All eyes on the draw for the next round of the FA Cup for Town fans
Eyes will be on the draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup tomorrow night (Monday, January 12) for Town fans as they look to progress in the competition after yesterday’s 2-1 victory at Portman Road over League One outfit Blackpool.
They will be hoping for a home tie, at least, and one against a Premier League team would be ideal.
Yes, the scoreline should have been greater than just the two goals scored as Ipswich had numerous chances to extend their lead with their dominant performance.
Seventy per cent of possession and 31 shots at goal with eight on target with the visitors having eight shots and three on target. A similar story to other games this season in the Championship.
But it was another win albeit against a team in a lower division who looked far better than their 19th spot in League One and just two points away from the drop zone.
They are a much better team than that and I hope they rise higher.
One positive note about yesterday’s game was the way Kieran McKenna’s team was not full of second string players.
He chose a strong starting 11 which paid dividends to the amazing 27,527 in attendance which included a near capacity away section.
Twenty coaches left Lancashire early yesterday for the game and they got to cheer a goal at least … although it was the final action of the game.
Many other clubs would have been jealous of the numbers attending the game. Yes, ticket prices were reduced but there were so many other clubs that had a lot of empty areas in their stadiums.
Jaden Philogene’s exquisite first-half strike helped the Championship promotion hopefuls turn over the Tangerines.
He curled home a delightful first-time effort from Ben Johnson’s pass to ensure an interval lead after a one-sided first half.
But the 1978 FA Cup winners were unable to add to their lead until Jacob Greaves headed in a late goal from a corner.
That took Town into the fourth round for the fourth consecutive season, with Ashley Fletcher’s injury-time penalty proving to be a minor consolation for Blackpool.
After the game McKenna told Town TV: “Some positives in there for sure, a really good first goal from the team and I thought we moved the ball really well in the first half, got into great positions.
“Still, a bit we’ve got to keep working on to be more productive, it was not easy, they were really, really deep with all the bodies and we know that that’s hard.
“But still we want to go and get the second goal quicker than what we did and some big transition moments in the second half as well where we can go and kill then with a counter attack when they do come out, but we did manage to get it.
“It went on a bit longer than we wanted but good to get it with a set play.”