Ipswich Town will host Bristol Rovers at Portman Road for a third-round match on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to move past their embarrassing FA Cup performance from 2024. Last time out, the Tractor Boys shared the spoils with Fulham at Craven Cottage, while the Gas secured a much-needed League One win after a management change.
Ipswich Town had a terrible afternoon at Portman Road in the fourth round of the FA Cup last season, losing 2-1 to National League South team Maidstone United, despite having had two incredibly successful seasons during which they were promoted from League One to the Premier League.
Kieran McKenna’s team is fighting hard to escape an immediate return to the pressures of the Championship, so naturally, the Tractor Boys’ primary attention has been on their first top-flight season in twenty years, even if they will be anxious to prevent a similar upset this Sunday.
After suffering back-to-back losses to Newcastle United and Arsenal, Ipswich has recovered to end their holiday program with four points from two top-flight matches at Craven Cottage against Chelsea, led by Enzo Maresca, and Fulham, another West London rival.
After suffering back-to-back losses to Newcastle United and Arsenal, Ipswich has recovered to end their holiday program with four points from two top-flight matches at Craven Cottage against Chelsea, led by Enzo Maresca, and Fulham, another West London rival.
Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap put the Tractor Boys ahead at Craven Cottage last time out thanks to a strike connection that was formed in the Championship. However, two penalties from Raul Jimenez forced a sharing of the league points on a rainy afternoon in the capital.
With four points from their last two games, McKenna’s team enters its FA Cup-style break in 18th place in the Premier League rankings, 10 points ahead of undefeated Southampton and tied for 17th place with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The West Country team fought to a much-needed 1-0 victory at the home of relegation-threatened Cambridge United, and Bristol Rovers enjoyed maximum points from a League One match last time out for the first time in a new era under the leadership of forward-thinking Spaniard Inigo Calderon.
The Gas defeated the U’s to end a seven-game losing streak in the third division that had started in November. Winger Luke Thomas’s first league goal of the 2024–25 season proved to be the game-winning goal in a contest between two struggling teams.
In an attempt to pull away from the bottom four of the League One standings, Bristol Rovers fired former manager Matt Taylor in mid-December. However, a challenging holiday season has left Calderon’s team in 20th place, five pointsahead of Crawley Town in 21st.
Finding the back of the net has been a major problem for the Gas this season, as they have only scored 22 goals in 24 third-tier games. This situation may get worse in light of the news that star striker Promise Omochere has suffered a serious hamstring injury.
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