Ipswich Town beat Bristol Rovers 2-1 on Friday. Andy Warren looks at a few of the events surrounding the game.
Good (but not great) Friday
Ipswich Town got the job done against Bristol Rovers but it certainly wasn’t pretty.
Manager Paul Cook summed it up well post-match when he suggested his side were excellent for 10 minutes, in which they scored twice, but were rubbish for 80.
Once again, the simple act of conceding a goal seemed to throw the Blues off course to a worrying extent, with their attacking threat never truly rediscovered once Luke McCormick’s strike had halved the Rovers deficit.
It’s a worrying trait heading into the business end of the season but Town did, ultimately, get the job done.
The success brought a rare three points on Good Friday for Town.
Town have played sneakily few Good Friday matches during that period, just five in fact, with the vast majority of matches over the Easter period played on Saturday and then Monday. Some years there was no action at all at Easter due to international breaks.
The last time the Blues played on Good Friday it was a miserable 4-0 loss at Preston in 2019 in the first game following the Blues’ relegation from the Championship, while the last win before Friday's came thanks to a 2-1 success over Burton in 2017.
You have to go back to 2003 for the one prior to that, a memorable 3-0 victory over Premier League-bound Portsmouth.
Dubious goals panel
Town’s opening goal was initially given to Gwion Edwards before quickly being taken away and going down as a Luke Leahy own goal.
I’m all for giving attackers, certainly Ipswich ones, goals whenever possible but, on this occasion, the Sunday Snap Dubious Goal Committee has to chalk this one up as an oggy.
The Welshman had the ball thumped into his shins by David Tutonda before Leahy lashed it up into the air and then in off the post. It’s got own goal written all over it, I’m afraid.
This was the second goal Rovers had give Ipswich this season, after Max Ehmer put through his own net in the return fixture in September, and the fourth Town have gratefully received during the League One season to date.
Worryingly, only Edwards (five) and James Norwood (six) have managed more league goals than ‘og’ this season.
That’s a bad stat.
Two milestones
This was Edwards’ 100th Ipswich Town appearance, as he reaches the end of his third season.
It could be that he has just nine more opportunities to pull on a blue shirt, given his contract expires in just a few weeks, but he put in a decent display as a right wing-back, which may force his case for a new deal just a little more.
He’s scored 13 goals during his century of Town games.
Luke Woolfenden’s first start under Cook brought up appearance number 50 for the homegrown defender who, in theory, is everything his new boss wants in a centre-half.
The hope has to be now that Woolfenden’s back in the team to stay.
Coffee club
Cook’s been careful with his words but it’s clear he believes he needs to see a real improvement from his players if Ipswich are to break into the top six.
Well, another man who may just need to up his game is kitman James Pullen, who has recently taken on the additional task of supplying Cook with a constant flow of coffee both pre and post-match.
His first cup of the game lasted just a couple of minutes before the Town boss threw the liquid out of the plastic container and onto the pitch in disgust.
You have to assume the coffee wasn’t great. Either that or he wasn’t happy after James Norwood had wandered offside just a few minutes earlier.
The wrong Schumacher
Joey Barton was locked in post-match interviews for the best part of half-an-hour after the game – that's some going.
During all of them the Rovers boss made it very clear he believed Tomas Holy should have been sent off for his foul on Jonah Ayunga before half-time, with Barton likening the incident to the infamous incident which saw West Germany goalkeeper Harald (nicknamed Toni) Schumacher fly into France’s Patrick Battiston, leaving him in a coma. Thankfully, he recovered.
The only trouble was, Barton got the wrong Schumacher. Not Harold, or Toni. Not Michael, arguably the greatest Formula One driver of all time and not even Mick, the great man’s son who is now starting out in F1 himself.
No, Barton stumbled on the name ‘Ralf’, the under-the-radar younger brother of Michael who will forever live in his sibling’s shadow, despite a decent racing career of his own.
Easily done.
Fun fact – Harold Schumacher was the Dortmund goalkeeping coach during Paul Lambert’s time at the club
Toto’s kick-ups
We’ll end on a happy note.
Toto Nsiala, who has performed very well for Ipswich of late, was clearly enjoying himself at full-time as, after the whistle went, he began a personal game of ‘keepy uppy’ before thumping a volley towards goal to celebrate his side’s win.
He missed the goal but did so with a smile on his face.
Our photographer Steve Waller caught it all on camera, as you can see below.
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