The View From Churchmans

A fortunate win, which the club and supporters will nevertheless accept gratefully, pushed Town up towards mid-table and, more importantly, safety. But with Keane wanting to know which players were prepared to stand up and be counted, an indifferent performance which still resulted in three points was the one thing he couldn’t learn anything from. There’s really very little to say about a forgettable afternoon. Keane’s idea of wanting players with the right attitude resulted in the two most creative midfielders in the squad sitting on the bench, much to the frustration of many supporters, but all was forgotten during a fine start which resulting in a deserved – if rather lucky – goal. However, this was quickly followed by a loss of momentum and direction, and eventually a nailbiting finish with nine or ten men camped behind the ball. Fourteen matches unbeaten at home is something which any team can be proud of, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is a really boring season, which may well end up with the lowest average goals-per-game seen at Portman Road in the club’s history. This game typified the whole campaign.

Overall Town performance:
5/10 – The first five minutes apart, bitty and uninspiring

Opposition quality
7/10 – Strong and purposeful, let down by their finishing

Referee:
8/10 – Without doubt one of the best we’ve had all season

Match excitement:
4/10 – Dull, again

Opposition supporters:
5/10 – Lots of nice flags

Player ratings, as ever 1 to 5 for each of effort/achievement…

MURPHY 6 (3/3) still hasn’t let one in at Portman Road!

WRIGHT 7 (4/3) was solid and made several great challenges; McAULEY 6 (3/3) put in another impressive shift; DELANEY 8 (4/4) was terrific, and performed some heroics; and O’CONNOR 7 (4/3) is turning out to be the find of the season.

WALTERS 5 (2/3) started off really brightly, but again drifted in and out of the game far too much; COLBACK 7 (4/3) inevitably covered half of the pitch and certainly got stuck in; NORRIS 6 (3/3) had a reasonable match; and EDWARDS 5 (3/2) had his moments, but barely put in a single decent ball.

COUNAGO 5 (2/3) started off superbly, providing a real focus and looking like he’d really taken Keane’s comments about attitude to heart, but after 15 minutes he was jogging around aimlessly, and by half-time he’d faded from view completely; MURPHY 6 (3/3) was much more consistent.

From the bench, WICKHAM took on the role of figurehead up front with considerable maturity; PETERS threatened to bring the game back to life and was the brightest aspect of Town’s afternoon; and LEADBITTER played a fair part in the final rearguard action.