The View From Churchmans

This one will live on in my mind for, ooh, several minutes. One of the least memorable games I can ever, er, remember at Portman Road. Even by the time we got home for our normal post-match debrief, nobody could think of anything to say. Wait a minute! Fab almost got his annual goal I suppose. You'd think with nothing to play for on either side, we might have had some festival footy ... More...

An afternoon which had just about everything for a large crowd in the sunshine, including a scrap, some encouraging football from Town, and of course a terrific comeback. I'd put this ninety minutes alongside the Colchester and Norwich games as the most memorable of the season at Portman Road. Town were hugely unlucky to be behind at the break - an almost endless succession of chances had gone just ... More...

Given the way this season has been going, I couldn't decide between 6-0 or 0-3 in the TWTD Prediction League, and eventually went for the big home win, which wasn't far off as it turned out. Barnsley were enthusiastic but really don't offer much in any area of the pitch, and I'll be amazed if they escape relegation. It was one of those games against generally poor opposition where if any of our ... More...

While your regular correspondent gambles his time away in Las Vegas, he's asked me, Andy Pye (aka Lord Mac) to step in and deputise. I had a gamble of my own this afternoon, with money on Ipswich to win 3-1 and Garvan to score first, so I was devastated with the disallowed goal that Plymouth 'scored', as it cost me £875. As things stand, I'm a fiver down. Other than that, a satisfactory ... More...

And just when it had started to look better. This was very, very poor indeed. Let's not make excuses; Southend were well organised and certainly wanted it more than some of our players seemed to, but they weren't great. However, this summarised all the worst aspects of this season so far: we were aimless in our play, dreadful with our finishing, and desperately in need of some inspiration, leadership and responsibility. And naturally, when ... More...

OK, bear in mind that any criticism which follows should be taken in the context that I'd have settled for the worst Town performance in history if it meant a goal or two and a win today. And so whatever else, at least we got the important things. But the tide hasn't turned dramatically or anything; this was a bit better than February's displays, but not by much - fortunately, QPR are below ... More...

The sequence of poor performances and dull games continued in weather and pitch conditions which were surprisingly good, and in front of a decent crowd (the second largest in the division on the day) for the time of year. There was a feeling that we're a bit injury-hit at the moment, but to be honest, only Wilnis (for De Vos) and Currie (for Williams) separated us from what might have been the first ... More...

One of the most exciting games of the season: goals, controversy, atmosphere and a local rivalry of sorts. Colchester's fans rather embarrassingly made it seem like it was their cup final, what with the big turnout, the balloons and the ticker-tape. After having been in a crowd of nearly 29,000, I should think many of them are going to be a bit disappointed when they go to their first home game. With enough of ... More...

A victory - and what's more a late yet deserved victory - in a match loaded with symbolism (first of 2007, against the leaders, etc) bodes really, really well for a happy new year. We didn't just play well for 30 or 40 minutes, we actually kept it up for 95. We didn't give a single soft goal away. And yes, it really did happen: we scored the late winner instead of conceding ... More...

So the second half of the season starts just as the first half did, with a disappointing home defeat illustrating just how much work Jim still has in front of him. We can't afford to lose another ten in this half of the season, or that would be relegation form. So where do we stand? What's the half-term report? Jim apparently had a full squad to pick from today, and half of his ... More...

A satisfying result against an unadventurous and occasionally unpleasant side. It's almost as if Ken Bates thought: "Hmmm, is this the Leeds I remember? No. Let's bring back the Leeds everyone knows and hates, shall we?" So with Roy Keane already snapped up, it was natural that he'd turn to the odious Dennis Wise as manager, and it shows already. Charitably, you could suggest Wise has tried to install some steel into his underperforming ... More...

I'm rather partial to the north west, and obviously it would be ridiculous to stereotype an entire region in terms of the football its teams play, and yet... and yet... somehow, you expect a match against Burnley to be at bit grim. And I guess it was. Burnley were an uncompromising team who (to put it kindly) built from the back; for once I could have forgiven any manager for using the cringeworthy cliche ... More...

Blinkin' blimey flip, people, we've been waiting a long time for this. Thoroughly deserved, especially if you were there - the TV coverage seemed to portray Norwich's performance in a strangely more favourable light, but their manager's comments afterwards confirmed how much we really dominated. It was a terrific performance all round, which will remain long in the memory whatever else happens this season. No surprises in the lineup: this really is Magilton's team ... More...

OK, very quick report, because there's so little to say. We were average but missed all our decent chances. They were reasonable and took theirs. And of course, once we were behind and the movement wasn't happening up front, we resorted to far too many long balls which Wednesday dealt with easily. I wouldn't have argued too much with the lineup or the tactics, it was just one of those days to forget. Overall ... More...

Blimey. Didn't see that one coming. Over the years, various teams have gone down heavily at Portman Road by letting us play football and relying on devices like the offside trap; squads and managers may come and go, but some things never seem to change. Luton's tactics this afternoon may have been forced on them by injury and illness, but they ended up on the receiving end of one of Town's most comfortable ... More...