Andy Munro witnesses a good win for Blues against Ipswich Town.
This was a game that we didn’t want to lose in our bid to becoming increasingly serious about the play offs. This was also one of the reasons that the atmosphere was bubbling, in fairness, in part due to an excellent and boisterous following from East Anglia.
Early on, both sides had chances with Blues maybe having a slight edge in that department. New boy Buckley looked really lively for somebody with the supposed footballing equivalent of ring rust and, as a bonus, physically strong for a position often notorious for its frailty. So perhaps it was fitting that he was ‘Johnny on the Spot’ to poke the ball home after an excellent Blues move led to a melee in the Tractor Boys’ six yard area.
The sending off of an Ipswich player was perhaps a little harsh although from a distance, it did look like a studs up potential leg breaker. However, this seemed to fire up both the opposition and their fans, as often happens when a siege mentality kicks in. Sears was a constant menace and it was a relief when a Toral thunderbolt gave us a two nil cushion. I suppose the good news for Blues is that he’s a tremendous player at Championship level but whether he would be Wenger’s ‘tasse de the’ is another matter.
Even better followed when Mikel ‘never score goals’ Kleftenbeld fired home home yet another thunderbolt which even Van Basten would have been proud of. Soloman-Otabor came on to give a lively cameo but by then we were home and hosed against a side who will cause any Championship side a packet of problems and will, themselves, be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. For Blues, the win has a number of benefits…improving a mediocre goal difference in play off terms and condensing the points difference between the play off contenders, while opening a gap below Ipswich.
There’s still time to strengthen further and the attempt to net Fabrini is apparently more than a rumour. Apart from this and trying to extend Buckley’s loan spell, a physically imposing central defender should be a priority, despite another excellent performance by the evergreen Robbo. However, the way we are playing,that is probably all we need which is an indication of how far we’ve travelled since the dark days of Lee Clarke.
