In the third part of a series reflecting on what has been a memorable season, Mullet and HarryfromBath, with the help of some opposition supporters, reflect on a month when things didn’t run quite so smoothly after the highs of September.

October was a rare month, leaving Town often bloodied. Only four games this month and first up was a Sunday stroll up to Nottingham. It'd been a decade and a half since we last won in the Rushcliffe environs and ultimately we'd wait another year.

Jonny Williams followed his dramatic introduction in midweek with a starting bow in place of the Bish while Paul Anderson also failed to join former Forest players Chambo and Didzy due to injury.

It was an action-packed game in front of yet another packed away end. By now it was clear, Town fans were happy to travel and happier in general. The season started a massive upswing in bigger and better away support.

Town were up for a fight and scrapping away long before Daryl Murphy produced a piece of magic to open the scoring. I saw it thusly:

“Sweet ball onto the right, Murphy's first touch exquisite. As if keeping up with McGoldrick who did similar at Wednesday last Tuesday, the big man slinked and shimmied a slalom run and finish into the far corner of the net.”

An early goal of the season contender no doubt. It took until the second half for Forest to level, a powerful effort from a corner — it's fair to say despite Town's effort, they'd got back on top in the game. Their man rising above ours to equalise was no surprise.

Murphy doubled his tally following a Jay Tabb and Tyrone Mings interchange of excellence down the left. The big man crossed, the big Irishman deposited the header with vengeance. Town showed that even away from they'd die hard. It was to crush the die-hards and casuals alike in a big away end when the game finished a minute too late.

Dean Gerken floundered again at a set piece as all around him failed to spot Michail Antonio levelling in the fifth minute of injury time. All this despite Town switching to a back five and sacrificing attacking guile meant surrendering two points needlessly.

“I’ll take a draw”, “It was a solid away performance from Ipswich - they are the top form side in the division, but there wasn't much between the two sides”, “I thought Ipswich were very organised. They stifled us and were very difficult to break down.”

“Stuart Pearce isn’t the one to get promotion. It won’t be happening.” The consensus was that Mick McCarthy had set his team up more astutely than Pearce. “What we need to do is move our defensive pressure higher up the field. We're letting Ipswich pass the midfield line every time, and then suddenly one of their players breaks through.”

“Why so much long ball, it's really annoying and pointless.” Forest supporters were frustrated by their inability to dictate play, resulting in their being reduced to what fans felt to be a more direct approach. “Are Forest an average mid-table side with a few lucky wins at the start or are we genuine promotion hopefuls suffering a blip in form?”

Town had a short break and 13 days later Blackburn would visit FPR. Again the opponents would leave many feeling hard luck, or bad luck. Despite Didzy hitting a rare goal direct from a freekick a Town side missing Murphy, Luke Hyam and Chambo (deputised by Tommy Smith) and had Joniesta limping along having been injured on international duty — the Lancastrians would prove mighty opposition.

A front line of Stephen Hunt Didzy and Conor Sammon and midfield of Cole Skuse, Williams and Kevin Bru was perhaps the most unorthodox selection we'd seen from Mick for a while. Town would press their advantage for just over an hour as Matthew Kilgallon finally saw red for another clumsy challenge. Didzy took the ball from 20 yards out and put it away decisively.

The lead would again last again until just before the final whistle. Despite one-way traffic Town hit a speed bump as an innocuous Christoph Berra tussle saw a stunning strike from the dead-ball by Marshall. A surname synonymous with dodgy keeping left Gerken with little chance. Another game, another point, another draw. Rancour amongst the rank and file of fans ensued!

“I am happy with the point on the road. Truly. Considering where we were at the 90-minute mark, a point is pennies from heaven”, “Fair play to the team for getting a point from this situation.” Rovers were delighted to grab a late equaliser having been down to 10 men for most of the second half.

Some felt that the red card issued to Kilgallon was given by a referee compensating for earlier leniency. “Good result, especially after yet another shocking refereeing decision appeared to have beaten us”, “Ipswich didn't have to work very hard to find time and space to pick players out between the lines.”

“Overall it wasn't a particularly good game, Ipswich looked really off their usual intensity in the first half and we were probably the better of two pretty ordinary looking teams, certainly on chances created. I can imagine that Ipswich got a roasting at half-time and came out much better in the second half and definitely stepped up a gear.”

From bad to worse it seemed, and what else could one expect from a trip to Wales? A hard month on the soul and the side as changes kept coming but results stayed frustratingly flat. Undefeated in eight felt like little in the way of a feat. That too would soon end.

Former Blues Cardiff faced a Town side rejoined by Murphy and Chambo but sadly not rejuvenated by them.

A disallowed goal on 20 or so threatened and forewarned. However, Town again went without reading the script and Murphy improvised with a seventh strike of the season and a scintillating smashing of Town into the lead.

By half-time it'd be all square as Cardiff rounded off the half with a strike from 25 yards past a prone Gerks. There was no sense of robbery from Peter Whittingham's shot.

Cardiff took just a couple of minutes to get going after the break and made it 2-1. Town began to lose ground as the hosts beat Gerken for a third time with a deflected effort. At 3-1 the lead was beyond Town's grasp and after weeks of rueing draws; the Blues would have been glad to take just a point away.

“A comfortable win against a good side”, “It was good for team confidence to see us able to show the spirit to come from a goal down, and win.” “Ipswich boasted an unbeaten run of eight matches, but that’s gone now.”

Bluebirds were delighted with this win, and especially with the industry shown throughout the team. It may have been local bias, but one Town player stood out for their viewpoint. “I thought Jonny Williams for Ipswich was the best player on the pitch.”

“Welshman Williams was a major danger before half-time, but he could not maintain that form and was eventually taken off by manager McCarthy”, “I was surprised and pleased to see him get subbed. I would love to see him playing for us.”

An evening abroad was followed with Town back home in front of the faithful. Prayers for points would again see God simply shrug, and wave us on. Another game and another set of changes as injury and ill-discipline robbed us of Joniesta, Bru and Mings respectively. The less exotic replacements of Smith, Hyam and Bishop returned as our captain took up his position at right-back.

Gravity addict and pie-worrier Grant Holt made for light relief as his first break clean saw him finish in signature style - wide and woeful in the face of onrushing Gerken. Less than 10 minutes later a Bishop corner was uninhibited all the way to the back post where the only Tommy Smith that matters made it matter with a simple finish from a yard or so.

Despite plenty of changes the Terriers were dogged by poor finishing and improvised defending. Town were in the lead again and managed to hold onto it by the time the whistle came, unfortunately it was on the half-time one.

Town came back to the field the better, and took another step towards victory through their defenders. Jonny Parr found McG who found Berra who found the net again. A fourth for the Scot and a second for Town — the visitors had it all to do if they were even things up.

A switch back to classical 4-4-2 put the Yorkshire side back in tune. In a season where penalties were conspicuous by their absence for Town, the protests of Chambo went unheard as he was adjudged to be the fouler and not the foulee. The game was back on as Town were pegged back, 2-1 from 12 yards.

Mick followed suit and switched to 4-4-2 as well. It yielded another goal, but another for Huddersfield. A move down the right was the wrong thing for us as Nahki Wells left Town fans crying, heading home the leveller whilst Ipswich held their heads collectively at more dropped points. A month to forget and littered with memorable moments came to an ill-favoured end.

“Today's game was oh so similar to the games at Ipswich in each of the last two seasons, with Huddersfield being by far the better team, but failing to win yet again. Ipswich do not play good football, but they're a scrappy and tenacious outfit and never give teams time to settle. Getting a draw having been 2-0 down with 20 minutes left was more than satisfactory.”

“Ipswich were a bit of a strange 4-3-3 with three big relatively slow lads up front and they can be direct”, “Ipswich are a strong, direct power side”, “They play for and use the set piece as good as anyone since Wimbledon. I was expecting much better as I once considered Ipswich as a club that like to play football on the floor.”

“The only thing Ipswich did better than us was set plays. Their delivery into the box was excellent, ours was dreadful. In the first half their only threat came from set pieces and so it was that despite having all our big lads playing we conceded another soft goal from a corner.”

“It’s a long time since we've come back from 2-0 down”, “We were negative, lacklustre and boring against quite a poor Ipswich side, and when we finally took the game to Ipswich we went and scored two goals”, “We went to Ipswich, played them off the park, showed great character in getting back in the game and got a point.”

A month without a win from so many winning positions ultimately cost Town a glut of precious points and Gerken his place in the team. If despair, hope and heartache had all taken turns on the minds of Town fans so far this season then at some point it must all become worth it. Some points in November might just have been enough to more than prove it.

2014/15 Championship Date Range: 1-AUG-2014 to 31-OCT-2014

Photo: Action Images

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