Town's resurgent Masters team go into Sunday's Grand Final full of confidence after their victory at the London qualifying tournament back in July. TWTD columnist Simon Milton is looking forward to meeting up with old team-mates and foes alike.

The former Blues' midfielder is being flown back to Manchester especially for the tournament on Sunday after booking his holiday for this week prior to Town's tournament-winning performance at the London Arena.

Perhaps he was none-to-confident after the Town side performed unspectacularly in the previous year's Masters, despite enjoying it: “Last year it was a good competition where we were crap. Now that we're actually quite good it makes it all the better.

“It is a well-run competition. It's a load of guys who still like to play a little bit without being stretched to run for any decent length of time. The quality is very, very good for such a small-sided game and it's a chance to meet up a with few lads you haven't seen for a while.”

Town beat Tottenham and Arsenal, drew with Millwall and beat Tottenham again in the final as they won the London Masters with Milton being named the Player of the Tournament.

The Grand Final has a different format from the groups used in the qualifying stage: “Our first game is against Leeds. It's a knock-out competition this time and you go straight into a quarter-final. So, first game you lose you're out. A long way to go for one 16-minute game!

Milton says he has been surprised by the numbers kept an eye on the tournament: “It's amazing how many people watched the Masters. I was amazed by the amount of stick I got last year and amazed again this year when we did well.

“The format suits my game in many ways. It makes me feel good as the opposition tend to think I'm one of the fitter players in our team.

“This year we were better than last year simply because we'd played it before; it takes a bit of time to get used to the format.

“The addition of Jason Dozzell and Paul Mason was important too. Doz did well and so did Paul even though he fell over in the first minute! He asked us afterwards if we'd seen that sniper get him!

“And, of course, goals make a difference, we scored an early goal and that set us off and running.”

There are two other former Town players who could be involved other than those in Ipswich shirts. Mike Salmon, who recently announced his retirement from the game, may be in the Charlton side, although injury may keep him out.

The biggest former Blues' name is, of course, John Wark who has been checked out by Milton: “I think the way the draw works out we'll meet Warky and Liverpool on the way to the final. I've already had a look at Warky's knees and I think there's a bit of woodworm in one of them!”

The Masters Grand Final is shown live on Sky Sports One from 4pm on Sunday.

The full line-up of sides at the Grand Final are Liverpool, Coventry (who have had David Speedie banned from the competition due to violent conduct), Man Utd, Leeds Utd, Newcastle, Hibernian, Ipswich and Charlton.

Likely Town squad: Jon Hallworth, Simon Milton, Paul Mason, Trevor Putney, Mark Brennan, Jason Dozzell, Bontcho Guentchev, Neil Woods, Ian Atkins and Irvin Gernon. Manager Phil Parkes.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls