IT is becoming depressingly familiar to have to report yet another Ipswich Town away defeat, yet another occasion when the team fails to perform away from the comfort zone of Portman Road.

IT is becoming depressingly familiar to have to report yet another Ipswich Town away defeat, yet another occasion when the team fails to perform away from the comfort zone of Portman Road.

Jim Magilton was right to rage at his team at half time - and for supporters the January transfer window cannot come soon enough.

Then will be time to get rid of some of the dead wood and replace players who don't seem to want to go on the road with Ipswich Town.

There are also questions to be asked about Town's penalty on Saturday. Whoever let Alan Lee take the spot kick when penalty king Tommy Miller was on the pitch?

Frankly the Town performance on Saturday was a complete shambles - apart from Pablo Counago's wonder goal which was too little too late.

This was not the kind of performance Sir Bobby Robson would have been satisfied with and it clearly did not satisfy the current boss.

There is a chance to put these sour memories behind us with a good home performance tomorrow night, but winning at home and losing away will only leave the team in mid-table obscurity at best.

As today's Town players reflect on the affection shown to Sir Bobby at last night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, they might also look at the characters who dominated his period at Ipswich and who formed his guard of honour.

It's difficult to imagine the likes of Allan Hunter, Mick Mills, or Terry Butcher being terrified of going to The Valley.

Magilton needs to get in tough players with that kind of grit when the transfer window opens next month.

ELDERLY people living in sheltered accommodation are among the most vulnerable - and harmless - members of society.

So it is appalling to have to report that those living in Servite House, off Spring Road, are being terrorised by drunken yobs who seem to think it is fun to bully those more vulnerable than themselves.

Now extra money which could have been spent on facilities for young people is having to be spent on fences to protect the residents - fences which will inevitably put up a barrier between Servite House and the rest of the community.

Sadly that seems the only solution because trying to understand what makes the young people act in this way is pointless - there is no logic to their behaviour and the only solution is to remove their opportunity to make the lives of the residents a misery.

REGENT panto star Letitia Dean no longer has to worry about the competitive element of the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, but she certainly put in some superb performances during its autumn run.

She and her dancing partner Darren Bennett were finally eliminated on Saturday night - although the television audience had to wait until the recording was screened yesterday to discover her fate.

She may not have won the overall competition, but she showed some splendid moves - moves which should be on display during her run in Cinderella over the next few weeks.