Ipswich Town won 2-0 at Bolton Wanderers yesterday afternoon. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
HIRST’S THIRST
Freddie Ladapo, Town’s Player of the Month for January, came into this game off the back of a couple of impressive performances.
Would it be a rare third successive start for a player starting to find his groove? No.
Kieran McKenna felt George Hirst’s running in behind would be better suited to this type of game. It was a good call.
His goal came thanks to a mixture of desire, vision and quality.
The moment Wes Burns nicked the ball deep and started charging into space up the right, Hirst was immediately busting a gut to keep pace with the attack. Then comes a clever change of direction at the last minute to meet the cross. The volleyed finish, guided across the keeper on the run, was sublime.
The Leicester loanee has his first league goal for the Blues. The 24-year-old’s performance was about much more than that though. His pace, movement and strength gave Ricardo Santos, one of the best centre-halves in this division, a torrid time.
He departed in the second half, with cramp, to a standing ovation from the travelling fans.
“There's a really good player in there and he showed that today,” said McKenna.
“Freddie came on and was really good as well.
“We've got two good strikers who are bringing different qualities and are better suited for different opponents. They are both going to have a part starting games and they are both going to have a part to play coming off the bench.”
THE BIG MOMENT
Christian Walton made a smart stop from Conor Bradley during a frenetic start to this match.
He then produced an even bigger moment just before the hour when diving to his left to keep out Dion Charles’ penalty attempt.
“That sapped and drained the life out of us and the fans,” admitted Trotters boss Ian Evatt.
Counterpart McKenna said: “We've not had many breaks or bits of luck that have gone our way this season, but that's two penalty saves now (Walton keeping one out in the 1-1 draw at Cambridge) and is hopefully a sign of things evening up for us on that front.”
SET-PIECE KINGS
Cameron Burgess’ finish from Leif Davis’ corner was the very definition of ‘bullet header’.
Get out the way. Coming through. Bang. This from a man who needed more than 30 screws to fix multiple facial fractures back in September.
Bolton’s spirits were completely crushed by that second goal.
A big reason why Town have made such big progress this season is the set-piece threat added to their attacking arsenal.
Ipswich are the league’s topscorers with 70 goals and 21 of them (30%) have come from dead ball situations.
RECORD BREAKERS
Six successive clean sheets is a new club record.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything too different than we’ve been doing all season,” said McKenna.
“At the start of the season we were conceding goals from very, very few chances and in the last six games we’ve not conceded goals from not many chances.
“You could say we’ve shown more resilience in terms of defending balls into our box and blocks.”
A SIGNIFICANT SCALP
Town’s only previous win against a team currently in the top-six was the Friday night home win against Derby.
Had the Blues deserved more from their games against Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, Barnsley and Bolton? I think the neutral would agree that was the case.
It was important, from a confidence point of view, to get another one of these big games over the line.
This was Bolton’s first home defeat since November 5. They’d only conceded nine goals in their previous 18 league matches at the UniBol Stadium.
No doubt about it, the Trotters are a significant scalp.
Ipswich now go to Oakwell and Pride Park over the coming weeks having proved to themselves they can win at the home of a promotion rival.
THE CHASE IS ON
This is the first time Town have won five successive league games since the days of Joe Royle’s management in 2003.
Since George Byers put Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 up at Portman Road on February 11, the Blues have scored 16 goals without reply.
Less than a month ago, the gap to second-place Plymouth was 10 points. Now it’s down to just two following the Pilgrims’ 3-0 loss at Barnsley.
Ten games to go. Town are on the march.
Next up is eighth-place Shrewsbury, at Portman Road, this coming Saturday.
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