The View From Churchmans

There are three-nil defeats which depress you, and three-nil defeats which manage to leave you still feeling proud of the losing team. This was definitely the latter. Town couldn’t have done much better, and the fans couldn’t have asked for more. In the end, to have beaten a Champions League side over two legs was going to require the opponents to be below par throughout, and Arsenal didn’t oblige. When they finally saw an opportunity against a tiring Town side, they took it. But for three-quarters of the tie, Ipswich scared the life out of their big-name opponents with some frantic defending and real heart. Thanks for the great nights out lads.

Overall Town performance:
8/10 – Terrific. Not sure if they tired mentally – losing concentration – before they tired physically.

Opposition quality:
7/10 – Touches of class, and ruthless when they needed to be, although they surely must be better than this.

Referee:
7/10 – A couple of concessions to Premier League players going down too easily, but didn’t get conned by Fabregas, fortunately.

Match excitement:
8/10 – Great evening out.

Town supporters:
10/10 – Simply awesome.

Home supporters:
4/10 – Never has “you only sing when you’re winning” been more appropriate.

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

FULOP 6 (3/3) made a couple of fine saves, but was well at fault for the second goal, which was the killer.

EDWARDS 7 (4/3) ran his socks off, but if ever there was a night when Town needed an experienced right-back, this was it, and eventually he was caught out of position, fatally; McAULEY 9 (5/4) and DELANEY 9 (5/4) were both immense, and not only gave it their all, but completely nullified players like Van Persie, which was extraordinary when you think about it; and O’DEA 7 (4/3) did his bit, and was perhaps fortunate not to have been as specifically targeted as Edwards was.

NORRIS 8 (4/4) didn’t let up for a moment, and made his presence felt throughout; LEADBITTER 6 (3/3) seemed motivated enough, but was out of his depth, as was KENNEDY 6 (3/3), who played his part but didn’t have the impact of the first leg; HEALY 6 (3/3) did well again, and the sheer unexpected nature of that is beginning to make him a bit of a fan favourite; and WICKHAM 7 (4/3) was all heart, although clearly frustrated by the all-too-predictable lack of opportunities.

PRISKIN 6 (4/2) had a very simple role to play, and seemed to try hard, but his control and vision were poor again.

With Town only likely to get one or two chances in the last 20 minutes, SCOTLAND was a sensible substitute, but even he couldn’t bury the chance when it came. O’CONNOR put in a wholehearted few minutes.