Since You've Been Gone

ITFC V Burnley 19th October 2013

Another wet Saturday afternoon at Portman Roads and most of the pre-match talk was about losing another manager, just five days short of the anniversary of Paul Jewell's sacking. Mick McCarthy is now the bookies favourite for the Republic of Ireland job and refuses to rule himself out which must be unsettling to the players no matter what spin is put on it.

It was actually a decent game on a miserably wet afternoon against surprise leaders Burnley and just when I thought that we were heading for a goalless draw, which wouldn't have been a bad result, Scott Arfield went and spoilt things with a flicked a header into the net past Town keeper Scott Loach (a first half replacement for the injured Dean Gerkin) for the only goal of the game, ten minutes from the end.

Ipswich 0-1 Burnley

                                       Arfield

Att: 16,062

The playlist

Since You've been Gone by Rainbow - There have been so many positives in the twelve months since Jewell's exit and McCarthy's arrival, there's a lot more stability (we've even got a team made up of signings rather than loans) and we are at last moving in the right direction. It'll be a sad day for ITFC if Mick does take the R.O.I. Job.

Do You Remember The First Time?

Sheffield Wednesday v ITFC October 5th 2013

It was a tight squeeze in the Astra going up to Sheffield, especially for Sam Max & Paul in the back! We broke the journey up with a stop for coffee at Café Amore on the A1 in Nottinghamshire. It was just after 1pm when we arrived in Hillsborough, blagging a £1 "members discount" on the car park behind The Kop - Paul's idea!

Last season when we went to Sheffield, we parked at Meadowhall, went into the city centre and had something to eat and a couple of pints their. After catching the tram up to Hillsborough Paul & I needed to answer the call of nature, so we went into a pub which we later found out had been a public baths back in the day.

Man City v Everton on the big screen

Before our trip this season I looked it up on the Internet and found that it was called The Rawson Spring, once that I had found that out I decided it would be our pub of choice before the game. We traced our steps back from the ground along the tram line and as we approached the Hillsborough Park stop a tram pulled in, so we jumped on it for the one stop ride. The conductor was getting close to us as we approached the Hillsborough stop, fortunately, he collected a fare from another person whilst the tram was waiting for the traffic lights to change, so we just managed to get off before he could collect any fares from us!

There was a gloomy atmosphere inside the half full Hillsborough, Wednesday have had a mediocre start to season - still waiting for their first win and it felt like their fans had turned up to witness a home defeat!

3 0'clock on a Saturday afternoon at Hillsborough - that's football

Ipswich started brightly and took the lead after 12 minutes, Paul Anderson finishing well after he converted David McGoldrick's (the Sky Bet player of the month for September) cross. That was that then I thought, three points heading our way, but no, we only managed to hold the lead for two minutes before Michail Antonio headed in an equaliser, following poor marking from the Town defence. The nearest that we came to scoring another goal was in the 37th minute when Cole Skuse hit the post with a fizzing 25 yard shot.

The second half was as drab a 45 minutes of football as I can remember, the hosts nearly nicked a win when substitute Jermaine Johnson hit the Town crossbar from 35 yards out.

After saying goodbye to Paul who was getting a train back to Harrogate, Sam drove us home, he had decided not to drink - shock, horror!

"Thank god that's over"

We stopped for something to eat at The Plough & Fleece in Horningsea, which is just off the A14 near Cambridge - not the best pub I've ever been in!

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Ipswich

Antonio                                                                       Anderson

Att: 19,519

The Playlist: Do You Remember The First Time? by Pulp - You can't beat a bit of Pulp on a trip to Sheffield!

Sun Is Shining

ITFC v Brighton September 28th 2013

Having my birthday on a Saturday along with plenty of Autumn sunshine, football and a win thrown in for good measure - what a lucky boy I am!

The day got off to a good start with a "full house" at the Whistlestop Cafe in Woodbridge after taking Rudie for a walk on Sutton Heath.

That'll do nicely

Max somehow "won" Sharon's season ticket again and came to football with me "I'll drive" - what a hero! We went for a pint at the Thomas Wolsey before the game and luckily we were a lot more sensible than on our previous visit there, the home game v Hull last season where we laid the foundations for a massive hangover!

Max with his fresh Dean Gerken trim

"Oh David McGoldrick" was the main man scoring two first half goals. The first one took a deflection off former Town loanee Keith Andrews and looped over his helpless keeper Tomasz Kuszczak, the second one, a classy left foot finish. McGoldrick's brace came after Brighton had missed a sitter in the first few minutes of the game. We never looked in any real trouble after that and had a relatively easy afternoon.

McGoldrick salutes the North Stand

The day was rounded off nicely back in Woodbridge in the evening. After having a drink at the Duke Of York with Sam (who was working, so we hardly saw him) Sharon, Tracey and I met Max 

And Leanne in the Cherry Tree for a meal.

All in all it was an excellent birthday.

Ipswich 2-0 Brighton

McGoldrick 20,24

Attendance: 16,474

The playlist

Sun Is Shining by Bob Marley & The Wailers - we have to make the most of these sunny days at this time of year in Suffolk!