My fifth trip the KC stadium and still only one draw to show for my journeys. Nevertheless, pleasantly surprised by the prices - £20 for me, a tenner for the old man and just one pound for the boy! After this though, it was all too often hard to watch.
Somehow we found ourselves one up at the interval but how I do not know. For long spells in the first period we were simply outclassed. Time and again down both flanks Hull played neat triangles and lovely balls inside the full back creating havoc. They contrived to miss a hatful of decent opportunities and we could easily have been 3 down in the first 25 minutes. However, a little bit of JET twinkle-toes down the left and a low drive into the far corner and miraculously we were leading. Chants of "We're winning away, we're winning away - how **** must you be? We're winning away" seemed to forget that this is the third away game in a row that we have led at the interval in succession. We all know thought that hanging on is (one of) our many problems.
After the goal we were a little better. Instead of giving the ball away all too easily, we started to keep possession a bit more. Nevertheless, the Tigers were still the better side and continued with their profilgacy infront of goal. On the plus side, Henderson looked more than competent.
Cheap entry meant I bought the old man and the boy a half time drink for once and the second half saw a little upturn from the lads. To Jewell's credit, he seemed to haved changed things a bit. Wellens and Reo-Coker imposed themselves more, Martin worked on the right and JET took a more advanced role. For 20 minutes we were certainly the equals of the home side if not slightly the dominant team. Martin forced Amos into a fine save, Chambers had a header blocked and Campbell missed the target when in on goal - he should have done better and perhaps knocked the stuffing out of the Tigers. He didn't.

The home side had plenty of chances of their own. Henderson made some fine stops, got away with a spill and other efforts flashed wide or were blocked by Blues defenders. The last twenty, however, is where I fell Jewell cost us the game. Wellens and (even more so) Reo-Coker were running out of juice and the Tigers wrestled back control of the middle of the park. With Campbell tiring too, it was time for the manager to do his work via substitutions. Enter inept decision making. Off goes Lee Martin - a 90 minute runner with energy to burn! His replacement is Moshni. Now I wanted to see the volatile Frenchman but with the central pair flagging, Martin was not the man to go. Admittedly, Moshni nearly scored with a spectacular long range effort but by now it was almost all one way traffic. Campbell was rightly replaced by Chopra but poor Chops never got a sniff and was chasing shadows on his own as JET drifted out of the game even more. Jewell then brought on the ponderous Drury (not the legs of Hyam!) for the inffective Murphy as the central combination of Reo-Coker and Wellens tired even more.
In the meantime, Hull had brought on the strike pair of McLean and Proschwitz, the latter marking his arrival with a goal within three minutes. Blues fans probably knew what was coming. We gave the ball away time and time again, surrendering posession and getting deeper and deeper. The busy Ouinn (always liked him myself) struck the post as the Tigers pressure built and further chances went begging. As 4 minutes of stoppage time began, could we hold out? No! Proschwitz guiding a header past debutant Henderson who was left sitting next to the post as Town moved to the centre for the restart - beaten at the death - again.
It doesn't look good and I see that Jewell is set to "consider his position" over the weekend. The fat lady would seem to be clearing her throat one way or another!
Some comments on the players:
Henderson - looked decent. Some good stops and confident punches. No chance with either goal.
Edwards - exposed mainly due to JET being poor, Carlos is, however, at least 100% every game
Creswell - going forward, well not much. Defensively, well good, bad and ugly. Exposed time and again (not helped that much by Murphy to be honest) but also he never gives up and this is to his credit.
Chambers - the goals went in at the other end so I will have to see them on TV to see if he was at fault at all. For the most part though, Chambo did well and was one of our better, wholehearted players.
Higginbotham - other than one wild slash which he ackowledged in the first half, the Stoke man was competent. Like Chambers, need to see the goals properly first to see his part in them
JET - lovely goal, nice pass for Campbell chance but really nothing else. He lacks aggression, jumps like a big girl (somebody said Wenger first saw him as a central defender - he has no guts!). A luxury who would probably be great in a team doing well. In a struggling side he is a liability I'm afraid.
Wellens - off the pace until we scored - then a good 40 minutes when we saw what he was about. Never stopped trying but his legs had gone in the last 15 minutes
Reo-Coker - I know he is a very good player. He started to show this a bit during the first twenty of the second half but without the fitness he was out of it for the last 20. Jewell should have seen this and acted. He didn't.
Murphy - Jewell must see something I don't. OK - he wins a few flick- ons and can, once in a while, deliver a cross but this does not warrant a permanent place in the side. One-paced, doesn't use his physique where it matters and does not give Creswell enough support
Martin - you can't doubt Lee's effort and energy. The game passed him by in the early period but he buzzed around and got more into it. Moved wide in the second half and continued to work his nuts off. Hauled off by our manager when still full of running.
Campbell - tried throughout. Not the ideal lone striker but increasingly able to hold the ball up and bring others into it. Should have scored with an excellent chance and he will know it too! Still not ready for the 90 minutes.
Moshni - won his share in the air, got in some challenges, looked composed (sometimes) and one really spectacular effort. Something to look more at - maybe - but in what position?
Chopra - poor Chops. By the time he came on our best spell was over and it was all one way traffic. Didn't have a sniff of anything
Drury - well it should have been Hyam and I can't get past that I'm afraid

Thanks for reading and I hope that it provides those of you who couldn't get there another view even though I'm long-winded and it's a pretty depressing picture!

7

Milky sunshine sloshed above the humdrum charms of Hull’s below capacity new-build stadium as Town came looking for precious points and any sign of survival on the Tigers’ own patch. It was hard not to read out our squad aloud in the voice of Kim Jong-Il such was the frequency of the word loanee.

Henderson was behind Edwards, Chambers, Higginbotham and Cresswell. The midfield twin-engine was the neat, sleek and diminutive Reo-Coker and Wellens partnership, Flanked by Murphy on the left and JET on the right. Martin scampered around behind Campbell. The shape was familiar even if the faces weren’t. I’m a fan of board games but this life-size version of “Guess Who?” before, during and after such a dull affair took the proverbial.

Hull lined up 442 and in fine physicality with some very big players all over the field, they would have given the magnificent Joe Royle plenty to talk about. While I may have sat amongst Snr and his crew of grumpy old men, long in the tooth and short of explanations as to how we have fallen so far from the golden age of Spudhead the game offered us up little in the way of entertainment to begin with.

Lots of volleyball, kick and rush and not enough football marked out the opening half an hour. Hull threatened more often than Town carving out clearer chances and testing our precarious line up. Cresswell suffered the most again, beaten for pace, space and ideas too often – his treacherous positioning of late makes him a prime candidate to be taken out of the firing line.

Henderson marked out his man of the match performance with a great save early on. Collecting a loose ball bravely by diving at the feet of an unmarked forward, the makeweight in West Ham’s Premiership status showed more than enough Championship class today. However his next contribution was missing a punch from a corner like Audley Harrison. Luckily Town scrambled the ball away for Hull’s untroubled backline to calmly work it back at us.

This theme would continue as a cross from the right winger was bizarrely miskicked by young Cressy and the outstretched Olofinjana volleyed the looping, loose ball over from barely a yard out. It was one of many let offs as the makeshift midfield showed class and a lack of match fitness in the middle all too often.

Scrambling the ball way away time and again Town found a lack of width on the right due to JET’s penchant to wander into the middle and Murphy’s inability to find space and colleagues on the left, meant our lack of chances were all too familiar. However an innocuous throw in midway into the hull half on the left went short to JET, he cut in from his other wing beating man after man, tricksy and tumultuous his run ended up with him slamming home a fine low shot. It was a delight.

The Arsenal-trainee proved to be a Hazard to the hosts, but ultimately it would not matter. Town albeit temporarily at least made a game of it. The chances came but were no more threatening than when there were no chances. Half time and the lead were blessed relief in such a poor season. It was hard to imagine quite how it had come about, much like at Barnsley and depressingly whether it would last.

Jewell changed it at half time, back to 442 with the lively Martin on the right wing and JET up front next to loan striker Campbell. Building on our precious little momentum Town made a ham-fist of attack with some glimpses of guile. Campbell had failed to find the right track all game, but was clean through thanks to a smart ball from JET. Only three yards out and a McShane on his back, DJ failed to put the needle to Amos and the ball was scuttled wide, I felt for a corner, but even so it was a crucial miss when Town would be in need of an equaliser later.

Martin tested fellow ManUre graduate Amos with a fierce drive at the back post, from a corner but it was one of very few true chances for Town. Hull on the other hand were incredibly wasteful. Beating fullbacks for fun, crosses, shots and passes misplaced, blazed over and off target for large periods of pressure.

The industry of Town was tellingly a sum of it’s parts as we looked like strangers all too often. Oddly Martin was replaced for the Samsonesque figure of Billy Mohsni. It was clear where the new man would play given he was signed as a defender who can play up front, straight swap it was then. He soon made an impression a neat triangle of one touch passing between him, JET and Wellens saw the Shrimper smash a shot with the outside of his boot from distance. It dropped agonisingly onto the roof of the net having beaten Amos. Mohsni went from Samsonesque to Samsonite as Billy made a case for more game time. He ran a lot, looked to check the mandatory “hungry” box and played the odd decent pass through a defence who had had much of an easy ride all game.

Hull rang more changes as the bustling Mclean bore down on goal from the right and Henderson spread himself well to deny the fierce drive right at him. It was tentative cause for hope as the lead remained albeit until another set of changes from both sides. Chopra replaced Campbell but failed to grab any headlines on a day when his adversaries the BHA were celebrating wildly the success of some horse called Frank.

Rocky was all punched out, failing to get on target despite his obvious desire. Town then swapped the cumbersome Murphy for the trundling Drury – the fourth and fifth permanent Jewell signing to make an appearance today having had only three on the field before that. The Town XI succumbed to another powerful run down the right as Hull enjoyed little joy down the left. Quinn found himself in space firing low against the post previously meant that more pressure would be heaped on the struggling Cresswell. Beaten easily the ball was driven across goal for super-sub Proschwitz to sweep home. Pegged back but not yet hung out to dry Town smashed long balls forward. It was our only successful tactic in either half but it was not to be.

A glanced header from yet another cross from the right was tipped over by the excellent Irishman Henderson. Town were hanging on as the killer blow came deep into injury time. Again the sub struck having missed a sitter earlier. He slotted home a second easily and unchallenged. Town fans filed out and some decided to hurl abuse at the barbour jacketed Jewell. However as I left the ground, my shoulders in a permanent shrug, a small crowd had stayed behind to chant “Jewell Out”. Either a genuine sentiment or a group reading exercise based on the bed linen they’d brought with them, I can’t say.

It was always coming, that’s the thing which hurts the most. All joy from a wonderful goal, forgotten amongst a mass of confusion. The Moody Blues had a classic and massive hit with the now fitting song “Go Now”. I think I might have settled the entrance music argument, perhaps temporarily at least.

5

Listened to game on radio and sounded as though it was the correct result. Second best through out the match and never built on getting a lead, just as we didn't in the 3 previous matches.
Jewell constantly changes things but to no effect, whilst every defeat puts the club further into the mire and increases the chances of relegation as the club seems in terminal decline.
Every match strengthens my belief that Jewell has to go, surely no one can rationally back him now?
However removing him alone will not probably change things for the better, the whole way the club is run needs changing, a long-term plan of bringing in younger, hungry players, no OAP Loanees, building a team that Ipswich can be proud of, returning to the values this club was once famous for. That is the way to get the fans back and that is the way to get our Ipswich back

0