Here you can chat about everything and anything related to ITFC and other football issues. This forum also hosts the now Internationally famous TB.com ITFC match previews which contain insightful pre-match thoughts, previous highlights, news links relating to Town, form guides and other bits and pieces. Feel free to discuss meet ups/travel plans in here as well.
In his Final thought for the derby preview, Mike issued a passionate rallying cry, calling upon the Blue Army to get behind their team, and the players to ‘leave nothing out on the pitch’ and ‘give sweat and blood for the cause’. We may not always see things in the same light on this forum, but I think we can all agree that supporters and players alike responded on Sunday! We had known that it would be imperative to start brightly, and not allow Norwich any time on the ball, but our intensity surprised even ourselves, as the Tractor Boys sped out of the traps and imposed their game. Within a couple of minutes, the ball was in the net from Jonathan Douglas’ close-range finish. The electric pre-match atmosphere hadn’t had a chance to die down before the crowd were on their feet in celebration, but the linesman’s raised flag seemed inevitable given Douglas’ advanced position. As it was, the decision turned out to be the second time in two matches that Town had been denied what appeared a perfectly legitimate goal. To the Blues’ credit, they refused to let this setback affect them, and continued to push forward in a very one-sided passage of play. Daryl Murphy should have tested the ‘keeper with a right-foot effort that he skewed wide, before cleverly working some space in a congested area and getting clipped by a defender’s foot. He was to have a further half-chance, with a speculative header which drifted over, before Norwich equalised with their first attempt, Cameron Jerome clinically finishing with a first-time shot after neat build-up play. The Canaries were suddenly roused into life, and it seemed that Town would do well to get to half time with just the one-goal deficit. Cue Jonas Knudsen’s stoppage-time strike to raise the roof at Portman Road and spark flashbacks to Paul Anderson’s similarly expertly-timed equaliser in the play-offs.
If there was one disappointing aspect about Sunday’s display, it was that we weren’t able to grab the initiative at the start of the second half in the same way as we had opened the match. As the game wore on, it became more and more apparent that the 3 points were there for the taking, if only one team was prepared to gamble. Steven Whittaker may have struck the post and had another effort cleared off the line, but Ipswich could equally have won it, with Murphy stumbling at the crucial time when seemingly through on goal and Teddy Bishop seeing a late shot kept out by Michael McGovern. A point was arguably a fair result, but the Blues could take so much more from a performance to be proud of. Having been privileged to have been at the play-off semi-final first leg fifteen months ago, I thought the atmosphere on Sunday rivalled that occasion. Players and supporters were most definitely on the same side and there was the real sense that the (albeit surprisingly reduced) crowd had the power to suck the ball into the back of the net. Mick McCarthy’s frustration bubbled to the surface post-match when talking about supporters’ fluctuating perceptions of him and his team. I can see it both ways. Part of me wonders how we can go from being the fragile team that collapsed at the first sign of adversity against Brentford to the confident outfit that dominated for large spells against one of the promotion favourites in the heat of an East Anglian derby. But we are still in August, and there will be plenty more ups and downs to come before the season is out. Consistency is one of the hardest commodities to come by in football, both on the pitch and in the terraces. As we all know, second bottom can be as much of a challenge as second top in the Championship, and Saturday’s opponents Preston will be out to prove as much.
The Opposition – Preston North End
Preston North End was originally founded as a cricket club in 1863, by Mr Walter Pomfret of Deepdale Road, who was the first person to rent the field on which North End have always played. The original rent was £8 per year. As Preston already had a strong town's club, they adopted the "North End" suffix because they moved to the North End of the town when Moor Park opened, playing their matches there. Prior to that, they played at Bow Lane. The club adopted rugby union code in 1877, but one year later they played their first game under the rules of association football, and in May 1880 unanimously passed a resolution to adopt the association code.
Preston North End were famously successful during the early years of professional football in England. In 1887, Preston beat Hyde 26–0 in the First Round of the FA Cup, still a record winning margin in English first-class football. Preston forward Jimmy Ross scored eight goals in the match, going on to score 19 goals in the competition that season, also still a record.
In 1888–89, they became the first league champions and the first winners of "The Double", becoming the only team to date to go through an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup – winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal.
Preston were league champions again the following season, but have not won the title since. The club's last major trophy was an FA Cup triumph in 1938.
Preston were relegated to the Second Division in 1961 and have not played in the top division since. The club did reach the FA Cup final in 1964, but lost to West Ham United. Preston were relegated to the Third Division in the 1969–70 season. The club won the Third Division title at the first attempt and so returned to the Second Division.
Bobby Charlton, an England World Cup winner from 1966, was appointed Preston manager in 1973, but was unable to prevent the club from sliding into the Third Division in his first season and left after two years in charge. A brief respite in 1978 saw Preston win promotion back to the Second Division, but go down after three seasons. In 1985, the club fell into the Fourth Division for the first time in its history.
In 1986, Preston finished second from bottom in the Fourth Division and only avoided dropping into the Football Conference because the other Football League members voted in favour of the division's bottom four teams retaining their senior status.
A year later, Preston won promotion to the Third Division and they were still at this level until 1990, when they were relegated in the first season of the new Division Two.
Preston won the Division Three title in 1997, and in February 1998 34-year-old defender David Moyes took over management of the club. Preston quickly developed into Division Two promotion contenders under Moyes, reaching the 1998–99 play-offs but losing out to Gillingham in the semi-finals, before finally being promoted as champions a year later.
Preston began the new millennium by winning promotion from Division 2 in the 1999–2000 season as champions. The club almost made it two promotions in a row in 2001 but lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the Division One play-off final. Moyes left for Everton in March 2002.
Preston were little more than a mid-table side until the 2004/05 season, when Billy Davies took over and guided Preston to the Championship play-off final in his first season as manager, but they lost to West Ham United. The club reached the play-offs again the following year, this time losing out at the semi-final stage.
Preston spent much of the 2006–07 season in the automatic promotion or play-off places. However, from March 2007 the club slid rapidly down the league. On 11 July 2007, David Nugent, the first Preston player to win an England cap for 50 years, left the club to join Portsmouth for a reported transfer fee of £6,000,000 and they did not recover from their poor run of form.
After a bad start to the 2007–08 season, which saw the club pick up just three wins, Paul Simpson was sacked as manager on 13 November 2007 and Alan Irvine was appointed as Preston's new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal. He achieved his first objective as manager by finishing in 15th place, thus securing Preston's survival in the Championship.
The following season, he led Preston to 6th place in the Championship after a good run of form towards the end of the season, qualifying for the play-offs.
On 29 December 2009, Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results, with the club appointing Darren Ferguson as his successor and he narrowly secured their survival in the Championship.
In the 2009–10 season, Preston finished in 17th place and in the following season they were bottom of the Championship when Ferguson was sacked at Christmas.
Former Hull City manager Phil Brown was appointed as Ferguson's replacement, but could only achieve his first win in his 13th game in charge. This sparked an improved run of form, but could not prevent relegation to League One.
Brown was sacked on 14 December 2011 after less than a year in charge. After four weeks of interviews, Preston approached Stevenage manager Graham Westley and he was appointed manager on Friday 13 January 2012. Following a poor string of results, including a club record run of 12 home games without a win, Westley was sacked as Preston manager on 13 February 2013.
On 18 February 2013, it was confirmed that Simon Grayson had taken charge of Preston and by the end of the 2012–13 season Preston were safe in 14th place, 11 points clear of relegation.
Preston won promotion to the Championship after beating Swindon Town 4–0 in the League One play-off final on 24 May 2015, having failed in their previous nine appearances in the play-offs.
Preston made an excellent adjustment to Championship Football last season, finishing in a very creditable 11th place on the table.
The Manager – Simon Grayson
Past Match Video – Trev
Ryan Fraser really introduced himself to the Town faithful when we faced Preston this time last year, as he scored what proved to be the winner with a stunning strike.
And Tangfastic, your reference to Marcus Evans in his "prison cell" raised a fair few chuckles, hence the 4 points.
LEAGUE TABLE
DerickIpsw 13
Quasar 9
Bluemike 8
Herforder 6
Nicscreamer 5
Blueblood 5
Patthegimp 5
Frosty 4
Tangfastic 4
Ando 2
IpswichtownNO1 2
Watership Down 2
Itfc76Trev 1
Gold&Black 1
Shed on Tour 1
Number 9 1
Have a pop at this:
Match Referee – Tim Robinson
Final Thought - Bluemike
With the euphoria of the East Anglian Derby finally having died down, I think we can all look back on it with pride for the boys in Blue. There is little doubt in most people’s minds that we should have won the game and, as is the norm, it was Norwich that got all the pieces of luck where the big decisions were concerned. Town came out of the blocks and really took the game to the Canaries and to be fair it looked for all the world that it was the team in Blue who had spent millions. Clearly the big decision was the disallowing of Jonathan Douglas' goal and, while you can understand the linesman getting it wrong, it is so frustrating for it to happen to us twice in a week. Then we have the penalty for the trip on Murphy, a pen all day long in my eyes, so we could well have gone in 3-1 up. At the end of the day, we have to settle for a point but can take satisfaction from the fact we were clearly better than them.
A pleasing thing for me is the fact we have looked good in our last two games and with the gods shining down on us should really be four points better off and sitting in second spot in the table but the omens are good going forward. With talk of at least a couple more players arriving before the deadline and the prospect of Conor Grant & Brett Pitman returning, things could soon start to improve even further. I like the way Adam Webster is starting to show improvement too, while Knudsen has put his slow start to the season behind him and is also looking better.
Next up is a home tie with Preston North End – a piece of cake, right? We only have to turn up to win this, don't we? Well let’s all remember last season at Portman Road and just how many of the so called "easier" teams turned us over. For the points at Wolves and against Norwich to truly be worth anything, we simply have to get the maximum three on Saturday. Anything else would indeed be disappointing so let’s not let complacency creep in. A similar performance to the last two would be enough I think. No game is easy but I take Town to grab the points, which given the fixtures in the first month of the season would represent a decent start. It would also get us ready for a very tough-looking September. Home win for me.
I got some things to take care of and this will be dealt with at the proper time, but took in a view of league status and on paper alone it seems something of a routine job to take points off this opposition but we never make it easy for ourselves and in a league where anything can occur, it would be no great surprise if the away team were to take something from this.
Voted on the home victory and while obviously would want to see three points for the cause, as before just feel an element of caution is required and can see a close-fought game here, that hopefully should go in our favor.
This is one of those banana skin fixtures which we fell foul to so many times last season. Preston will not be walk over opponents they don't exist in the Championship. Last weekend they left London with 3 points after winning 0-2 at QPR and mid week they've progressed in the League Cup, both will be confidence boosters, furthermore whilst in the bottom three they are only one point behind us.
I think this will be a tight game and Berra & Co will have to keep tabs on Jermaine Beckford.
I'm hoping for a convincing win but think 1-1 is more likely.
Whether you're an optimist who thinks we can make the playoffs or a pessimist who fears relegation, this is one of those games we have to win. 2-1 Ipswich. Unfortunately I can't be there.
Cracking preview! Says all that needs to be said about tomorrow: beware of backsliding, keep the momentum going, match or better last two performances etc. Just got to go and do it. Pity that young Ward remains unavailable, but feel confident that we'll be the right side of a good result. 2-0 will do nicely.
Caption comp - interesting in that invites all the obvious comments! Here's a couple more!
Caption 1: The latest dating app, 'Sheep-4-Ewe', ensured that a night of pure lust awaited the young goalie. Followed by a slap up meal - lamb chops!
Caption 2: It's just Woolfie in sheep's clothing!
Caption 3: No, he ain't heavy - he's my brother.
COYB!
Last edited by herforder on Sat Aug 27, 2016 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ando, apologies. That's two mistakes in two weeks. Start calling me Webster! ...... JOKE!!!!! FFS, put yer rugs back on! I'll get that point added next week, buddy. I'm stacked out the door with work at the moment and I'm Russian........, (with three balls....., Whojdga Nikabolokov) ....., rushing!
It would be so easy to have a "after the lord mayors show" type performance today but I am confident that having seen Two very good performances last week Town won't let complacency creep in, we have to win this type of game at home this season, these were the ones that cost us last year, get out of the traps quick, attack from the off and put them under pressure, that's the way to go and I think we will be fine.
Really disappointing to see Conor Grant unavailable again but with a Two week break coming up I hope to see him back for Reading on the 9th. I also hope to god we don't see kevin Bru in the starting Eleven, he just doesn't do it for me and hasn't done for much of last season either, the odd good game here and there is not enough, his creativity is limited and set piece delivery is woeful, Bishop in for me. Aside from that I see no other changes to our starting Eleven as the boys have been playing well.
I take Town to triumph by a score of 3-1 with Murphy & Sears opening their accounts for the season. COYB'S.
CAPTION....."The Norfolk born conjoined Twins never let their disability hold them back"
Limited response given we've been ahead since early in the game. With the squad fielded and taking into account the caliber of the opposing team would expect nothing less than a point from today and statistics indicate we've created chances and hopefully a second strike should arrive before end of game.
Only concern is the teams often inability to properly focus towards the closing stages and risk of allowing the opposition back into it, so hope to learn from previous errors and see us home.
A very welcome but unconvincing 3 points. More worrying tho was the attendence at 15296 which must be the lowest for a league game for sometime, and the news that Daryl Murphy is considering a move to Newcastle with little time for us to find a quality replacement, unless of course Adam Armstrong is part of the deal.
Charnwood wrote:A very welcome but unconvincing 3 points. More worrying tho was the attendence at 15296 which must be the lowest for a league game for sometime, and the news that Daryl Murphy is considering a move to Newcastle with little time for us to find a quality replacement, unless of course Adam Armstrong is part of the deal.
Charnwood wrote:A very welcome but unconvincing 3 points. More worrying tho was the attendence at 15296 which must be the lowest for a league game for sometime, and the news that Daryl Murphy is considering a move to Newcastle with little time for us to find a quality replacement, unless of course Adam Armstrong is part of the deal.
With the news circulating prior to kick off that Daryl Murphy had indeed put in a transfer request and was heading to Newcastle the next concern was just how it would affect the rest of the Town team. Brett Pitman was drafted in as his replacment and Smith returned for Webster who dropped to the bench.
The first half was pretty comfortable in truth with Town on the front foot from the off and looking to go forward. It didn't take long for us to go ahead with another nicely taken finish from Grant ward who hit it through a ruck of players giving the unsighted keeper no chance, it was no more than our bright start had warrented. Midway through the half Sears had a great chance to double our lead only to see the keeper tip his effort away for a corner, to be fair to freddie he did everything right after being put through nicely by Pitman, his touch and run was good, his cut back spot on and the shot was on target, unfortunately the keeper read it and got fingers to it. Not long after Preston had their only real chance of note in the haldf but bart was equal to it and palmed it away. There no more real clear cut chances before the break and in turth we had been pretty comfortable and solid and worthy of the lead.
The second half really failed to ever get into any kind of fluent rhythem, I am not sure if preston changed their formation at all but they certainly had more of the play and territorial advantage although I don't remember Bart ever having much to do. In fact despite Preston having more of the half it was Town that had the better chances, soon after the restart Sears was inches away from sliding home number Two after once again being put in by the impressive Pitman, the goalie just getting to it first. That was about as near as either side got to adding to the score until the first minute off Five added when Grant ward broke into the box and tried to round the keeper when the simplest of 5 yard passes to the totally unmarked varney would have seen us double our lead, pretty selfish in truth but we can afford him that mistake.
The whole atmosphere was quite subdued today what with the Murphy story breaking and a below standard crowd which hopefully will improves as the season progresses. I felt by and alrge we did ok and once we scored they never did enough to get level, we still have One or two players not quite at the races but nothing to overly complain about, Sears did look a bit more lively today and was close to a couple of goals. I thought Pitman led the line well and Grant ward again showed his quality at times and chipped in with another crucial strike. In the first half we dominated the Midfield with Douglas again the stand out performer but second half we seemed to lose a bit of the battle at times. Playing Smith & Berra did lend itself to a bit more of the hoofball than we have seen of late but a clean sheet cannot be knocked although Preston aren't that hot to be fair.
So that is 8/15 for August and 2 wins 2 Draws and a single defeat and with the fixtures we have had I would say we have done ok, Norwich & Wolves were hard fixtures, we put 4 past a Barnsley side that are flying if you look at the table, we did Preston today with a gritty display and outplayed Brentford in the first half at their place, so that is one bad half of football in the month. September looks very tough so a repeat of that set of results would be most welcome.
One poisitive out of today is the news that Kaikai was in the Directors, surely that can only mean one thing and if true would be a great signing. The coming week promises to be very interesting one for a change as we are usually about the only team not to be involved in late deals. I would just like to add good Luck Daryl Murphy , I wish you well, you have been a loyal servant to our club and deserve this last big move. Oh yeah one final thing....Can you hear the Budgies sing !!! NO....NO....f**king tin pot club, for Two weeks at least we can revel in the fact we are above the scummers, league tables don't lie, we are the pride of Anglia.
The attendance was low but it was Preston and it's August bank holiday w/e.
If we keep wining things will improve.
Decent first half, thought we were on for a big win but lost our way after the hour mark. Never really thought we'd concede - Tommy Smith was great all game, Chambers had a poor first half. Pitman played well and him and Sears were a bit unlucky not to score.
Not an epic but 3 points is what we needed.
Not sure what happened with MM going all John Cleese at the fourth official, I assume the fourth official put up the wrong substitute numbers - twice!
Great to see narwich get hammered and it could/should have Been worse.
Ipswich Town v Preston North End 
