A display of slick passing and dogged determination saw Town win their first Premiership point of the season in a superb evening’s entertainment at Portman Road. Town more than matched the Champions for long periods of the game after going ahead inside ten minutes.
The recalled Fabian Wilnis hit a stupendous drive past Barthez after an intricate build-up down the left to send us all wild. The Blues were calling the shots at times with the tendency to sit back and give too much respect to the opposition as seen Saturday not evident. Town came close to scoring again when Marcus Stewart went hit a shot just wide.
The game swung one way and then the other with Man United passing the ball about as you’d expect, but Town were showing that they are by no means fodder for the bigger clubs to score masses of goals against.
Eventually a United equaliser came through David Beckham. United were awarded a free-kick on their left after Wilnis had caught Phil Neville. Beckham swung the ball in bypassing everyone and somehow the ball ended up in the net. It could have been a devastating blow, but Town were made of stiffer stuff and failed to make the errors they had Saturday.
The second half was more of the same end to end stuff. United had periods when they dominated, but so did Town. Jim Magilton was magnificent in midfield and Bramble and Hreidarsson were pillars at the back. Johnson was a constant thorn up front and Jamie Clapham and Fabian Wilnis often found space wide.
The game drew to a close with Town in the ascendant and sun Martijn Reuser should have settled the game when he found himself with only Barthez to beat. Rather than hammer the ball the Dutchman chose to lob the French international and the keeper got back and prevented the goal.
The final whistle was greeted with cheers of relief from the Town fans. Perhaps now the rest of football will start to take us seriously. We are Premier League after all. I’m off to the pub.