It’s So Tight At The Top – 3 Things, Ipswich Town v Aston Villa

Three Things – Ipswich Town

It’s getting tighter than a camel’s backside in a sandstorm for the remaining promotion place as Cardiff, Fulham and ourselves make the final push to try and join Wolves in the “Promised Land” (©Premier League/Sky TV marketing bull). Cardiff are in the box seats as it stands, still having a game in hand. Although by the time we all kick off on Saturday, Fulham may have leapfrogged into second having played play-off chasing Millwall on Friday night.

Basically, automatic promotion is out of our hands, and we will have a much clearer idea of our chances by 10pm on Tuesday when Cardiff and Derby have played their snow-postponed game in hand. We will all be on 44 games at that stage. Then the smart money must be on Cardiff (with Hull and Reading to play) or Fulham (Sunderland and Small Heath) rather than ourselves (Derby and Millwall), considering their points advantage. Stranger things have happened though.

Anyway, before all of that, we have a visit back to East Anglia, this time to Portman Road. We’ve been denied the chance to say farewell to Mick McCarthy as he’s already jumped ship – although he said he’d stand down at the end of the season, he’d obviously had a gutful of the Tractor Boys and bailed three games early. I don’t think he’ll be greatly missed in Ipswich, but he didn’t have a bad record – he got them to the play-offs as recently as 2015 and they finished 7th the year after.

They have nothing left to play for this season, so we really could do with them rolling over for us.

1) Keep the dream alive

We’re still in with a shout – just. Cardiff and Fulham may have the easier finish (as I’ve alluded to above) but we are not out of it – win our final three games and we’ll end up on 88 points, which is more than the average of 86.8 which normally guarantees the second automatic spot. We need to win to keep ourselves in the mix.

There is no reason why we can’t – we are far better than Ipswich in every department and let’s hope the players (and coaches) haven’t decided to settle for the play-offs. We are almost certainly guaranteed 4th place (beating Derby at home next week will make sure even if they win their games in hand) but surely we can do better? Even if we come up short of second place, winning the remaining games will build some good momentum going into the play-offs, if that is where our fate should lie.

2) Don’t take unnecessary risks

Having said all that, I think Steve Brice would be foolish to take any unnecessary risks. This game is not ‘win at all costs’. I would be happy to see Kodjia restored to the bench, coming on for the last 20-30 minutes as he continues his return to full fitness. The same goes for doubtfuls like Bjarnason, Hutton and Terry. If we started with the team which beat Cardiff, perhaps with Hogan in for Kodjia and Adomah in to give Snoddy a rest, I’d be well happy with that and we still should have too much for Ipswich.

It would be nice to see a couple of the youngsters on the bench as well – Davis and O’Hare maybe – to give them a bit more experience. Ideally, if we are to be resigned to the play-offs, we will hopefully have a fully fit squad to choose from and as long as we avoid any red cards, we shouldn’t have anyone suspended either. Assuming our fate is sealed by the tie we play Derby, I’d like to see a few youngsters given a start as we rest the main bods ahead of the play-off semi-final.

3) Portman Road – a fans guide

There may be a few reading this who’ve not been to Ipswich before, but are caught up in the excitement as the season draws to a close. Info on how to get there, where to park, etc. can be found on the official website.

If you get there early enough and fancy a drink before the game, the main away supporters’ pub is the Riverside (Station) Hotel, which as the name suggests, backs onto a river and is located close to the railway station (a five-minute walk away from Portman Road). Otherwise the Punch & Judy pub on Cardinal Park, which is close to the ground has also been recommended as a pub which is family-orientated and where both sets of fans can enjoy a drink.

The other pubs in the area such as the Curve bar on Princes Street and Degeros on St. Nicholas Street and the Drum and Monkey, are best avoided by visiting fans.

More (unofficial) info can be found here.

So….. COME ON YOU LIONS! Three more ‘regular season’ games to get ourselves over the line. Do you want to bet against us?