Ipswich Town bagged a much-needed win against Championship leaders Coventry City
Ipswich Town columnist Karl Fuller shares his thoughts on dismal draw at Blackburn Rovers, the thrilling win against Coventry City and meeting an ex-Blue in the North East.
After the hugely disappointing performance at Blackburn, Saturday sparked life back into us all. Yes, we may have had a bit of luck – and Coventry fans will cite the absence of key players – but we still worked hard for three points.
In the end, they were fully deserved. It made for a great weekend. To cap it off, I caught up with a Town legend and the Women’s team.
With regards to that Blackburn game, how we got out of that with a draw I will never know. What I will say is that, after the shenanigans of the original fixture, all was proven correct to replay the game in full.
Goals are scored after the 80th minute. It probably rubbed salt into sore wounds when Sindre Walle Egeli scored his first for Town in the 94th minute to earn us a valuable point. The decision to abandon the original game was vindicated as, yet again, the Ewood Park pitch failed to hold on Saturday thanks to another deluge of rain.
We got the point that our performance did not deserve. On the back of a defeat at Oxford, it was a highly disappointing duo of games. With high-flying Coventry up next, there were probably many Town fans expecting the worst. I was quite confident.
Blackburn Rovers had another game called off due to a waterlogged pitch (Image: Ross Halls)
I banked on Coventry coming at us, which in turn would give us the best opportunity of getting at them. We rode a testing storm for half an hour and were indebted to two great saves by Christian Walton. Then that man Walle Egeli doubled his Town goal tally and, in truth, we rarely looked back.
I do feel that George Hirst was a lucky man not to receive a red card – not necessarily for the offence, but in the interest of consistency. What I will say, as I usually do, is that we have been on the end of enough wrong decision over recent years. We must accept them either way.
After George had missed a one-on-one, it was a huge relief to see him tuck away a second opportunity. It is a shame that he is suspended for Wednesday night’s game against Stoke as his confidence will have been lifted. He will be itching to get back out there again.
Ivan Azon rounded off a great and much-needed afternoon with a cool finish. There were several excellent performances, We must now build on this. A win against Stoke will consolidate both our position in the table and renewed confidence in us all that this squad can deliver.
With a morale-boosting win to enjoy, my attentions then turned to my trip up north and to Durham. Primarily to visit my daughter, who is at university there. But it presented a great opportunity to catch up with Eric Gates.
Karl met ex-Blue Eric Gates on his travels up in the North East (Image: Karl Fuller)
Eric was one of eight players I interviewed for my most recent Ipswich book, ‘For Town and Country’. This looks back at the 12 Ipswich players that played for England. I promised Eric that I would get a copy of the book to him and this was my chance.
We met in his daughter’s restaurant, The Curious Mr Fox, in Durham’s fine city centre. Let me tell you, Eric has not changed at all. He still has his shoulder length hair and is his usual bustling self.
He spoke excitedly of his time playing for Ipswich and England. He also confirmed that he still follows the fortunes of Town. He lives a quiet life on a farm, which takes up a lot of his time, preventing him from getting back to Ipswich.
We could have talked for hours had I have been on my own. He certainly could not believe that only 12 Town players had represented England. He is clearly proud to be one of them.
Sunday afternoon was a first-time experience of watching a Town Women away game. They thoroughly deserved their 1-1 draw against Durham at Maiden Castle. Shauna Guyatt put Town in front, but the lead lasted just six minutes. At the final whistle, I stood with my wife and daughter, holding up our Town flag applauding the ladies off.
Town player Beth Roe came over to thank us for our support. This was a lovely touch and a kind gesture by Beth. Well done ladies
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