having 18 more minutes to go and find a winner thanks to a hefty slice of stoppage-time.
But Evans smashing an ambitious 35-yard effort into the roof of the stand and over-hitting a corner rather summed upped Town’s efforts to get a second.
The closest the Blues came was when Rushworth almost misjudged the flight of an Edwards cross.
MAJOR CAVEAT
The sickness bug that has spread through the squad over the festive period undoubtedly had a big influence on the slightly below-par (but by no means disastrous) displays at Portsmouth and Lincoln.
Leif Davis, who has probably been the team’s second most influential player this season behind Morsy, had to be left at home for this game.
Topscorer Conor Chaplin, who had scored six goals in six games, was only fit enough for a cameo display.
Janoi Donacien, who has been Town’s Mr Consistent, had to be withdrawn at half-time after looking decidedly out of sorts.
“If we were picking fit players we would probably have had three players on the pitch,” revealed McKenna afterwards.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Now is a major test of how full your Ipswich Town glass is.
Town have now claimed 14 points from their last nine league games (W3 D5 L1) and dropped out of the top-two for the first time in a long time.
It’s perfectly understandable that many will be having a crisis of confidence given the years of previous false dawns and disappointments.
The recurring theme of not getting the points to match a performance is certainly a legitimate cause for concern.
That devil on the shoulder will be whispering ‘you can’t have nice things, Ipswich will mess it up, they always do’.
But try to block out the past, which really is quite irrelevant in the here and now, and listen to the logical voice of reason.
Ipswich aren’t alone in leaving Sincil Bank frustrated. Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, Bolton and Wycombe have all failed to win there this season.
Despite major illness in the camp, two draws have been secured on the road in quick succession. And don’t forget how impressive that 3-0 home win against Oxford was little more than a week ago.
Town lead the way in so many key offensive and defensive stats. They’re still the division’s topscorers. This possession-based style of play has a much a higher ceiling for success in the long run.
Plenty of long away trips have been chalked off now. Key men are now getting back up to speed following injury absences. McKenna has already proven during his short time in management that he can quickly fix deficiencies in his team during a transfer window – and one is now open.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This was never going to be easy.
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