Competent defensive display & hard working throughout the side. Quality of passing & goal scoring creation a long way from Premier quality, but MM & all the fans would love that to be a concern prior to the start of next season. We are in pole position & 2 games to hold onto it.

2

Ok game good point at this time

2

As the season draws to an end, you'd struggle to find a more picturesque Black Country landscape spread out before Town today. Molineaux bathed in glorious sunshine, as the playoff race began to bubble. The final bend in sight as Sky cameras broadcast Ipswich's travails towards the Premiership one more time.

Bart was protected as ever by Mings, Berra, Smith and captain Chambers. Skuse sitting deep with Bishop, Tabb and Parr corralling the middle. Sears and POTY Murphy completed the 442 for today. A quintessential lineup for this iteration of Ipswich Town FC, even if the display was more than just a contrast in styles. A portal into the McCarthy old and new against his former employers is not the dismissal of Jackett's job that it might sound initially. Continuity, a key marker of a side who may have just made their dash for the line a little too late. Wolves' wingplay excited, but Town's resoluteness excelled.

Wolves are big, and very fast. They break in packs and hunt for goal with ferocity. After Murphy curled the ball past the face of the goal early on, they'd demonstrate this for concerted periods of time. The Irishman falling towards the turf as Ikeme had already fallen for his drop of the shoulder promised more than it might have delivered. Unfortunately his feet and his follow through lacked the composure to steer the curler towards the corner and ended in a goal kick.

While the home side poured molten Old Gold down the flanks and looked to flood the Ipswich defence with quicksilver movement, McCarthy steeled his midfield to sit inside and push their width out of bounds. It was no doubt a fascinating match up for the neutral as livewires Sako, Dicko and Afobe tested our defenders with everything they could.

Bartosz would fist towards victory for the first of three times as Wanderers went close with a telling final ball, it was the type of save that not only kept them at bay but Town very much in the game. Looking and longing for the earlier form of winter the 1300 blues stretched along the touchline as end to end play struggled and strained to put either side ahead. For all the hosts' athleticism, when it came to creativity they were hardly poetic as Berra especially read every move expertly.

A corner would bring Ipswich eyes back towards the target and when Smith rose for the second time today unchallenged. It was former Town loanee Stearman who lived up to his name and drove the ball past a stranded Ikeme. The whole contingent rose and fell into sudden silence, as many seemed to fear the referee had initially disallowed it. No such bad luck! Against the run of play Town strutted out in front delightfully so.

Where Mings had looked so good in previous displays going forward, today it was a mirror which showed just how accomplished the defensive aspects of his game have become. Neither Sako nor Van La Parra could get as much from him as they deserved, when the latter cut inside on the 18 yard line he giddily stabbed over. Dazzled by the looming prospect of headlines no doubt. Dazzling he was not.

In contrast Parr and Tabb had less edifying times in terms of discipline. The Norwegian seemed a beat or two off each ball and ball carrier, he knew exactly what he was doing when he quelled a breakaway deep in Wolves own half. A deserved booking for the utility man was followed by a potential dismissal later on for Tabb. Caught short (as you might expect) by the twisting Sako he caught the stocky whinger with the worst timing possible. Mid-march to the incident the ref reached for a card and many feared the worst. A decisive yellow for a dreadful misjudgement could have been harshly treated on many other days in such heated moments.

While the half had periods of bright spells for Town, it'd be hard to argue that the job we'd done in taking the lead was little short of professional. A clean hit amongst 45 minutes of fury and flurries from a home side desperate to catch up but woefully short of the instincts to take anything from the game.

As the slow filtration of travelling fans dispersed into the belly of the stands, many digested the reality of a lead very much against the logic of an away side merely blocking and stopping all routes to goal. Others chose to trade beer and bouncing alongside insults for Delia in carnival fashion, while Mick plotted hoodwinking his old friends out of the three points on offer.

Where Sears and Murphy had struggled to see much of the ball and instead, much of the back four's arms and endeavour. All of us knew full well that the first ten minutes would tell. An injured predator will snap at anything and when a strangely innocuous freekick allowed Sako to cross with relish, there deserved a better finish to gobble up the sight of goal he created.

It wouldn't take long though. Scoring goals has been the hallmark of Daryl's finest season to date. Creating them, a secondary activity. When he needlessly landed a head on a Town clearance, he sent his colleagues back on their heels as the ball went towards them needlessly, Wolves cut inside a dipping deflection allowed Afobe to stab home from well inside the box. Hard done by, but always coming, Town had to face up to the debt their wasteful play had eventually cost them.

A lack off effort was not the underlying cause for a lack of chances in a game where 1-1 might have flattered a lesser side, there's a reason we're eyeing the top league this late on. There's a lot more than one to be honest. Our refusal to die or hide is one of the strongest, Bart's dexterity with both feet gave lots of options when the hosts were not inclined to give much away. Lumping long, meant that a weary Murphy could escape exiting for a substitute's arrival that looked likely for much of the afternoon.

First the poorly playing Parr was swapped for Anderson. The winger was hit and miss, his best and worst allowing chances on goal for either side. To say that is an improvement of late hints at his limited impact. He did however do well to stand up his man and find a left foot cross that couldn't be despatched. Likewise a late rush to the back post would have filled us all with joy had his half chance not screamed into the stand, showing the desire to do all he could.

Sears as ever was dangerous, but all too often from all too deep - stinging Ikeme's hands from deep early in the second spell illustrated many of the issues Town were having. He was eventually removed for Wood as Town looked to close out the game with power and pushing the tired home side inch by inch. The incisor-like runs of the bargain signing cut little ground as he ploughed a weak effort off his weaker foot in the best of a second foray forward.

There was hope, but not enough help going forward all too often. As Town were camped across their own half, looking to break out and spot the killer touch in a game where promotion was still a long way short of both side's hard work.

Kiwi loanee and all round disappointment too often Wood, splintered the Midlander's defence on two occasions. Flicking a throw in over his shoulder to chase down, he showed the Premier League ideas, but not the production when it came to finishing. His best chance came on the left flank where he refused to let the ball go out and away. Chasing down a lost cause, Batth lost ground as he managed to get in on goal but not find a finish that went in the goal much to our mutual frustration. He and we deserve so much more from his time here so far.

The substitute in the middle of the two mentioned was Wolves old boy and Mick's faithful old harrier, Hunt, Jettisoning a spectacular drive over in style was his most eye-catching contribution. Town's tactical designs on producing a decisive move weren't harmed by the winger's industry.

Wolves' had a good chance through a change of their own. Adding the harder Henry to the midfield, Pole and post combined to keep out a second goal. The sub's drilled effort was diverted in one move that piled pressure on Town that would ebb and flow well into injury time.

While Mick tinkered with the top and massaged the middle, the back was very much a unit untouched in many ways. While Mings and Smith clattered and clambered hard yards with the ball and their man in sight, it cost Town much attacking potential. Chambers and Berra were calmer and more coordinated by and large but their last gasp defence meant Town couldn't push forward all too often with numbers to speak of.

1300 there, and an army at home no doubt leaned on edge of bar and armchair alike, willing a leggy Town to steal a march on their rivals this lunchtime. Still there was a feeling that firepower not hunger was missing today. All three points turning up in Suffolk would have been much more than a result but a mark of the divine. Mick's watercarriers dealt with the flood of attacking intent by destroying much of Wolves' invention. As the injury time wore down, so did their ability to test or tease until Dicko sprang forth and missed his mark. Perhaps this lack of erosion will be a monument to the job Mick and TC have done this season?

More telling than anything than a point shared, was the affection and adulation current Wolves players competed to show towards their old bosses once all was said and done. If not now, then soon maybe the answer we're about to get.

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