First half goals from Jason Scotland (2) and David Norris saw Town to a 3-0 home victory over Leicester and ended their six-game league losing run. Heavy snow started to fall around an hour before kick-off and continued throughout the game with the players taken off for a 14-minute spell in the second half while the pitch was cleared.
Damien Delaney returned to the Blues defence for the first time since his red card at Norwich having recovered from his virus, playing to the right of Tommy Smith at the centre of the defence. Márton Fülöp, sporting tracksuit bottoms, recovered from his ankle injury to take over from Brian Murphy in goal.
Shane O’Connor came in at left midfield with skipper David Norris moving to right midfield with Jack Colback joining Grant Leadbitter in the centre. Jason Scotland and Rory Fallon continued the strike partnership which showed promise in defeat at Preston last week. Neither virus victim Andros Townsend or Tamás Priskin were in the 18.
The game’s first action saw Rory Fallon booked somewhat harshly by referee Stuart Attwell after catching Curtis Davies with an arm on his way down from an aerial challenge. The pair had been fighting to win a yellow ball (later switched to a darker shade), which was very much required on an essentially white pitch with blue lines which gradually disappeared as the half wore on.
Town went in front with the game’s first serious chance. Jack Colback’s freekick from halfway was nodded back across goal by Delaney and was flicked on by Mark Kennedy before landing at Fallon’s feet. The on-loan Plymouth man laid the ball to David Norris on the edge of the area and the skipper hammered home his sixth goal of the season.
The Blues had settled into the atrocious conditions far better than Leicester and on nine a ricochet off Shane O’Connor fell kindly for the Foxes’ debutant keeper Chris Kirkland. The on-loan Wigan man was in action again soon after when he rushed out to claim at Scotland’s feet.
On 12 Colback crossed from the right and Fallon headed to Kirkland, prior to the visitors almost getting back on terms. A freekick on the left was flicked on by Darius Vassell to the far post where it was nodded on to his own post by Mark Kennedy, the loose ball fortunately falling to safety.
Leicester defender Curtis Davies became the second player to get his name in the referee’s book, for a foul on Fallon, in the 21st minute with Town were still having very much the better of it. A Vassell shot across the face of goal — which took a deflection and ought to have been a corner contrary to Mr Attwell’s view — had been the visitors’ only opportunity aside from Kennedy’s near own goal.
The Blues added to their lead in the 27th minute. Fallon laid the ball off to Scotland 10 yards outside the area and the Trinidadian striker hit a low shot into corner of the net from the edge of the area.
Sven-Goran Eriksson had already been planning to make a change before the goal and immediately brought on big frontman Steve Howard for Lloyd Dyer, his side having failed to make any impression in an attacking sense.
After Andy King had headed a decent Leicester chance wide, Town made in 3-0 six minutes before the break. Shane O’Connor cleverly left Kyle Naughton behind him with a Cruyff turn, then seized on an error by Yuki Abe, before laying the ball across the six-yard box to Jason Scotland, who slammed into the roof of the net for his second of the game.
Only one side had appeared interested in acclimatising to the conditions and just before the break it could have been four when Fallon had a shot blocked from a promising position inside the area, then his pass to Colback was cut out.
The snow had continued to fall throughout the half with the lines now impossible to see and a fairly thick covering in some areas. The Sir Bobby Robson Stand had already sung that they’d help to "sweep the pitch” at half-time, while the visiting Foxes fans appealed to referee Attwell to "call it off”.
Town were good for their comfortable lead at the break having settled into the conditions far better than their opponents. Whether the game should have made the 45-minute mark was debatable but referee Attwell, a man always close to controversy, appeared in no mood to call it a day as he made his way off.
Blues groundsman Alan Ferguson and his augmented staff worked tirelessly during the break to clear away as much snow as they could from the most affected areas — the Britannia Stand-South Stand corner especially — and particularly from the lines and the penalty areas.
Steve Howard volleyed the second half’s first shot well wide, then two minutes later Paul Gallagher ran on to a good ball over the top but scuffed his shot to Fülöp.
The Blues were looking under little threat but equally didn’t look like adding to their goals until O’Connor curled a shot just over on 58.
Just as the match reached the hour mark, referee Attwell approached his fourth official and the two managers for a discussion before taking the players off to "assess the deteriorating condition of the pitch”. The snow had continued to fall, but given the clearing which had taken place at half-time, it was difficult to see how the pitch could have been any worse than it had been earlier on in the game.
The pitch sweeping restarted, then nine minutes later referee Attwell returned to give the surface the once over with Leicester fans singing "off, off, off” and the Town support responding with chants of "keep it on, keep it on”.
Fourteen minutes after going off, the players returned, Alan Ferguson and his staff having removed not insignificant amounts of snow. A minute later, the match restarted.
Leicester had the ball soon afterwards, Curtis Davies stabbing home a freekick, but the linesman’s flag was raised and the goal was chalked off. Davies had been onside but three other Foxes players had strayed beyond the line. Two minutes later, Connor Wickham replaced Rory Fallon, who had done well in his first home start, creating the first two Town goals.
Jake Livermore replaced Jason Scotland on 67, slipping into a five-man midfield, prior to Howard scraping a shot well wide. A minute later Jack Hobbs replaced Davies at the heart of the Leicester defence.
Neither goal was looking in much danger with Leicester not appearing particularly anxious to get back into the match. On 71 Wickham did well to bring the ball in from the left into the penalty area but his ball across to Colback was blocked.
Moments later Foxes defender Miguel Vitor went to ground after what appeared to be a fair Wickham challenge and, after receiving treatment on the pitch, came off with Sven-Goran Eriksson having used all his subs. For Town, Edwards replaced the tenacious O’Connor for the final 13 minutes.
With Leicester showing little inclination to force their way back into the game and Town happy to hold on to their three-goal lead, the second half was largely a non-event. A rare moment of penalty area action came five minutes before the end when Norris almost got a toe to Wickham’s cross-shot.
Two minutes later Edwards teed up Leadbitter on the edge of the box, but Kirkland pushed his shot wide.
In the final minute, sub Matt Fryatt curled a shot wide for the visitors but that was as close as Leicester would get to a goal.
After three minutes of injury time referee Attwell brought an eventful evening to an end to cheers from the home support.
Town fully deserved their win, having appeared to be the only side interested in taking part before the break. Once the Blues were three ahead, the visitors showed little that suggested that a fightback would take place, although Curtis Davies was perhaps unfortunate that his team-mates caused his ‘goal’ to be disallowed.
The Foxes will presumably argue, perhaps correctly, that the match oughtn’t to have taken place but even so the conditions were the same for both teams and on the day they were very much bested by Roy Keane’s men.
Whether the result and the end of the run of six defeats will have any effect on Keane’s future as Town boss remains to be seen, but Blues supporters will at least go into Christmas slightly less concerned about being drawn into a relegation fight than they were before kick-off.
Ipswich: Fülöp, Zuiverloon, Kennedy, Delaney, Smith, Leadbitter, Norris (c), O'Connor (Edwards 77), Colback, Scotland (Livermore 68), Fallon (Wickham 64). Unused: Murphy, Peters, Edwards, Brown, O'Dea.
Leicester: Kirkland, Naughton, Vitor, Davies (Hobbs 68), Cunningham, Wellens, Abe, King (c), Dyer (Howard 28), Gallagher (Fryatt 64), Vassell. Unused: Weale, Morrison, Oakley, Moussa. Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire). Att: 16,728.