Ipswich Town won 2-1 at Coventry City last night. Stuart Watson reflects on the action.
THE PERFECT START
You don't know what you've got til it's gone. That's certainly been the case with Wes Burns.
His direct running down up and down the right gives the team much-needed balance. It was missed during a recent six-week injury absence.
A couple of nice line-breaking passes from Sam Morsy and Omari Hutchinson led to Burns charging in behind and cutting the ball back in trademark Ipswich fashion. Fellow Welshman Kieffer Moore was there to supply a confident low finish from the penalty spot with less than eight minutes played.
After supplying his second assist in four days, Burns continued to be an outlet and helped Axel Tuanzebe deal with the threat of Haji Wright. He eventually went off with cramp in the 80th minute.
Well done to the Blues' medical staff for getting such a key player back and firing so quickly. The team behind the team are just as important.
INVITING PRESSURE
The hope was that Ipswich scoring early would break the spirits of a Coventry team with nothing to play for.
Instead, the Blues collectively started to get a bit deep. That's out of character, but understandable given what was at stake.
Coventry have a good mix of technical and athletic players. With extra space and no pressure, they began to play. Ipswich defended strongly, but it made for increasingly uncomfortable viewing.
Cometh the half hour, cometh the man. The Ipswich net looked destined to bulge when Kasey Palmer's shot deflected off Morsy, hit Leif Davis on the line and span into the path of Wright. His close-range effort was clawed over the bar by Vaclav Hladky's cat-like reflexes though.
How many points have the Czech keeper's saves accounted for this season? A lot. He's undoubtedly in my top three players of the year.
"There were spells where we invited too much pressure on ourselves and probably got caught up in holding onto a lead and holding onto an outcome more than imposing ourselves as we can," admitted McKenna afterwards.
EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER
Town had chances to make it 2-0. Nathan Broadhead saw a firm downward header kept out by the keeper's legs just before the break and hit the bar with a well-struck effort on the hour.
Coventry then equalised when Wright latched onto a well-weighted pass from Kasey Palmer and drilled a low shot inside the near post.
Kieran McKenna immediately turned to his bench, replacing Broadhead and Moore with Jeremy Sarmiento and George Hirst. Town's subs, as they have been all season, were fired up and tactically dialled in to make an immediate impact.
Sarmiento's rasping shot was beaten around the post. Moments later, his silky spin and super pass led to a Hirst one-v-one chance being kept out. Within seconds, Davis won a free-kick wide left...
STRIKER'S FINISH
When Davis' dead ball delivery flew high into the sky, there were a few sarcastic cheers from the home fans. Big Cameron Burgess won the far post knock down though, Joel Latibeaudiere made a hash of clearing his lines, subsequently collided with George Edmundson and the ball ran loose.
Burgess still had plenty to do. With bodies in the way, he expertly shifted the ball with his weaker right foot and then emphatically slammed it inside the bear post with his left. It felt like a scruffy set-piece goal on first viewing. Watching it back, Town's centre-half deserves huge credit for the footwork and finish any prolific striker would be proud of.
The Australian international doesn't score many, but when he does they tend to be important. Remember that thumping header at Bolton at the business end of last season?
SQUEAKY BUM TIME
Town had chances to kill the game off.
Hutchinson looked unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty after being brought down by Bobby Thomas in the box, then Sarmiento fired a crisp shot too close to keeper Collins after some dazzling footwork by Hutchinson.
The fear was, just like at Hull, that could come back to haunt the Blues.
Increasingly, McKenna's men had to really dig in and defend. Burgess was immense at the back. Sarmiento charged around like a man possessed.
A change of referee, numerous substitutions and a few injury breaks meant there was 11 additional minutes of squeaky bum time.
Right at the very death, there was a heart-stopping moment when home sub Aidan Dausch expertly plucked the ball out the air and curled a shot narrowly wide.
Then, finally, the whistle blew. A nerve-shredding game was finally over.
ONE. MORE. POINT.
Town's players joyously celebrated in front of a packed away corner. Those fans, despite the all the anxiety, had never stopped singing and encouraging.
Even former Blues skipper Luke Chambers, on Sky punditry duty, was persuaded to deliver one of his trademark fist-pumps.
A premature party? Not for me. It was just people, rightly, enjoying the moment. The job is not done yet, no chickens are being counted, but everyone knows - just like with the Barnsley away win this time last year - that this a monumental result.
Ipswich Town - and it still feels surreal writing this - now just need to avoid defeat against virtually-relegated Huddersfield at Portman Road on Saturday lunchtime to secure back-to-back automatic promotions into the Premier League.
Of course (and I don't want to tempt fate), the home defeat to Maidstone United back in January is a reminder that anything is possible.
But remember, the Blues have lost just one league game on Suffolk soil in the last 18 months.
This special group has earnt our faith. What a night. What a team. What a season.
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