Ipswich continued their unbeaten pre-season run in front of a 2,800 crowd at Peterborough last night. The Blues fielded (with the exception of Mike Salmon) what may well be our starting eleven against Nottingham Forest in two weeks' time.
The formation was 4-4-2 with Wilnis, Thetis, Venus and Clapham forming the back four, Stockwell, Jermaine Wright, Holland and trialist Romeo Wouden the midfield, and Scowcroft and Johnson up front.
Things couldn't have started any better when Fabian Wilnis played a short cross to Johnson from the edge of the box for the sometimes profligate striker to turn and shoot low into the net for a 1st minute goal. It looked like we could be on for a rout, but it wasn't to be.
Romeo Wouden impressed from early on and showed great skill and pace by turning somebody on the touchline and breaking clear, but the cross that resulted from that move let him down. Wilnis suffered from this problem when he first arrived, but that was quickly remedied and there is no reason why Wouden could not improve in the same way given time.
There was a scare on 15 mins when Johnson hobbled off clutching his ankle following a heavy challenge, but he was back on after a couple of minutes, revitalised by the magic sponge.
It may be that Wouden wanted to score on his debut or it may have been a deliberate tactical ploy by Burley, but the Dutchman kept straying inside, leaving Johnson out wide left. Whatever the reason, both players seemed to have an understanding of each other's game and this was demonstrated when Wouden, faced with two defenders, cut inside onto his right foot and tapped an angled through ball into the six-yard box for Johnson to run onto. We nearly scored from that opportunity and it may be that signing this player not only solves our left-wing problem, but that it also brings out the best in David Johnson.
We nearly scored again 10 minutes before the end of the half when Jermaine Wright played a neat one-two with Wilnis and shot strongly, but the new boy's impressive effort was saved.
Wouden was getting some rough treatment from the Posh's number 2 and went down injured near the halfway line after one challenge. However whilst everyone was watching the action in the penalty area, nobody noticed him run through from nowhere to find himself one-on-one with their 'keeper but when he could have shot he attempted a short cross and that was intercepted. The half ended with a Scowcroft overhead kick from a Wright cross which was saved impressively by Peterborough's number 1.
The second half was a dour affair as the game become scrappy. Nothing much happened, but the players did look much sharper than they had done at St. Albans a week before. Etherington was brought on for the Posh and Drewe Broughton showed all the skill that saw him released from Norwich in heading one of his crosses over the bar. Jae Martin, their other striker, attempted an overhead kick from another of his crosses, but again, looked more likely to injure himself than score a goal. Jermaine Wright and David Johnson had shots at goal late on but both went wide. Logan came on for Wilnis with a minute to go and didn't even touch the ball before the whistle went.
All in all, it was good to win and we denied Peterborough any clear cut goal opportunities - surprising given our record in a 4-4-2 formation at the end of last season. What is worrying though is our finishing. We simply do not take enough of our opportunities, but perhaps pre-season friendly games are not the best place to judge that. With Jonas Axeldahl to come in maybe we will be able to rotate our strikers (for the first time since Mathie left) and ensure that we have two in-form strikers on the pitch. We shall see, but there's every reason to feel optimistic about the forthcoming season in my opinion.
Salmon 6 - Not much to do, but better than Bracey.
Wilnis 6 - Had a couple of 'chats' with the ref for petulance, but solid enough.
THETIS 8 - Nothing got past the Gaul and he even tried a run up the right wing at the end.
Venus 7 - Composed and calm as usual, but still very one-footed.
Clapham 7 - A steady game from the left-back. Didn't need to do much last night.
Stockwell 7 - How old is he? Ran around like a teenager and as good as ever.
Wright 6 - His distribution was poor and very one-footed, but morephysical than Dyer.
Holland 8 - Kept things going and made few mistakes. Same old Matt.
Wouden 8 - Impressed me with his pace and skill, but crossing poor and needs to be stronger.
Scowcroft 7 - Still doesn't have a great understanding with Johnson, but played well.
Johnson 7 - Erratic and one-footed. Should use his pace more when clear on his right foot.
Wanstead