Ipswich Town: Karl Fuller on Blues after Villa draw

Part of our return to the Premier League has seen heightened media attention with many outlets looking for their part of the story.

I was invited onto Colin Murray’s Sunday morning sports show on Radio Five Live.

Even better was that I was to be accompanied by the EADT’s own Alex Jones. We had our 20 minutes of coverage and were asked alternatively for our various thoughts on an array of matters.  

Town fans waving flags before the clash with Villa (Image: PA) Colin is knowledgeable on both the game in general and Ipswich. Looking to delve further into our thoughts, it was a real pleasure to add some meat to the bones of our season so far.

One question was around any worries as to where our goals would come from. I reminded Colin of our scoring prowess last season and how the goals were spread around as many as 20 players. I would not worry about one man scoring say 15 goals on his own this season.

With Alex coming across superbly, I like to think that we represented the EADT well. If you missed it, have a listen on the catch-up facility on BBC Sounds.

It was then off to the game where I had arranged a pre-meet with Brett Johnson. I presented him with my latest book and enjoyed a conversation with him about our start to the season.

He asked how I thought we would fare against Aston Villa. He then offered up his own prediction of a 3-2 Town win. How close he came to being right!

Town are unbeaten in four games (Image: PA) The experience once again reminded me as to where the club is at right now. Even as a Premier League club, our owners do not forget us supporters and offer up their time for a chat.

I took the opportunity to show him my promotion celebration tattoo which contains the wording ‘Running towards adversity.’ My friend Jason was with me and showed him a similar tattoo with the same wording.

Whilst I told Brett that his ownership group was responsible for this forever etching on my arm, he thanked us both for our show of support and belief in their ownership.

I must admit, however, that I did not share Brett’s super positive thoughts of a win. I felt that we would have to be at our best to get anything from an excellent Villa team.

That said, I was never questioning whether we would be capable. I would take a draw, one that I believed we would obtain.

Our papers on sale before the game at Portman Road (Image: PA) Stats don't always convert to results. But when you consider some that came out of this game, they highlight how well we performed.

We had ten corners to Villa’s none. 15 shots to their seven. We created four big chances to their two. We were unfortunate in the end to not come away with three points.

Both of their goals could be considered as soft ones to give away. But their goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez pulled off an excellent save to deny Kalvin Phillips. And Wes Burns saw a good chance blocked late on.

At the very least Villa knew they had been in a game and may even have been grateful in the end to secure a point.

For the neutral, I am sure it must have been a good watch and a draw a fair result. How good was Liam Delap by the way? His second goal was the icing on the cake.

Yes, much will be said about the fact that we have not won yet. But look at these last three games.

Liam Delap has three goals in six Premier League games so far (Image: PA) Not many gave us much hope of getting anything out of Brighton away and Villa at home. Yet many would have hoped for a win at Southampton.

Would it have been better to win there and lose the other two to end up with the same haul of three points?

Yes, we would have had our first win on the board. But I am more than happy to be on an unbeaten run and giving a damn good account of ourselves. Let us hope it continues at West Ham.