In this week’s John Wark column, John was concerned that the pitch will have a negative effect on the game.

Thankfully it seems that this isn’t a big problem as first thought. The players had a training session on it last night and reported that it was OK, despite having Spartak Moscow playing on it in a Champions’ League match just two days ago.

Must have been quite eerie playing at an empty 80,000-seater Luzhniki Stadium. The attendance tonight will only be about 10,000 with 1,000 of those Ipswich Town fans. Marcus Stewart said “I have played in front of 7,000 fans before with [Bristol] Rovers, but their stadium is massive and I think with a crowd like that it will be a little strange.”

Marcus will be hoping to be making up for the penalty miss in the second leg. “The penalty miss doesn't weigh heavily on my mind at all. I'm not worried in the slightest. In fact, if anything I can't wait to take another one just to get the miss out of the system. I hope it is not in the last minute and we need it to win though!”

Matt Holland is looking forward to leading the Town team out this evening. “We have learned from the first leg with Torpedo and we want to take it on from here now. The whole team is feeling very up for this game and we are confident we can get the right result”.

Sir Alf’s Medals Bought by ITFC

At Christies this morning, representatives from Ipswich Town FC purchased the 3 gold medals won by Sir Alf Ramsey whilst at Portman Road. The 1956/57 Division Three South Championship medal, the 1960/61 Division Two Championship medal and the 1961/62 Division One Championship medal will all be on display in the new Hall of Fame at the end of the year.

Photo: Action Images

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