A very young Town reserves side fell to a 3-2 defeat against Leicester at Kettering on Wednesday night. Both sides were filled with Academy kids with the odd exception in either eleven.
One of these was veteran Leicester defender Martin Keown, who looked like the older kid held back a year at school. Pablo was probably the next oldest, lining up at the front for Town.
Of the 100 or so people in the Poppies' Rockingham Road ground, there were a few Ipswich fans, presumably locally based.
The game kicked off and Leicester forced Town keeper Shane Supple into a save within the first minute, getting in a hard shot from distance which the keeper did well to dive and push away.
The early effort obviously acted as a wake-up call as the Town rearguard were pretty solid from this point, and were passing the ball out of defence and forward into the midfield.
Jerrome Sobers and Aidan Collins both seemed sharp, the latter winning most headers that came his way, and Sobers getting stuck in when needed. A chance came to Collins via Billy Clarke, who'd corner picked him out but his powerful header was well saved by Conrad Logan in the Leicester goal.
Scott Barron was replaced on 23 by Owen Garvan, presumably due to injury as he was playing well.
Pablo Couñago was restricted to a few decent chances in the first half, but none clear cut, they were his usual wriggles past defenders, and one a shot from almost the halfway line!
He was getting involved where necessary, tracking back at times, but looked frustrated on occasion as the ball wasn't coming his way often enough.
As it looked to be ending all square at the break, Leicester broke forward down the right and Louis Dodds after some clever work forced a good low shot across Supple who did well to get down and parry it, only to see Ricky Muggleton follow up and tuck it away.
No changes for the second half, but Town looked far livelier up front and seemed to be busier on the left of the park, producing more balls into the box.
They were level on 55 minutes through Pablo Couñago, the Leicester keeper advancing too far for a through ball and slipping when checking his run, leaving Pablo to pick up the ball, compose himself and shoot past the remaining defenders. A duet of "Pablooo" rang around the stand.
At this point in the match Ipswich were definitely on top, and on 62 took the lead with Billy Clarke hitting an excellent drive from 20 yards giving the keeper no chance.
Leicester then stepped up a gear and the game evened out again, chances falling to either side, and after a spell of pressure from the Foxes they got an equaliser.
It was through sloppy defending way out on the left of the pitch where a hoof into the stand would've been safe, but instead two men beat four for the ball, and a deep cross was missed by Supple who maybe should've got a hand on it, and the ball was easily tucked away by Usaman Gondal.
Pablo went close with a long range effort which kept low but drifted wide before Leicester delivered the final blow in injury time, grabbing a late winner from a corner which Louis Dodds rose to head home.
Not a bad match, some nice football in the middle of the field, and Pablo getting in on the action. I'm not sure he did enough to warrant a return to the starting line-up but he did look fit and lively so you never know.
Reserves: 1 Shane Supple, 2 Michael Synott, 3 Scott Barron, 4 Scott Mitchell, 5 Jerrome Sobers, 6 Aidan Collins, 7 Daniel Flack, 8 Antonio Murray, 9 Pablo Counago, 10 Billy Clarke, 11 Liam Craig, Subs 12 Owen Garvan, 13 Lubomir Guentchev, 14 Chris Casement, 15 Blair Hammond, 16 Fraser Beveridge.
Thanks to Julian Watkins for the report.