Grinding it out against the Tractor Boys

Andy Munro watches Blues get a 1-0 at home to Ipswich Town.

Anybody who thought that this would be the proverbial walk in the park obviously doesn’t know the Championship. Even though Blues were unchanged after the thrashing of Hull, this was a hard fought and slightly nervy victory ground out mostly on commitment and a shape/structure to the side – a new concept after the Cotterill chaos.

In the first half, Blues deserved to edge proceedings not least because Stockdale didn’t have to make a save whilst offensively Colin and Maghoma caused mayhem down the left flank. In fact following a superlatively accurate Stockdale throw out, it was Maghoma’s skill and pace that led to the Blues penalty. This was calmly slotted home by the reborn Jota whose dead ball skills are putting a certain Mr. Gardner’s in the shade.

The rest of the back four acquitted themselves admirably with Morrison almost back to his best and young Wes Harding again putting in an impressive performance despite one or two wayward passes. On that note, it was good to see Gary Monk also putting a young forward, Odin Bailey,on the bench.

However the second half saw Ipswich come right back into it, no doubt following a halftime roasting from ‘Mad Mick’. In fact , there were several scary moments for the Blues defence although, in fairness, Blues also had a couple of chances to extend their lead.

Luckily, Blues held out for a priceless three points and moved out of the bottom three. Certainly, Gary Monk and his backroom team have got Blues playing like a proper cohesive team with a structure and belief that seemed an impossible dream a few weeks ago.