Blues End Four-Year League One Stay Chasing Title at Fleetwood Friday, 5th May 2023 19:19 Already-promoted Town travel to Fleetwood for their final League One fixture targeting the title but with manager Kieran McKenna well aware that the Cod Army will be out to make it a difficult afternoon. Town, who secured promotion back to the Championship after four years away via a 6-0 hammering of Exeter at Portman Road last Saturday, will carry off the silverware if they take more points from their game than Plymouth pick up from their final match at Port Vale. The Valiants are something of a bogey team for Argyle, who are without a win in eight matches against the Potteries club stretching back to 2011, losing seven, including the last three. They last beat Vale at Home Park in February 2004, 2-1, having won 5-1 at Vale Park the previous October. The Blues will also be looking to take both their points and goals totals on to 100, no EFL team ever having previously achieved that double milestone. Town visit the Highbury Stadium unbeaten in 18 and on a remarkable run of 13 wins from their last 14. Fleetwood, who are 13th, 40 points behind Town, have ended the season inconsistently having won two, drawn two and lost three of their last seven. Last week, they were beaten 2-0 at Bolton Wanderers. But McKenna knows the side managed by Celtic legend Scott Brown will be wanting to finish their campaign on a high note. “On any last game of the season away from home, you know you are in for a difficult game,” the Blues boss said. “The opposition, the manager, the players, the staff will have pride and want to put on a good show in front of their supporters, and in front of their friends and family, and enjoy a lap of honour on the pitch after the game. “You always want to finish off the season well, especially when you are at home. We know they won’t make it easy for us and we know they are going to try and perform. “We know we have to perform as well so the last few days have been about refocusing on ourselves, first and foremost, and also looking at Fleetwood and what we are going to do well to try and win the game.” The Cod Army’s visit to Portman Road in December ended in a 1-1 draw, McKenna having described them as a “tough nut to crack” prior to the match. “No doubt about it,” the Blues boss said when reminded of those comments. “We certainly can’t expect anything but a really, really difficult game there with them playing at home and looking to make an impression, and they’re a good and well-structured team, as they have been all season. “They gave us a good game at Portman Road, certainly the last 20 or 30 minutes of that game was difficult and they were one of the teams who managed to have some possession against us in our half. “They got a late equaliser that had a high level of fortune to it, but they also put in a pretty strong second half performance and showed that they’re a good team. “I’m sure Scott will have their players motivated and ready for us and we need to make sure we’re doing the same here.” McKenna has said that he may not field what has become his regular starting XI with one or two unnamed players nursing injuries and with others having shown good form in training and off the bench. Assuming he’s not among those to pick up a knock, Christian Walton will start in goal, as he has the previous 45 league matches this season. Harry Clarke, Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and Leif Davis would be McKenna’s first-choice backline with the former Leeds man perhaps among those who are doubts having had a few niggles in recent weeks. Greg Leigh would be Davis's able deputy. Skipper Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo have formed an impressive midfield pairing in recent weeks, while Dominic Ball might be hoping for a start and Lee Evans could be ready to return as a sub following his absence with a knee injury. Wes Burns is likely to be wide on the right, while Conor Chaplin has scored 29 goals in all competitions and will be looking to become the first Town player to hit 30 since John Wark in 1980/81, when the Scots legend struck 36, including 14 in the UEFA Cup. Chaplin’s 26 goals in League One currently has him on course for the division’s Golden Boot ahead of Peterborough’s Jonson Clarke-Harris, who has 25. The Blues forward netting one more would equal Daryl Murphy in 2014/15 when the Irishman’s total of 27 were all in the Championship. The former Barnsley, Coventry and Portsmouth man would ideally be partnered by Nathan Broadhead as the number 10s with Kyle Edwards and Marcus Harness alternative options. George Hirst, playing the final game before his loan from Leicester expires, will probably be the central striker with Freddie Ladapo coming off the bench in the second half looking to add to his 20 goals. In addition to a just over a thousand fans at the game, the Blues will have up to 5,000 supporters watching a beam-back in the FanZone at Portman Road and an expected record-breaking 10,000-plus on iFollow. At home this season, Fleetwood have been up and down having won seven, drawn seven and lost eight overall, but latterly have lost only one of their last nine in all competitions, winning six, including a 1-0 FA Cup victory over Sheffield Wednesday in February.
Manager Brown is pleased that his team’s form at Highbury has improved over the course of the campaign. “I was disappointed with the way we played [at home] as we conceded a lot of late goals, but we were in most of the games,” he told his club’s official website. “That was the hardest thing with all the managers coming in and saying that we played some good football and that was irritating as we didn’t have that firepower or the quality in the final third — we had to rely on someone to steal us a goal. “Since then, we’ve managed to kick on at home and the form at Highbury has improved dramatically. “Even though it’s the last game of the season at the weekend, we’ve not thrown the towel in just to let Ipswich come and win, we know they’re an in-form side which will be full of confidence, but it’s all about how we work as a team together on Sunday. “We need to go into this like we need the three points or need a point, and you also want to keep this form going at home until the end of the season and stay hard to beat, if we can get that foundation start of being a hard team to beat when teams come to Highbury, that would be a great start.” The teams’ meetings in 2019/20 were the first in their histories with the Blues having won four of the seven games since, Fleetwood two and one ending in a draw, all in League One. At Portman Road in December, sub Cian Hayes netted a 96th-minute equaliser to deny the Blues victory as Town and Fleetwood drew 1-1, Woolfenden having given the home side a second-minute lead. Second-placed Town looked destined to leap to the top of League One with Plymouth losing at home to Port Vale until Hayes’s late, late deflected goal claimed a point for the Cod Army, who ended the game with 10 men following ex-Blues loanee Josh Earl’s dismissal for making obscene gestures as he celebrated their goal. In March last year at the Highbury Stadium, Morsy and Kayden Jackson scored second-half goals as the Blues gave their play-off hopes a boost by beating Fleetwood 2-0. After a dominant but frustrating first half, Morsy stroked home his first goal for Town in the 72nd minute, then Jackson added the second nine minutes later to secure a vital three points for the Blues. Blues wideman Burns joined Fleetwood on a permanent basis in January 2017 having previously had a spell on loan in the second half of 2015/16. In total for the Lancastrians, the Welshman made 145 starts and 45 sub appearances, scoring 29 goals prior to moving on to Portman Road in the summer of 2021. Town right-back Janoi Donacien was on loan with the Cod Army in the second half of 2020/21, making 16 starts and three sub appearances. Blues third-choice keeper Joel Coleman was with Fleetwood for the whole of that season, making only two starts. Centre-half Toto Nsiala joined Fleetwood in January 2022 from Town after three and a half years at Portman Road. The Congo DR international made 72 starts and six sub appearances for the Blues, scoring once. Defender Earl was on loan with the Blues from Preston in the second half of 2019/20, making five starts and two sub appearances. The left-back or centre-half joined Fleetwood having been released by the Lilywhites last summer. Striker Jack Marriott joined the Cod Army in January from Peterborough and has made 15 starts and three sub appearances, scoring three times. Marriott came through the Town youth system and made one senior start and two sub appearances for the Blues early in Mick McCarthy’s time as boss. Blues defender Corrie Ndaba has spent the second half of the season on loan with Fleetwood, making six starts and two sub appearances. The Irish central defender or left-back is unavailable against his parent club.
Sunday’s referee is Ross Joyce from from Cleveland, who has shown 112 yellow cards and five red in 28 games so far this season. Joyce’s most recent Town match was the 4-0 FA Cup defeat of Buxton at Portman Road in November in which he yellow-carded Davis, Morsy, Tawanda Chirewa and two of the visitors. Prior to that, he refereed the 0-0 draw at Wigan in March 2021 in which he booked Woolfenden, former skipper Luke Chambers and three Latics. Earlier that season, he took charge of the 1-1 draw at Crewe in which he red-carded Teddy Bishop for two bookable offences as well as cautioing Myles Kenlock, Freddie Sears and two Railwaymen. Joyce’s only Town match before that was the 1-0 win at Burton Albion on the opening day of 2019/20 in which he booked Flynn Downes, James Norwood and Alan Judge, and showed four yellow cards to Brewers players, two of them to Stephen Quinn, who was subsequently issued with a red. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Clarke, Donacien, Woolfenden, Keogh, Burgess, Burns, Jackson, Vincent-Young, Davis, Leigh, Morsy, Luongo, Ball, Humphreys, Camara, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Edwards, Aluko, Ladapo, Hirst.
Photo: TWTD Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 295 bloggersIpswich Town Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
