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U23s Beaten By Ings Hat-Trick
Sunday, 2nd Oct 2016 16:41 by James Ager

Jonny Williams played the first 45 minutes as Town's U23s were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Liverpool at Portman Road on Sunday afternoon in their first Premier League Cup game of the season with Danny Ings scoring all three goals for the visitors.

In addition to Williams, Town fielded trialist Jordan Spence at right-back, with Paul Digby, Andre Dozzell and Conor Grant also in the starting XI.

The former Burnley striker opened the scoring for the Reds after just four minutes when he turned in the box and fired the ball across Michael Crowe and into the far bottom corner of the net.

Harry Wilson's trickery on the right as the half-hour approached resulted in Ings lobbing the ball over Crowe, but the ball rebounded off the bar. Trent Alexander-Arnold's follow-up header was somehow cleared off the line by George Fowler.

The dangerous Wilson forced Crowe to make a good block at his near post, before Williams had Town's first meaningful effort three minutes before the interval. The diminutive Welshman hit a low effort from 25 yards which was pushed round a post by Caoimhin Kelleher in the visitors' goal.

There was still time for Pedro Chirvella to test Crowe with a swerving drive from long range, which the Town stopper did well to parry away from danger.

Williams was on the receiving end of numerous fouls during the opening period and he was replaced by Kundai Benyu at the break, with Town fans hoping it was a pre-planned change as opposed to another potential injury.

On Thursday, Town boss Mick McCarthy said he was planning to organise an U23s friendly for midweek in which he hoped Williams would also play.

Ten minutes after the restart Dozzell burst forward and teed up Shane McLoughlin, but Kelleher was equal to the Irishman's effort and got down well to push the ball away for a corner.

At the other end Crowe made another impressive save when he blocked Ovie Ejaria's close range effort at the back post.

On 78 Ings grabbed his second with a good finish from close range, shortly before sub Cameron Brannagan crashed an effort off Crowe's near post.

With a minute of normal time remaining, one-time England cap Ings completed his hat-trick with another cool finish following Ejaria's switch of play.

Town struggled to create many clear-cut chances with Mamadou Sakho looking comfortable at the back for the Reds.

Crowe kept the Blues in the game with a number of good saves, although trialist right-back Spence held his own against a dangerous Liverpool outfit and will be hoping to be rewarded with some sort of contract offer from watching first-team boss Mick McCarthy.

Ings's quality in front of goal was clear for all to see though and Town can have few complaints with the final scoreline.

U23s: Crowe, Spence, Kenlock, C Smith, Fowler, Digby, Dozzell, Grant, Morris (Folami 89), McLoughlin, Williams (Benyu 46). Unused: Woolfenden, Wright, Blanchfield. Att: 1,330.


Photo: Action Images



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Umros added 16:51 - Oct 2
Town struggled to create clearcut chances.......it's running through the veins unfortunately.....
6

Mark added 16:53 - Oct 2
"Town struggled to create many clear-cut chances".

That's not like us!

Seriously though, we can't tell much from playing such quality opposition and with our injury problems the U23s is down to the bare bones.

Poor Williams is likely to get that kind of treatment throughout his career I feel, it'll be a struggle to keep fit as the tackles fly in.
6

ronnyd added 16:59 - Oct 2
Another sad case of a skillful player having his career kicked from under him, where is the protection from match officials?
5

jas0999 added 17:12 - Oct 2
The trouble with signings Williams was as a minimum he would miss the first six weeks. Then he needs time to get match fit. But finally the biggest problem is keeping him fit. Something which sadly, hasn't happened for a while. Not helped by some over zealous challenges.
4

BlueMachines added 17:47 - Oct 2
Well it was a cup game after all!!!
1

ipswichdave added 17:57 - Oct 2
How did Dozzell and Grant play, good or bad?
0

Penguinblue added 18:14 - Oct 2
Have we got rid of McCarthy yet?
4

Daleyitfc added 19:16 - Oct 2
The reserves : as prolific as the first team ... or should that be profligate?
1

lightingblue added 20:07 - Oct 2
Wish I had gone. Fancied a Sunday afternoon nap
1

prebbs007 added 21:58 - Oct 2
New club nickname. No longer Tractor Boys. We are now known as Ipswich nill. Foxtrot Oscar dinosaur tw&t
1

midastouch added 22:39 - Oct 2
I saw Ipswich score 3 goals today, Ipswich 3-0 Newcastle. Ok it was Fifa 17 (watched my son do the business) but it still was nice. Scorers were Best, Bishop and Grant. So yes it was fantasy football and you have to say the Fifa Model is flawed when they have Skuse on a 72 rating ahead of Grand Ward on 70 and our highest rated is Berra on 77 ahead of our fine goalkeeper Bialkowski who is 2nd highest on 75. Surely Bialkowski should be rated at least 80 and higher than Berra! I thought these modern day football games were meant to be getting more realistic! Even so, they are definitely a lot more entertaining than going to watch Ipswich play. You can get more goals in one game than you can get in a month or two at Portman Road and you can buy the game for less than adult ticket entrance, petrol and parking money! Until McCarthy is gone I'm sitting tight at home playing Fifa with my lad, it's a no brainer!
2

alfromcol added 23:09 - Oct 2
Looks like our new young RB's days are numbered then, if Spence signs??
1

BrettenhamBlue added 00:13 - Oct 3
Shame we didn't get Ings on loan. It's unlikely he will be playing football for Liverpool this season given their form and their inundation of strikers.
2

KiwiBlue2 added 02:57 - Oct 3
What a great replacement for Murphy Ings would have been if the owner could splash the cash once in a while.... presumably Mick is pondering a low-ball offer in January....
1

KiwiBlue2 added 02:57 - Oct 3
What a great replacement for Murphy Ings would have been if the owner could splash the cash once in a while.... presumably Mick is pondering a low-ball offer in January....
1

Mr_Evans added 08:55 - Oct 3
I went to the game and I find it strange that there's no mention of Digby? He played in a CDM role and absolutely bossed it. He would and demand the ball from the back four and then turn on it to find a forward pass. He looked very strong and the u23's looked massively too poor a standard for him. He look more assured on the ball than most of the Liverpool players. Also thought Crowe looked decent - he stood big on a couple of 1on1's and kept his back four in check.
2

midastouch added 11:42 - Oct 3
Interesting comments about Digby. He didn't look very comfortable playing at CB against Stevenage, but perhaps he is simply better suited to midfield. Could this be another example of Mick trying to convert a player into a different position from his natural / preferred role?
2

runningout added 11:46 - Oct 4
throwing away winnable games leaking into all games
0

rinkydinkpanther added 13:06 - Oct 4
Ah, that winning habit...
0


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