Ipswich Town boss Paul Cook has joked that everyone should start booking their hotels for an FA Cup second round replay against Barrow.

The Blues host the 20th-place League Two side at Portman Road tomorrow looking to reach the third round of the world famous competition for the first time since they were relegated from the Championship in 2019.

Ipswich have recent history of drawing against lower league sides in the FA Cup and then having to travel for a rematch - it's happened against Preston (2013), Portsmouth (2016), Lincoln (2017) and, just recently, Oldham.

When it was put to him that his team really could do without a 640-mile midweek round trip to north west Cumbria, Cook laughed: “I’ve already booked the hotel! Even you journalists there, get your AA maps out and start having a look because you know we don’t do nothing easy!

“A hundred per cent we’ll all be in Barrow next Tuesday and we’ll probably get through after extra-time!"

Cook recently went to Sutton United to scout Barrow. Asked what he made of them, he said: “I enjoyed Barrow. I enjoy how well coached teams are now. Mark Cooper has been a manager for a few years now and done well wherever he’s been.

“They were by far the better team last week at Sutton. They lost 1-0 having missed chance after chance. They’re easy on the eye, they have a real identity in how they want to play the game. They try and have a possession-based game and keep the ball. They were good.

“We’ll have spells tomorrow, no different to Crewe, where Barrow will have the ball, because they are good at what they do.

“The most important thing, as ever, is for us to impose ourselves on the game so that our style and our identity comes through.

“After what was a lacklustre performance against Rotherham, I thought (against Crewe), first half especially, we played with a lot more aggression in our play and created a lot more chances.

"That third goal made for a very, very nervy end to the game. You can feel it. But the reality was if we have aspirations of getting to where we want to be this season we can't keep giving up ground.

"The biggest thing last weekend was that we won. We're now onto a cup game that we're desperate to get through."