Oh Happy Day

We're back in it!

Town are back up into the top six again following a dramatic injury time winning goal from on loan Richard Chaplow. He took his goal with such aplomb after he was put through with a neat pass from Freddie Sears. After carrying the ball towards the menacing looking Watford keeper Heurelho Gomes and with seemingly all the time in the world, he just coolly side footed the ball into the net, signally mass celebrations from everyone connected with the Tractor Boys and a mass exodus from the Hornets fans.

My day had started in Christchurch Park, where I did the Jaffa secession, before taking part in my first Ipswich Park Run. The Park Run is in Chantry Park for most of the year but moves to Christchurch Park for the winter, it was the penultimate week there, before relocating and as I'm away next week, I decided to give it a go.

It was a quick dash home for a shower and bacon rolls following the run, before picking up Max's mates Simon and Darren (he stayed with Leanne in London and was meeting us in Watford!)

We were parked up near to the ground just before 1pm and tagged along with the boys to The Moon Over Water in the town centre which was very lively and full of Ipswich fans.

Max turned up in time to hear the new Delia song, adopted from the Derby County fans who had protested about the high cost of tickets charged to away fans during their recent visit to Carrow Road.

"Arsehole, arsehole, arsehole.

Delia's a f**kin arsehole.

Twenty is plenty, forty is naughty.

Delia's a f**kin arsehole."

The song caught on very quick and reverberated around the pub for several minutes, the Town fans obviously enjoyed it and it caught on inside the ground later that afternoon too!
Sharon & I left the lads in the pub and walked to the ground - complete with the newly finished 'Sir Elton John Stand', which has part of the lyrics of 'Your Song' written along the complete length of it, how bizarre, I thought that type of thing only ever happened in Norwich.

"You can tell everybody"

Harry the Hornet - we wiped the smile off his face!

I guess as a spectacle the match would have been a dull affair to the neutral. Watford were denied a clear scoring opportunity by a resolute Ipswich side and other than the injury time drama the only real talking point was the first half injury picked up by Joel Ekstrand, who had to leave the pitch on a stretcher and is out for the rest of 2015 with a cruciate knee ligament injury. Karma for his nasty tackle on Johnny Williams in the reverse fixture at Portman Road?

Chris Kamara doing his bit for Sky Sports

When we got back to the car Max got a call from Simon telling him that Darren had been arrested for going onto the pitch. He was celebrating with Jay Tabb after the goal and had failed to dodge the Police!

We drove to the ground and whilst I was looking for somebody to ask what they do with arrestees spotted Mick McCarthy & Terry Connor,  so I decided to get a photo with the Town boss, Darren could wait!

I found out that Darren would have been transferred to Watford Police Station so we headed over there. While we driving along Vicarage Road we spotted Terry Connor walking along and as we joined the queuing traffic Max jumped out of the car and got a 'selfie' with the Town assistant manager. 'Timing is everything' he told him as the lights changed and we pulled away!

Once at Watford Police Station we learnt that Darren would be kept for two or three hours whilst they decided whether to charge him or not, so we headed home, after all we had Rudie to attend to!

As it turned out Darren was released without charge at about 9pm and got home at 1.30am on Sunday, all's well that ends well! I don't think he'll be on the pitch for a little while - unless there's a mass invasion.

As far as away days goes this one was well up there with the best, a really enjoyable, fun filled day with a dramatic (in more ways than one) finish!

We now go into another international break and when we resume on Good Friday against top of the table Bournemouth at Portman Road it becomes a ten game season for promotion (assuming we don't now manage to get there automatically).  

Jay's Fluid

It was a bit of a murky night on Tuesday and the pre-match atmosphere inside Portman Road was equally gloomy, following Saturday's 4-1 loss at  Middlesborough. There was definitely a lack of fans/pundits confidence in the Town defence, with many calling for a change at the back, but Mick McCarthy stood by his back four and they repaid his faith with a clean sheet against a Bolton side who didn't seem to want to score - they squandered one or two excellent chances before Jay Tabb netted the winning goal in the seventy-ninth minute. 

It's that time of the year already

Strange Days Indeed

What happened to automatic promotion?

It was a family affair for us at Portman Road, Sam was back in the UK and attending his first home game for several seasons, having had to fly home from Vietnam for mum's funeral. Ironically enough it was against Brentford - whom he had seen away at Christmas on his last visit home!

Well at least the weather has warmed up a bit while I've been away

No four pub challenge for Sam before the game - just five pints!

Things haven't been going so well for Ipswich since my last game, way back in February. A win at Fulham on Valentine's day was followed by losing one-nil at home to Reading, beating Birmingham at home a few days later, before successive losses at, dare I say Narwich and then Leeds, which has left us in seventh place just behind Saturday's opponents Brentford.

Re-called Dean Gerken in goal

It was a really entertaining game and truthfully Town should have got all three points with the amount of chances that we failed to take, none so glaring as Daryl Murphy missing an open goal from less than six yards out - just a minute into the second half! You have to forgive him though as he had earlier scored his twenty second goal of the season. That goal in the ninth minute had given us just the start that we needed.

The Bee's equalised after twenty-five minutes with a rather fortunate goal, Recalled Town keeper Dean Gerken pulled off an excellent save from Stuart Dallas but Jonathan Douglas was on hand to head the loose ball into the net.

After the match we went to Degero's for a few drinks before heading accross the the road to The Clay Oven for an Indian. There was a misunderstanding over the bill which put a damper on the evening, perhaps it's time to revisit our post match entertainment?

We did have 'one for the road' at The Thomas Wolsey before getting a taxi back to Kesgrave - only to end up in The Bell until about midnight! I blame Sam!

A Night On The Town

I needed cheering up after a few difficult days and fortunately Ipswich managed to put a smile back on my face, with a much needed home win.

We came from a goal behind to beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Tuesday night. The Owls had taken a one-nil lead into the interval following a mix up at the back between Bartosz Białkowski and Christophe Berra, which allowed Kieron Lee in for a simple finish.

Once again Daryl Murphy found the net, scoring his nineteenth goal of the season, the way he's going he'll end up a modern day ITFC legend! Skipper Luke Chambers gave Town a deserved lead and the three points, when he met Kevin Bru's cross with his head at the far post, giving the Sheffield keeper Keiren Westwood no chance of saving it - cue the 'fist pump'!

This was a vital win following some disappointing results recently and will hopefully re-ignite our promotion push.

R.I.P. mum xx