UnBERRAble

There were beers, tears and a winner from Freddie Sears in the final home league game of the season, in what will be our best campaign for ten years.

The afternoon started as so many have this season, with a pre-match beer at Degeros, which was as busy as I've seen it all season.

Nottingham Forest were our opponents in a game that we really needed to win to maintain our push for a play-off place. The results had gone our way last weekend and we were sitting in sixth spot three points clear of Brentford and Wolves (whom we had drawn with last weekend).

A healthy crowd of 25,199, helped by a big push in the media and on social websites to #PackOutPortmanRoad turned up to witness the match.

A minutes silence was observed before kick-off to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Bradford City Fire in 1985, where fifty six fans lost their lives. The photos of the fire show how quickly it spread through the old, tinder dry wooden stand.

Luke Chambers facing his former club Nottingham Forest

A minutes silence before kick-off

There was a good atmosphere when the game started and Town started very lively, not letting Forest have anytime to settle on the ball. The confidence was there among the crowd that we could secure the three points.

When twenty-one minutes of the match had been played, the whole ground (even the away fans) joined in with a minutes applause, in tribute to Chris Reynolds, a Town supporter who had died the previous weekend, at the age of just twenty one years old. With a just a few seconds of the applause remaining something quite magical happened, Daryl Murphy lashed a shot past the Forest keeper Karl Darlow to give Ipswich a well deserved lead. What a perfect tribute, you just couldn't have written it, even I felt quite emotional and I can only imagine how his family and friends felt. Sometimes football is just brilliant - more than just a game.

Injury worry for Luke Chambers in the first half

Following Murphy's goal Town were in control and looked like they would go on and extend their lead, that was until Christophe Berra turned a cross into his own net eight minutes into the second-half! The normally reliable centre-half had slipped while trying to clear the ball. All of a sudden the match was turned on it's head, with Forest looking the most likely to score again.

Fortunately Freddie Sears came to the rescue with six minutes remaining, his shot took a wicked deflection and went in off the post to send Portman Road delirious. He almost added another just before full time but his shot hit defender Michael Mancienne, denying Sharon a perfect score and probably her chance of winning the TWTD's prediction league.

Another fist pump, how many more will we get this season?

We stayed for the traditional players lap of the pitch before going back to Degeros and then to The Waterfront.

Our destiny is still in our own hands, a point away at Blackburn will do the trick and then we'll be in the play-offs!

Down at The Waterfront

The table with one game to go