In part eight of a series reflecting on what has been a memorable season, Mullet and HarryfromBath, with the help of some opposition supporters, turn their attention to a month which saw Town go toe-to-toe with many fellow promotion contenders.

March was manic and saw Town faltering. There were half a dozen reasons in this month's fixtures to think the season was either back on track or over.

Town opened the month with a short trip up the road. All that money from failure and the most expensive tickets of the season meant a hardy few were as ever to be herded into Carrow Road under heavy police ‘protection. Controversy at Ipswich Station aside, a few geezers meant that the travelling blues made the pilgrimage in atmosphere more akin to Gaza.

Richard Chaplow tipped a diamond in his full Blues debut with Kevin Bru and Jay Tabb ahead of Cole Skuse. However, Town failed to shine in a typically difficult derby day battle.

Norwich's attack went south (coast) early doors, diving in the area and only winning a corner. Town remained resolute as the final third and final touch played hard to get for them. The best of a half chance saw Norwich turn the ball over and counter.

Bradley Johnson, the yellows’ cut-price Pirlo produced a worldy of an opener - perhaps the best goal Town have conceded for years. Trying his luck from distance, it was the type of shot that usually bothers those in the nosebleed sections of stands.

But a sweep of the foot and he rolled a six, ripping apart and bloodying Town with an effort that gives a far better argument for atheism than Dawkins ever could.

Freddie Sears had two decent chances for Town in a half where the breakthrough never looked likely to come. Neither side really pushed on before the break. Chaplow's debut ended there, again far from full with Luke Varney preferred in his Whitton/Walters role of striker-cum-midfielder.

Soon after Norwich would claim the points. An inadvertent attempt from out wide cannoned off Tyrone Mings and the onrushing Lewis Grabban into the net. Norwich doubled the lead and with it Town, an effort off the line from a quick set-piece routine the closest to a comeback for the Blues. Norwich passed us into defeat and a place behind them.

“Job done”, “It was not a game for purists, but a job needed doing, and it was achieved with minimum fuss or stress”, “We totally deserved that. The boys worked hard and they never really threatened. It was a bit scrappy at times but that's a derby game for you.”

Canaries’ by-and-large felt that this was a tricky fixture negotiated, but post-match comments came with inevitable assessment of our play. “I can't forget how poor the team from down the A140 were, the worst Ipswich team that has been to Carrow Road and I don't think they will make the play-offs.”

“Ipswich are a hard-working side. They are physical, with just a modicum of skill and talent. They have done really well to be there where they are”, “They had some long spells of possession without doing anything with it. They only really had one clear-cut chance where Ruddy made a superb save from Freddie Sears who was their best player.”

“Mings looked okay, but on today's evidence paying £10 million for him like Arsenal were reportedly interested in doing would be a waste of money. He's a right dirty bastard. Ipswich's only real tactic though was to launch the ball up towards Murphy and hope he could do something with it.”

Next Tuesday would see Leeds up for us at Elland Road. Few packed the away gantry but a noise soon swelled as Varney met a wonderful Ando cross and headed home. Thunderous applause would soon go as the lino flagged the loanee offside.

The controversial selection of Chris Wood and Varney up front with Daryl Murphy and Sears on the bench gave many fans a headache. Despite a decent opening half and some midfield play that showed promise, Mick's side failed to deliver. Leeds were not the woeful proposition seen at FPR earlier the season, but nevertheless the backline opted to play it around with short passes.

It would take seven minutes of fury to decide the game, Mings getting caught by such a short approach and tangling with the onrushing striker. The resultant strike beat Bart a little too easily at the near post despite its ferocity. Sub Sears was played in by Bru's instinctive touch and the grubber kick was a little too trying as the Leeds keeper let it squirm beneath him to level.

Town would soon feel pain from Billy Sharp's shooting. An easy take from close range meant the man who snubbed Town in the window looked to close Town out of the game.

We deserved more and when excellent attacking play down the left from Jonathan Parr and Sears saw Sol Bamba hand us a penalty, Murphy stood tasked with despatching the ball from 12 yards.

It was only Town’s second spot-kick of the season, both having come against Leeds, but the deadliest boot in Britain missed its mark. A vicious left foot let loose an easy roller that a previously embarrassed keeper did much to at least claim a touch on as it went wide. Disbelief, bitter in Yorkshire.

“As enjoyable a game as any this season for sure.” Whites were as elated as we were dejected after the full-time whistle”, “A fantastic win and crucial to stop the rot”, “That was a great three points. It seems we do well against teams at the top of the table.”

“This was another really solid performance. As I predicted, our midfield was just too pacey for them with decent passing and movement. Luckily my fear of us being pushed around didn't come true, and it was a comfortable win against another decent team.”

Home supporters felt that their midfield and Luke Murphy in particular, had made a telling difference. “The midfield was once again our engine room, and won us this game. It was outstanding work from them. They really seem to be a team within a team.”

“We had all the tall defenders at the back, probably as [manager Neil] Redfearn was aware of the crosses that would come in from Ipswich”, “It really is hard to believe how they have been around the top six all season as on this showing as they looked like mid-table plodders.”

The month was barely a week old and Town hit their third game, with Brentford visiting Portman Road. The fellow play-off hopefuls had been smashed by Town at Christmas but a long winter since had seen much change.

As amicable as relations may be between fans of both clubs, there was no love lost when Murphy made his 22nd celebration of the season after just nine minutes. A close-range finish from Berra's header making sure and amends for the midweek miss.

Despite Town's dominance, Dean Gerken would make his first save since a groin injury at Blackpool way back in November. Recalled to the side, perhaps because of Bart's recent slump, an excellent save would only hand the Bees parity. Their captain sticking it past Gerks after a stinging volley could only be parried into Jonathan Douglas's eye-line.

Town were again denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, and again the referee baffled all and sundry. Brentford were softer at the back than a flayed hedgehog. The needling continued as instead of sending off the fouling Moses Odubajo, he wrongly penalised Murphy for a dubious handball way back in the build-up. It was to be one of many let-offs in a game were Town were vastly superior in much of the field but finishing was some way off.

Town should again have been in front when scorer extraordinaire Murphy missed what can only be described as a chance easier than a night out in Hull. Seemingly his head was back in Yorkshire as he blazed over from inches out. Agony and infamy defined the worst miss we'd seen so far this campaign.

With Sears's liveliness not getting in behind Brentford Town fans got on Mick's back as he withdrew Freddie and gave them all Wood. Opting to get physical was an exercise in futility. For all the great and good of a second half display between two of the league’s surprise packages, a predictably entertaining draw played out.

“That was a very entertaining game especially for the neutral. I think both teams would walk off thinking they can play better. A cracking and important point earned for me”, “A good point, in fact a very good point”, “We never hid and stood up to one of the most combative sides you'll see in this division.”

“They're certainly not pretty but Ipswich’s work-rate is phenomenal. They stopped us playing our usual passing game by closing down everything and being first to a huge number of first and second balls”, “Mick Mc's power 4-4-2 seemed so dated, but is effective when played well and with conviction.”

While our playing style was once again not to most Bees’ taste, most were quick to appreciate its effectiveness. “Ipswich get men behind the ball very quickly and are difficult to break down. They're not pretty to watch but made us look vulnerable at the back.”

“They stopped us playing 'our' game by closing down our centre-backs and central midfielders, so we just could not get going”, “I would rather watch us each week and we certainly played the better football but fair play to Ipswich, they are good at what they do.”

Murphy’s miss left most visiting fans incredulous. “Terrific open goal miss”, “Our Keystone Cops defending presented Murphy with an open goal. How he managed to get the ball over the bar I'll never understand. I bet if he tried to reproduce it he'd end up scoring.”

Beware the Ides of March, however, it would be the day before when Town would be butchered and brutalised with the whole world watching. Live on Sky for an early jaunt down by the Riverside, there were a few hardy souls in the away end watching Town's collapse a long way from redemption.

Barely minutes into the game and Gerken's return to the Town side was over, clattered as he remained on his line for a Boro corner. The hosts took the lead as he was laid out for a long time. Stretchered off and stricken, the glovesman was one of many worries for the Blues.

If Boro had been outclassed and neutralised in the reverse fixture they'd learnt the lesson. Albeit they needed reminding as Parr did all the legwork smashing against the palms of the keeper. The costly touch caught the Teessiders cold as Murphy wheeled away from him in celebration - number 23 in the onion bag.

Town got on top in the way fans had been hoping for after a disappointing run of results, they ran the game for a brief spell.

But half an hour gone and the winger Albert Adomah was cast as the half's hero. A corner worked and wiggled off players to the far side, the running man claiming the loose ball and rocketing it through all in his path to make it 2-1. The irony of Town being undone by defensive failure at corners grated. Hard cheese for us.

The Blues kept up good play until the hour mark. There was nothing false about the finish for the third from foppish Chelsea starlet Patrick Bamford. The kid had spent all game trying to con the ref, but showed he was the real deal, dummying past a stranded Bartosz and slotting home.

Bamford would do it again to Tommy Smith with a few minutes left for a cruel fourth, multiplying the lead by coming at Town from a long ball forward. Humiliation from a hearty performance was cruel and hard to bear. Some days you’re the boxer, today Town were very much the bag.

“Well, I have absolutely no idea how we won that 4-1. To be honest, how we won at all is a bit of a mystery because we really weren't at the races for the majority of this game”, “Overall I honestly feel a sense of disappointment mixed with relief”, “Can someone explain how we won 4-1?”

Most Boro supporters felt that the scoreline flattered their team, and that their clinical finishing made up for a lethargic overall display. “We were lucky that Ipswich came to attack us and left gaps for us to exploit in the final third. Our build-up play was poor and we looked like the away side.”

“Ipswich found it all too easy to impose their game on us”, “I don't quite know what to say about that match. I felt Ipswich were energetic and composed and looked a good side”, “Bamford’s third goal killed it off but a second and equalising Ipswich goal would not have been a surprise either.”

Portman Road, under the lights, Bolton in the away end - all omens for glory and who should take the glory but Jay Tabb?

Mick as ever remained unchanged both in his line-up (Bart aside after Gerken's concussion) and love for ‘Tabby’. Catty remarks dogged the midfielder all season, but he popped up and got the cream with just over 10 minutes left to hand Town the lead and victory.

Bolton had dominated the first-half chances through on loan Rochinha. The Portuguese man of awe drew admiration for opening Town up, but failed to draw blood, the home sides own efforts producing scrambling efforts at either end.

A switch in the second half saw Mick play 4-3-3 and abandon the holding pattern of 4-4-2 as the popular Parr withdrew with what later turned out to an injury and not simply the insult of Mick's disfavour as a few would wrongly claim. The move would make space for Town whose attacks only served to increase in effectiveness.

It would be Tabb who would volley a shot down into the ground to wrong-foot Ben Amos with a kingly finish. It was mid-March and Tabb had just become the first midfielder to score more than a single time this season. A more illuminating first was that it was Town's prototypic taste of victory this month at the fifth time of asking.

“Another late goal”, “All that promise and it comes to nothing yet again. We are so spineless away from home”, “We had four clear-cut misses - costly”, “That game followed a very predictable script. There are not enough men out there. There is a real lack of fight and character.”

“Some of the chances we missed were easier to score and their goal was an absolute shocker. It bounced twice before it went in.” Most Trotters were frustrated at once again at conceding a late goal, but many feared worse. “We all thought we were in for a tanking but we had a few chances.”

The joyful sixth of the month for Town would be a trip to Watford. The faltering form and deemed ‘ease’ that beating Bolton should have been left many reluctant and reticent in the face of the flying Hornets. Town opted to field a big three up top with Murphy and Wood accompanied in support by Varney.

The opening of the game was quiet and a lack of volume of chances contrasted with two lashed efforts from Watford that failed to find the target. The biggest talking point was when lumbering Swede Joel Ekstrand turned himself and his knee inside out chasing Mings's shadow. The man who ended Joniesta's second spell at Town in the reverse fixture, received gracious applause as his season came to an end on the half-hour mark.

Despite Andy D'Urso being the man with the whistle, the game passed with that injury and little other incident of note. A stupid booking for Mings was his 10th of the season and meant his April would start at least two games later than his colleagues'. Much like the first, the second period was slow and lacking much, a full 20 minutes before chances really came and went.

The best of the game fell to Watford as Town's own lack of penetration was met with Odion Ighalo flicking over on the volley when Troy Deeney had all but handed him an open goal as Bart did his best to rush out.

Freddie Sears had been Town's liveliest change and with three minutes of the game left he was joined from the bench by Richard Chaplow.

As the game edged well into injury time the former Colchester man would continue on the up. Chasing a nothing ball and overcoming Ben Watson, he selflessly slipped in Chaplow who coolly slowed down time and had Town fans ecstatic.

Their hearts may well have been in the moment of wild celebrations but their heads went back to the future. Victory at the home of a promotion rivals drawn from uncertainty and suddenly the closest race to the top for years was ours to run.

When Edison proclaimed that his endeavours meant he had not failed but “found 10,000 ways that won't work” he could not have envisaged such remarks inspiring far fewer than half as many Town fans; who packed themselves off to Watford and basked in the glory of last gasp winner as they did.

Agincourt itself could no longer brag of a band of thousands bearing witness to victory from such unlikely odds. I hope you don't mind that I've put down in words how wonderful the sight of Chaplow screwing the ball past Gomes was. So here's a visual aid:

“Ipswich came to kill the game and get a 0-0 and sucker punched us at the death”, “They were on a poor run of form and had lots of injuries, yet we still couldn't manage a single shot on target”,” It was an interesting match. Both teams were pretty poor and didn't look like automatic contenders.

“Ipswich dealt with everything we had to offer going forward comfortably. It was highly unlikely we were suddenly going to open them up in the final 30 seconds if we couldn't in the preceding hour and a half. It's more likely you will concede a goal rather than score if you take this type of gamble.”

Hornets’ frustration at full-time was mostly aimed at what they felt was manager Slavisa Jokanovic’s decision to push for a winner. “It was an even game, but if anyone was going to win it, it was our opponents”, “It was only ever going to give an advantage to Ipswich, which they gladly took.”

“Ipswich denied us a single shot on target on Saturday”, “I could have played in goal for them yesterday and kept a clean sheet”, “We really missed someone to run at their defence and take them on. It was all too one-dimensional, with no creativity or finesse.”

Home supporters once again felt that we set the pattern of play and restricted their chances, even if their post-match concerns ultimately were to be unfounded. “Overcoming sides in the top eight is a real problem and something we must sort out fast or we will find it hard to gain promotion.”

Next up April. The last full month of games and the last run at taking a play-off spot from anyone and everyone jostling for a top six position. Not for so long had so few weeks mattered so much.

2014/15 Championship Date Range: 1-AUG-2014 to 31-MAR-2015

Photo: Action Images

gazzmac4 added 15:45 - Jun 8 Watford. Away. Those 2 words would have sufficed for the review of this month. Excellent work as ever both! I will never tire of seeing/reading/thinking about that day in the sun. Chaplow time will live long in my memory.
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Ipswich Town Polls