Cold at the Seaside

Tuesday 31st August 2010, FC Clacton 1 Colney Heath 5, FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay - Rush Green Bowl

An evening at the seaside, well actually not that close to the sea, seems weird for a town as small as Clacton to have an 'out of town' ground,





Another non league stand with a great name - 'The Bus Shelter'



This one even had a bus stop fitted to the shelter!

David James - England's 92?

Saturday 28th August 2010 - Ipswich Town 2 Bristol City 0, Portman Road - Championship

A great win for the Town but we may have only won thanks to David James - no longer England's Number 1 (oh and I do know that all 92 teams do not have English goalkeepers but if there we 91 other English keepers, not sure many would have had as bad a game as 'Calamity' James.

Crewe - keeping on the right track

Tuesday 24th August 2010 - Crewe Alexandra 0 Ipswich Town 1 (aet) League Cup Round 2



A drive up to Cheshire to watch Ipswich play away again the cup ( never seem to get a cup tie at home). The team line ups indicated that Ipswich were going out to win this, and the next 90 minutes did see plenty of attacking football and goal scoring opportunities - trouble was it was both teams who were attacking and getting those opportunities to score. But after 90 minutes it was still nil, nil and so extra time had to be played. Norris got the winning goal so we now just have to wait till Saturday to see if we get that long awaited home cup tie.

The game also saw the debut for Ipswich of Jason Scotland, he threw himself around, and there was plenty to throw around! But I have a feeling he will get the goals we need - if not the Crew forward Donaldson looked a good bet for someone who could play at a higher level.

'Big ground but small crowd'




The crowd of just over 3,000 seemed to be lost within the Gresty Road ground- leading to the Ipswich fans singing 'Your ground is to big for you'!

At the Palace - and so were Davids and Pablo!

Saturday 21st August 2010 - Crystal Palace 1 Ipswich Town 2 - Championship

A new route to Selhurst Park as we took the overground train from Shoreditch High Street. Palace - Ipswich games are always exciting, sending offs, late goals, comebacks and this season was no different.



It was a surreal game in many ways with Burley, Ambrose Wright, and Price at Selhurst Park and they even introduced their two new players at half time, Edgar Davids and Pablo! Two other ex Ipswich players were at the centre of all the action, Alan Lee and Owen Garvan seemed very keen to put one over on the Town but thanks to a brilliant team display they could not, and in the end both players spent most of the game talking to the ref and Garvan in particular helped get our young player Townsend sent off. Many Town fans had a soft spot for Owen but he lost many of those supporters today.
Jon Stead was awesome it what may have been his last game in a blue shirt. Lets just hope we have some new players in before next week.

A return to Foxhall

Monday 16th August - Ipswich Witches Speedway v Swindon Robins Speedway - Elite Premier League Ipswich win 56 - 37

After a gap of over 30 years, I returned to Foxhall Stadium to see the Ipswich Witches race. And what a great result it was as bottom of the league won comfortably with Scotty Nicholls on fire and only Leigh Adams racing well for the Robins.



The stadium had changed little over those 30 years, well one side had dramatically changed since my last visit! The great storm of 1987 had got rid of the old east Stand from Portman Road which used to sit on the far straight. The crash barriers now had the look of a bouncy castle but the cafes, bar and supporters hut looked the same, pity the crowds are not as high as they were in the days when John Louis raced for the team rather than owned it. If you get a chance get along to Foxhall. I will certainly try and get along more often.
Oh and the stand may have gone, crowds may be down but you still get that addictive smell on the 1st bend.

Looks like it might be a good seaon

Saturday 14th August 2010 - Ipswich Town 1 Burnley 1

Well the youngsters showed they are talented, and if we get a few good players in this week this amy be a season to remember, pity the Walters/Counago/Keane thing is putting a slight black cloude over what has been a promising start.

Who are the Reserves?

Ipswich Town 0 Tottenham Hotspur XI 1, Portman Road, Tuesday 3rd August 2010

We knew Spurs were going to field a reserve side, but no mention by the club or the Press that Ipswich were going to field an even more inexperienced side!

They even had an England world Cup player in their side plus a very expensive East European and we had......Reggie Lamb!