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Delaney Feared Loss at Barnsley Was the End for Jewell - Ipswich Town News

Damien Delaney has admitted that he feared defeat at Barnsley back in December might have resulted in a change of manager at Portman Road.

Ipswich went to Oakwell on the back of seven successive defeats and boss Paul Jewell saw the home side establish a 2-0 interval lead.

But Town rallied superbly, scoring within seconds of the restart and going on to chalk up a 5-3 victory that no one could have possibly envisaged 45 minutes earlier.

Delaney, 30, was injured and missed the game but he said: "I was concerned for the gaffer. Any manager losing seven on the spin would be worried and I’m sure the same applied to our gaffer.

"Had we lost an eighth game in a row he may have been worried that was going to be it — but fair play to the club, Ipswich has a tradition for sticking by their managers and giving them every opportunity.

"You look at the number of managers they have had at this club — I had as many in 18 months when I was at QPR! I think the gaffer bought Keith Andrews a drink that day after his two goals.

"If we had lost eight in a row it would have been tough to recover from and you never know what might have happened. As it is we have all recovered and while things are still far from perfect, compared to where we were it’s not looking too bad at the moment.”

Although Town followed up their Barnsley success with another win at home to Derby, they suffered a further blip by going seven league and cup games without a victory, but the resounding 5-1 home defeat of then Championship leaders West Ham triggered their current run of just two losses in 12 outings.

Delaney recalled the bizarre experience of receiving text updates of what was happening at Barnsley, adding: "I was back home in Ireland and in a bar somewhere.

"The game was live on Sky that day but they didn’t have it on in the pub because there was some rugby game on. I received a text to say we were 2-0 down at half-time and I feared the worst.

"But then the texts came flying in — we pulled a goal back, then we were level and the next I knew we were 3-2 ahead, then 4-2 and 5-2. I was delighted for the lads — and the manager.”

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