Wednesday 7 March 2012

GUEST BLOG: Nick Chenery reports from Southampton

24 hours ago I was jumping around my spare room cheering Jason Scotland's equaliser against Southampton.

Yet another good result came Town's way last night and it's become a bit of a tradition for me to support the boys by listening to the commentary on Ipswich Player when I can't make it to a game.

Whilst I'll be publishing my views on Town's latest two matches tomorrow, I thought you might like to hear from one true Blue fan who managed to make the long, long journey to St Mary's last night.

In the second of Diary of a Tractor Girl's guest blogs, I introduce to you Nick Chenery. Nick's long been one of my favourite #ITFC twitter fans to talk to, great for debate and always very positive. So, as he made the very late journey back to Suffolk last night I asked if he'd mind letting us know his thoughts on the game.

Before Tuesday, most Town fans would have taken a point away from this trip to the league leaders.

After all, though Ipswich were on a run of five wins in six, Southampton themselves had won the last four games without conceding a single goal.

Both Saints and Town fielded unchanged sides from their victories over Leeds and Bristol City respectively, so, on paper this pointed to a home win. But that doesn't take into account of the crazy nature of the Championship!

The first half belonged to Southampton for the most part, with Town having to play defensively from balls coming in over the top and down the wings. But, as in recent weeks, the defence stood up to the task. The main chances were a Saints shot blocked by Tommy Smith, an Alex McCarthy save down at the far post, and a disallowed goal.

The second half was notably better than the first, with both teams gunning for the win: Chopra had a glorious chance, but his header was saved at the near post. Soon after Chopra was clipped by a Southampton player and gave JET a chance to hit a free kick from distance, that shot ended up clipping the outside of the post.

Then the deadlock was broken, Daniel De Ridder squaring to Rickie Lambert who was able to finish beyond Alex McCarthy in the Town goal.

But, with five minutes to go, Town shown they hadn't given up yet: as Jason Scotland picked the ball up on the right hand side, took it across the edge of the box and his shot was deflected past Kelvin Davis in the Southampton goal.

There was also a late chance for Town to take all three points as Aaron Cresswell had a shot from distance, but that was blocked by Chopra.

The draw was a fair result, with either side having the better of either half. That makes Town on a run of 1 defeat in 7 and fighting for places in mid-table. Let's hope the boys can build for next season. Southampton were left two points clear at the top, with second placed West Ham having two games in hand.


Don't forget, if you'd like to right about Ipswich Town - you can get in touch with me @tractorgirlamy8

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