Ipswich Town continued their pre-season preparations with a narrow 2-1 win against Maidenhead United at the home of Needham Market tonight.
While rustiness clearly played a part in a somewhat lethargic evening at Bloomfields, second-half goals from Marcus Harness and Freddie Ladapo were enough to see the Blues come away with the win ahead of their training camp in Austria next week.
They came close to a breakthrough just four minutes into the game when a through ball played Kayden Jackson into the box.
His low effort was parried out by Maidenhead’s goalkeeper, with the National League side clearing the danger before Wes Burns could rush in for the rebound.
Town maintained the pressure. A quick turn from Conor Chaplin allowed him to turn on the edge of the area and curl a powerful shot towards goal, only for it to deflect out for a corner which Wes Burns almost scooped into the net.
Chaplin didn’t have his shooting boots on in Ipswich’s previous pre-season clash with Felixstowe, and it was clear that the 26-year-old was keen to impress ahead of the club’s return to the Championship.
In the 12th minute, he took aim from the edge of the centre circle as he looked to catch Maidenhead’s goalkeeper off his line, clipping the post with his ambitious shot.
The Tractor Boys were largely able to pin their opponents back, but their best chances came from set pieces. Burns came close once again in the 22nd minute, flicking a header narrowly past the post as the scores remained level.
Frustrations started to grow and there was clearly a lot of rustiness in Kieran McKenna’s side, which is to be expected so early in pre-season. Ipswich tried to expose the Magpies' defence in wide areas, but their passes were loose and easily closed down.
When the likes of Jackson and Chaplin found space in the box, their reactions weren’t sharp enough to cause any real issues in front of goal, leading to a lot of frustrated body language as the clock ticked towards half-time.
Ipswich changed to a completely new lineup after the break and almost took the lead in the opening seconds.
Harness’ ball from the right flank found Ladapo in the box, but the striker tapped his shot narrowly wide of the post as the scores remained level.
Maidenhead proved to be the creators of their own downfall, however, as Town took the lead in the 55th minute when Harness capitalised on a mix-up at the back to slot the ball into the back of the net from the right side of the box.
Many fans would have expected the floodgates to open as a result, but Alan Devonshire’s men struck back just two minutes later as a long ball caused confusion between Leif Davies and Christian Walton, allowing former Colchester United forward Shawn McCoulsky to rush in and lob the ball over the stranded goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Tiredness looked to become an issue as time progressed, with Ipswich struggling to break down Maidenhead's rigid back line.
However, they managed to retake the lead in the 77th minute when Janoi Donacien's ball set up Ladapo in the centre of the box, allowing the striker to atone for his earlier miss and re-establish his side's lead late on in the match, his third goal of pre-season so far.
Kyle Edwards came close to capping off the win in the 83rd minute after a neat combination between Ladapo and Donacien set up the winger to curl a shot onto the corner of the post, although they were able to see out the game without much pressure from their non-league opponents.
First-half XI: 4-2-3-1: Hladky; Clarke, Ball, Burgess, Leigh; Humphreys, Evans; Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead; Jackson
Second-half XI: 4-2-3-1: Walton; Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Davis; Luongo, Taylor; Aluko, Harness, Edwards; Ladapo
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