Dean Gerken has recalled the 4-4 draw at Derby earlier this season as he prepares to take on the same opponents in the return fixture at Portman Road this evening.

The ex-Colchester and Bristol City goalkeeper cast his mind back to the events of October 1 last year and admitted: “That was one of the strangest games I’ve ever been involved in.

“We played so well in the first half that we were 4-1 ahead at half-time. But they came back well in the second and that kick-started their season really.”

Nigel Clough had been sacked as manager of the Rams and his replacement Steve McClaren, having originally intended the Town game to be a watching brief, made a beeline for the home dressing room at the interval.

His address to the players had the intended effect as they clawed their way back into the game and eventually salvaged a point, launching a run of just one defeat in 13 games through to the end of the year.

Gerken added: “At least we know we can score goals against them and do a job on them, but when we go into this game we won’t be thinking back to the one at their place.

“It’s a different game and there’s no point in dwelling on what happened at their ground. They probably have a few players who weren’t involved back then so it means nothing. All I know is that it’s going to be hard.

“They are massive games against Derby and Forest, and it’s good to be at home against them both. They are teams who, on their day, can beat anyone in the league.

“Obviously, we take a lot of confidence from the weekend and our win at Brighton but I’m sure it will be the same with Derby after their 5-0 win over Forest. It should be a great game, a real corker.”

Gerken confirmed that the Town players were fully in the picture as regards the Rams' 5-0 hammering of Forest, which was completed before the game at Brighton got under way.

He said: “We didn’t see the Derby-Forest game but we heard the result. We were thinking ‘Here we go, they’ve picked up form as soon as we are about to play against them’.

“But you just take each game as it comes because it could be a totally different scenario from one game to the next. All you can say is that we’re a good team, so are they and it’s going to be a good game at Portman Road.

“Every time we come in from a game we have a look at the other results, especially the teams around us and above us because we hope we have been able to improve our position in the table.

"The results at the weekend went for us because we’re closer to the play-offs than we were before, so we’re happy with that.

“Finishing in the top six is obviously our aim but there’s no way of knowing what is going to happen. The form book goes up in the air and there could be a late surge from someone else that is going to come from nowhere. All you can do is put the points on the board and hope it is enough to get the job done.”

Photo: Action Images

havinit69 added 11:05 - Mar 25 I was at that game, was the best and worst game of football as an ITFC supporter i've ever been to. Seeing hundreds of Derby fans flooding the exits after half hour to us spending the second 45 minutes trying to defend a 4-1. Lets hope lessons were learnt that night and we can gain some sweet revenge against those fans who took great joy in singing 4-1 and you f*cked it up!!

1

Ipswich Town Polls