Town boss Paul Cook was left frustrated after the Blues once again turned a winning position into a 2-2 draw against Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium.

Two goals from Sone Aluko gave Town a 2-0 lead before James Brophy in the 40th minute and Joe Ironside two minutes from the end claimed what in the end was a deserved point for the U’s from Town's fourth 2-2 draw this season.

“For 43 minutes I genuinely enjoyed us today, thought we were excellent, thoroughly deserved the lead,” Cook said.

“The goal before half-time changes the whole mood in the stadium whether you like it or not. It’s a soft, soft goal from our point of view and a great goal from Cambridge’s.

“Second half we have plenty of possession in really good areas. We get into some good penetrating areas but we don’t really create the chance to score again that probably would have put the game to bed.

“Cambridge were excellently honest all game, kept knocking on the door and you know when those corners come in late on and they’ve got some big guys going in there, there’s always that chance.

“And unfortunately we succumbed to it, which is so disappointing because it was a great day today, a good derby match, a great atmosphere and I enjoyed watching us.

“Unfortunately, we’ve just got that achilles heel in us that’s there for everyone to see. Goals for is not a problem, goals against is a big concern.”

He added: “Since I’ve been manager at Ipswich, I’ve learned that you’re never comfortable in a game, no matter what we’re doing you’re not comfortable.

“We’ve worked so hard this week in training, really hard and everything we’ve worked on we’ve done.

“And we’ve got to that 2-0 lead where we were on the front foot, we were aggressive, we won every individual battle on the pitch, everything we didn’t do at Accrington.

“At 2-0 you think to yourself that we’re going to kick into our fans in the second half, we’ve got to score again in front of them and they’ll go home so happy. And yet we’re sitting here 46, 47 minutes later with a different story.

“From my point of view it’s just learning all the time about players in the latter stages of a game - who’s going to be the one to win the big header and clear it, the goalkeeper to come and catch it, whatever it may be.

“Because every team will have moments and at 2-1 you’re not clear in any game.”

Asked what’s going wrong defensively, Cook responded: “Listen, 100 per cent, you will not get me digging players out or going after people, that is not my style.

“My style is to work very much harder on the training ground, keep going, to watch clips back, to show them the stages of a game.

“At 43 minutes away from home, a great derby match and the stadium was flat, apart from Ipswich fans who were jubilant.

“And we found a way to give a team a leg up, who had shown no signs of scoring. And that’s something you can’t do, it’s a no.

“Those last two minutes you see the game out, you kick into your supporters and you score again after half-time. At 3-0 then it becomes a celebration. But unfortunately for us we’re not at that stage in our development.”

Did he have any thoughts of making defensive substitutions to shore things up at 2-1? “When you sit here and your results go against you, sometimes for us it doesn’t matter what we do, it just doesn’t.

“We put Kyle Edwards, Celina and Wes Burns on. Our intent was to score again. Unfortunately for us, credit to Cambridge, not to us, we didn’t look like scoring.

“It’s easy to sit there and then say what you do. As a manager I’ve never believed in shutting up shop, it’s not my style. We travel as Ipswich Town and we should score again in the second half. Unfortunately for us we never.”

The big positive from a Town perspective was the performance from Aluko, who scored his first two goals for the club.

“Outstanding,” Cook enthused. “When he turned up at the start of the season, he probably wasn’t as fit as where we would have wanted him to be. I think he’s been training every day like it’s his last, screaming in training that he wants to play and I think our fans have seen a real glimpse of Sone Aluko today. I think it was a real positive for everyone.”

Cook explained that midfielder Lee Evans was absent as his wife has had a baby, while striker Joe Pigott’s father died having been suffering with cancer for some time.

“His missus was induced with a baby,” Cook said regarding Evans. “Joe Pigott’s father passed away this morning very, very sadly. All our thoughts are with Joe and obviously Lee for two completely different reasons.

“But I felt the team today should have won. We did enough in the game to win. I thought we travelled like a big club, I thought our support was great, I thought our attitude to the game was first class and unfortunately from a winning position we found a way to give it up and that’s something we have to go away and look at.”

Cambridge head coach Mark Bonner felt his side’s goal five minutes before the break was the game’s turning point.

“I thought we were excellent in the second half, and had a real good threat,” he told the Cambridge News.

“I think the turning point in the game for us is the goal before half-time. It just gave us a real confidence and belief that it can happen in the second half.

“We found the first 35 minutes of that game really difficult, against a team that played last week, and are sharp, confident and are finding a real rhythm in their game.

“They pressed us brilliantly and we got caught on the ball or passed to each other with too many mistakes.

“We were probably a little bit edgy and nervous in the atmosphere and didn’t really commit to a game where we made the pitch big to play or played with good quality direct, with too many backwards passes.

“The goal comes off of a move where we hit the front of the team. They did that really well. Joey [Ironside], Wes [Hoolahan] and Shilow [Tracey] do great and then Brophs [James Brophy] finishes it off, and that’s a real turning point for us.

“Our first 30-minute form has to improve because we’re making the games too hard for ourselves, but our record coming from behind and scoring late goals is outstanding, which is a great quality to have.

“Lots to improve and do, but in a packed stadium on a great day, to take a point is massive for us.”

Photo: TWTD

Juggsy added 01:21 - Oct 17 Ugh. I really do wish we had gone with the Cowleys
-4

Drifter3012 added 08:10 - Oct 17 It is clear Cook is not getting the best out of this bunch of players and I would like to see a new manager with a bit more tactical know how. However I am very concerned about some of the players that we have signed. Sadly long gone are the days of playing for your club for many professionals. I can see a few doing that, Bonne, Edmondson, Donacien, Burns even but I am yet to be convinced by many of the others as yet. That means a new manager might also struggle with this squad. As I said previously Cook could have made the right subs but their first goal came because of inept defending and in the 2nd half, in reality our whole team was pretty useless. Whilst a more tactically aware manager would have seen what was coming and shored up the back line, I don't think Klopp could have have made the changes that would have seen us go on and get number 3. The drive just didn't seem to be there and that has been a big downfall. Yes Cook needs to go but I am concerned that some of these players hearts are not really in it and so would the likes of Wilder or Howe be able to change that? If Cook goes and a new manager decides that some of the current first team are happy to get a pay cheque without putting in the effort, are we going to have another "gelling" period in January if he wants to bring in new players using the Gamechanger piggy bank?

2

62WasBest added 08:48 - Oct 17 I'd suggest goals are a bit of a problem. 16 shots yet again but only 3 on target (2 of which were goals). Playing that style of football might suggest that, whilst being attractive, it is too expansive at the expense of defending. If you set up to have lots of scoring opportunities there needs to be a much higher ratio of attempts on target to justify adopting it and when a 2 goal cushion is established generally a more conservative style needs to be adopted because the ratio of attempts we need to score means the probability of getting further goals looks slim.

0

oldbri added 09:01 - Oct 17 congratulations to the Cambridge No 4 , who put Hladky on his arse as the second goal was scored.
1

DurhamTownFan added 09:42 - Oct 17 Genuinely quite worried by him talking about scoring a third when 2-0 up. Given our recent record, we should be looking to shut the game down, play boring and win 2-0. Very naive to think about scoring a third when you're 2-0 up and rubbish at controlling games. We need to learn this ASAP
3

Monkey_Blue added 10:24 - Oct 17 Blues1 you have said people are manipulating stats to suit an argument. You then claim we need to ignore Cooks first 16 games in charge? You do understand the concept of irony? How many managers come into a club and say to their employers. “I'm going to do far worse with these players, than the man you thought wasn't doing well enough with them”? Practically every manager comes into a club having to work with players that aren't “his”. The only difference is most come into a club with the team struggling near the bottom, not play-off contenders, on a 5 game unbeaten run, with three wins on the bounce, that in over 18 months had never been out of the top half of the table and had mainly been top 2 or top 6. What stats would you like us to use to show cooks doing a great job?

4

nick8 added 11:52 - Oct 17 COOK OUT
0

DifferentGravy added 13:18 - Oct 17 Apologies - Steve_ITFC_Sweden - meant to mark you up and accidently hit down. Totally agree with your comment
0

ChrisFelix added 13:37 - Oct 17 Sunday afternoon defending for both goals. 2 six foot defenders plus a keeper unable to prevent 2 crucial headers for their equalise. I'm grateful that we scored a second otherwise it would have been another 2 1 defeat
0

HARRY10 added 16:14 - Oct 17 Maybe, the squad is not this claimed multi million pound all stars that we were led to believe was being put together - and some still think it is. Maybe they are no more than Cooks mates (as with the coaching staff) on a nice little earner. A sort of Delboys Jolly boys outing.
0

Barty added 08:07 - Oct 18 Poor team and very poor manager. Cook out now.
0

Barty added 09:01 - Oct 18 COOK OUT
0

Barty added 09:01 - Oct 18 COOK OUT
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls