Lewis Grabban’s first-half goal saw Norwich City to a 1-0 victory over the Blues in the East Anglian derby at Portman Road. The Canaries striker flicked home a header in the 24th minute after Town keeper Dean Gerken and midfielder Cole Skuse appeared to leave the ball for one another.

David McGoldrick’s expected return to the starting line-up was the only change from the team which drew at Birmingham in midweek with Conor Sammon dropping to the bench.

Norwich included former Town academy schoolboy Ryan Bennett at the centre of their defence.

The Blues were first to threaten after Tyrone Mings was fouled on the left. Jay Tabb sent in the freekick and, after Paul Anderson had been unable to direct a header goalwards, Skuse scraped a shot wide.

There was an early outing for Town’s stretcher tractor in the fifth minute after Canaries’ defender Bennett suffered what looked to be a foot injury in a challenge with Daryl Murphy. Javier Garrido replaced the former Blues schoolboy with skipper Russell Martin moving to the centre of the defence.

On 10 Murphy sent McGoldrick away on the left, the Blues number 10 cutting in and sending over a deep cross which Anderson nodded across to Tabb, who headed on to Murphy, the Irishman looping a shot well over.

Right-back Steven Whittaker struck the Canaries’ first effort in the 18th minute but his cross-shot failed to trouble Gerken. At the other end, Hyam played Mings into space down the left but his low ball found John Ruddy’s arms.

Town had had the better of the first quarter of the game with the Norwich backline having failed to clear their lines on several occasions.

Canaries striker Grabban hit a low 20-yard strike which Gerken saved well down to his right on 23 but a minute later the visitors went in front.

A corner from the right was cleared to Alexander Tettey on the edge of the box from where he nodded the ball back towards the edge of the six-yard area. As Skuse and Gerken left the ball for one another Grabban flicked a header into the net. The grounded Christophe Berra appeared to be playing the goalscorer onside, however, video evidence showed this not to be the case.

Despite the offside controversy, it was another goal every bit as poor as those conceded at Reading and Birmingham. Grabban should never have been allowed to get to what should have been an easily defended nod back into the area.

Town quickly went about getting back on terms. McGoldrick shot just past the post after a cleverly-worked freekick was played to him just outside the box. Soon after Skuse was booked for a foul on Lafferty.

The Canaries were presenting the greater threat as the game moved towards the half hour, Tetty seeing a shot blocked, then Lafferty hitting his rebound well wide. The Northern Irishman was booked shortly afterwards for a foul on Tabb.

Tabb laid the ball back to Murphy in the 37th minute but his shot was straight at Ruddy, then moments later McGoldrick brought the ball in from the left but his well-struck effort flew over.

On 43 Tabb’s drilled corner was missed by Anderson when he had a free header, the ball eventually falling to Skuse, who looped over from the edge of the box. A minute later, Lafferty flicked a header wide from a freekick on the left.

In seven minutes of injury time, largely as a result of Bennett’s early injury, McGoldrick sent in a dangerous cross which was put behind just ahead of Tabb. From the corner, the ball fell to Anderson 25 yards out but the winger lashed high and wide.

Moments before the half-time whistle McGoldrick failed to make contact as he tried an overhead kick after Berra had nodded down Tabb’s freekick from deep.

Town had huffed and puffed but had never really looked that close to grabbing an equaliser after Grabban’s very preventable goal.

Despite Norwich not looking entirely comfortable at the back at times, Ruddy had never really been tested, while Nathan Redmond and Grabban were a threat when the Canaries were on the counter-attack.

Town carved out an early second half opportunity, McGoldrick’s cross from the right falling to Murphy, who was in two minds whether to shoot on the turn or lay back to Anderson. Eventually the ball was moved on to Hyam and then Skuse, whose shot was deflected wide of goal.

The Blues should have been on terms in the 50th minute after a long spell of possession in the Norwich half. Tabb chipped a cross to the far post from where Murphy headed back past Ruddy’s right post when he should have scored.

There was a big scare for Town in the 53rd minute when the Blues played themselves into trouble midway inside their half. With Berra out of position, Garrido played Grabban through on goal but the ex-Bournemouth striker chipped over Gerken but also the bar when he should have made it 2-0.

Norwich were continuing to have their fragile moments at the back, McGoldrick escaping down the left in the 58th minute and forcing Ruddy to save at his near post from a tight angle.

Within a minute Gerken had made an even better save after Grabban seized on hesitation on the edge of the Town box and hit a powerful strike, which the keeper pushed away right-handed.

The lively Canaries striker was thwarted again as the game moved towards the hour mark having been played in one on one with Gerken towards the right of the area. The keeper forced him wide and Smith cleared his weak attempt at goal off the line.

Anderson scuffed a weak shot to Ruddy after being found in a dangerous position by Skuse on 65 but Norwich were continuing to have more of the ball with gaps increasingly appearing in Town’s defences.

With 18 minutes remaining Mick McCarthy made a triple substitution, Kevin Bru, Alex Henshall and Conor Sammon replacing Hyam, Anderson and Tabb.

A minute later Smith blocked from Bradley Johnson, then on 76 Bru’s edge of the area shot was deflected away following two Town corners.

Town were having more of the ball in dangerous areas but Norwich remained a bigger threat on the counter-attack, Gerken saving Garrido’s shot from the left as the match moved into its final 10 minutes. On 83 Mings was booked for a foul on Tettey as Norwich broke forward.

As the game moved into injury time, Berra nodded down Mings’s freekick from deep but Murphy just couldn’t get to it ahead of Ruddy.

Gerken saved Redmond’s low shot from the edge of the box and without the Blues threatening again referee Keith Stroud’s whistle confirmed the visitors’ victory.

Town had been better after the break and should have been on terms via Murphy’s header but largely they continued to huff and puff, showing too little quality on the ball.

The Canaries, having got their noses in front in the first half, continued to look the more threatening side on the break with Grabban failing to take one gilt-edged opportunity, while they created a number of other opportunities to increase their lead.

While by no means the hammering of three years ago - a result along those lines never looked on the cards - the Blues once again fell short when up against their greatest rivals, who they now haven't beaten in more than five years.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Hyam (Bru 72), Anderson (Sammon 72), Tabb (Henshall 82), McGoldrick, Murphy. Unused: Bialkowski, Parr, Hewitt, Bajner.

Norwich: Ruddy, Martin (c), R Bennett (Garrido 5), Turner, Whittaker, Tettey, Johnson, Hoolahan (O’Neil 83), Redmond, Lafferty (E Bennett 53), Grabban. Unused: Rudd, Cuellar, Jerome, Murphy. Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire). Att: 25,245 (Norwich 2,064).

Photo: Action Images

warktheline added 15:16 - Aug 23 Tabb woeful, got to go, Skuse poor. Midfield needs emergency treatment . Well played Mings. Mick needs to get more adventurous , very boring to watch.
12

essexboy added 15:17 - Aug 23 Oh how we need a midfield general.Nobody has a clue in midfield.Mings for me was outstanding and the only player proud to wear a Town shirt.Keeper should have come for the ball,too much hesitation.MM must now spend some money on a midfielder otherwise it will be another wasted season,other than that put BIG Mc. In midfield,he has more vision than any of the midfielders we have.

5

Tractamatt added 15:18 - Aug 23 At 5 oclock we could be in the bottom 3 and the questions are, why is Scuse playing in a town shirt, why was Hyam taken of and does this not prove that we have to spend money or we will be fighting a relegation battle this season and we won't win.
10

ArnieM added 15:18 - Aug 23 Scum hardly played us off the park today. If thats PL then they really are having a laugh. Other than the gift goal we gave them tgey created nothing themselves all game.
-9

TractorCam added 15:19 - Aug 23 Horrific performance. None of the players looked that interested out there, where was the passion? Our defence were once again a shambles, Grabban had about 100 chances to finish the game off, how it has ended 0-1 is beyond me. Waited too late for subs, and of course made wrong subs, no way Hyam should of came off over Skuse. No creativity in our midfield as usual, with the only creative one joining Rotherham on loan yesterday. Skuse once again being at fault for the goal, we won't be going anywhere with him and Mings in the starting line up i'm afraid. I shall now dream of a Jonny Williams

2

Stato added 15:21 - Aug 23 Where are all the happy clappy brigade who won't have a word said against Mick. Only 2 shots on target and for the 2nd home match running we have been played off the park. Mick did a fantastic job in getting us out of trouble when he took over but none of his tenure has been entertaining. He only knows 442 and despite having 3 centre backs he never plays a back 3. He is a dinosaur from the 90's

17

IvorFeeling added 15:25 - Aug 23 lack of quality and a plan b when hoofball doesn't work. Except Mings and McGoldrick we have no quality. My biggest issue is that we have no identity and football is a game of entertainment- yes i want to win but much better to lose 4-3 all guns blazing that losing 1-0 without a wimper. Lets go back to playing quick, attacking football on the ground. Unless we see a change not long before we have just 2,500 watching!

14

TractorBoy666 added 15:26 - Aug 23 Awful set pieces, every single one led to a more dangerous threat to them. Skuse HAS to be dropped, or better actually buy a playmaker with MONEY. Ran out of beers? No money spent on transfers? And Evans has the cheek to put the prices up!! We are going nowhere with the current squad, it's awful. Norwich were nothing special today, we were just plain awful. Parr needed to play instead of Mings, more experience especially for such a big game and the subs were made too late. Tough match next week...

2

MicksZzzTactics added 15:26 - Aug 23 Very forgettable Derby Game, not showing much if any sign of neither the ITFC players themselves nor MM's starting XI and tactics being much in sync with MM's pregame pep-talk of "Huge psychological boost a Derby win would mean to the club".... so I will just pretty much repeat what I said on the forum during the game: To start the game we had ONE "supposedly" creative player on the field in Anderson - which put his technical skills on display at the end of the 1st half btw by blasting the ball 40 ft over the goal! - and he wasn't/isn't exactly creating much of anything is he? And is there really any MORE uncreative midfield core (Skuse, Hyam and Tabb ) in the Championship? And Mings (and other lefft back options) isn't exactly never gonna be the Assist King Cresswell was is he? McGoldrick is good but he is not what I would call a creative player either, rather an extreme t trigger-happy striker from all kinds of distances and angels, which is basically not a bad thing at all .... but at the same time far from always a direct good thing (best option) either I dare say! Fans might repeat that neither Taylor or Wordsworth was good enough for "this team or this level", but IMO neither of them was never given a long enough and fair enough chance i.e. especially enough starts, as coming on as a sub and shine on any Mick's-type-of-football managed team is not always the easiest of task! Anyway those 2 were at least "semi-creative" players on a good day.... and it's thus very telling about the type of football being preferred here that both are now history at ITFC as long as MM is in charge. Alas it's almost a given that this super creative super pacy Master Mick aka The Dinosaur's team, will struggle to win enough games but also predominatingly score its goals as a result of set-pieces and as a result of plenty of Hoofball.... or just plain old random luck. Sigh, Sigh.

14

Talbs77 added 15:27 - Aug 23 Think town players need to look in mirror and ask if they really put everything into the game. I also think the atmosphere was flat, sure the players were lacklustre but so was the support. And the club wonder why people stay away? Because we have to watch a player who cost them £3m score the only goal whilst our summer striker couldn't even last 45 mins of his debut as he was bloody tired! Lacking creativity, guile, goals, quality....I could go on but too depressing.

12

phillo added 15:31 - Aug 23 Glad some are backing Hyam ..... him & Mings only 2 who showed any desire, passion or commitment today ...... & did the best they could with the talents/skills they have ..... Only 1 class player in this team in McGoldrick .... and others I have no idea why they are in the team ..... Gerken, Tabb, Skuse etc ..... be honest ..... do you think a team with Murphy as your other main striker & no width (Jay Tabb super winger !!!!!) is ever set up to win ..... can see us struggling this season tbh ...

5

bongoblue91 added 15:32 - Aug 23 We are s**t, not good enough! Do something about it ipswich!
4

EssexTractor added 15:33 - Aug 23 Correspondents today seem to be generally of one voice. Simply put no style, no creativity, no oohs and aahs edge of seat excitement. Those who hold the purse strings, those with team managerial and coaching portfoliios should take an honest examination of their individual and collective responsibilities. Football is part of the 21 st entertainment world, the key word being entertainment. Long suffering paying supporters deserve more. Today because of the occasion 25, 000 plus attended. Very difficult to see how the wavering fans would be swayed to return. Very easy to see how even the loyalist of fan will be thinking, " that monetary investment" was value for money!

12

blueboy1981 added 15:36 - Aug 23 Simplicity itself :- NO - Midfield Quality, Flair or Creativity. Totally inept today - as normal. What we did have in terms of the above - has permanently, or temporarily, left the Club recently, and plying their trade elsewhere And we STILL play a square peg in a round hole at Right Back. Didn't expect to get anything from the game today, being continuously aware of the above - so, disappointed ? - most definitely - surprised ? - not in the least. What I am certain of, is this man is not taking us in the right direction. Far too many 'bit' players in the current team - and in my opinion we've gone backwards from last season.

15

EssexTractor added 15:36 - Aug 23 * was that value for money?
3

obliquewordsmith added 15:41 - Aug 23 Not much in it really between two very average Championship sides in my opinion, besides the defensive cock up, until the utterly bizarre substitutions surrendered the midfield and (as against Fulham) invited them to run at us. Hyam was everywhere, and is finally starting to become more aggressive going forward, central defence solid and Murphy/NcGoldrick created several half chances. I thought Mings was abject in the first half, missing header after header, being shrugged off the ball and caught out of position, although he did improve and saved us late on when Redmond broke. In Mings' defence, he had no protection from the woeful Tabb, who vanishes into the centre leaving his full back exposed time and time again. How he gets a game is beyond me, one of the worst players since the days of Graham Harbey. The substitutions were awful, with the exception of Henshall, who did provide drive on the left, but losing Hyam and Anderson unbalanced the side and allowed them the run of midfield. Also, without anyone on the right really, when a header was knocked on from the box, their fullback had no one to challenge him.

1

NoelTheDub added 15:44 - Aug 23 Some say Portman Road was flat how can anyone who plays or watches football support that.The supporters that were there could not believe how bad that was I think some were in shock.I also feel sorry for Mings a young lad been schooled to play that way hoof as far as you can.Why on earth was Parr signed a good left back that would help Mings as a left mid has to be better than Tabby..

5

brittaniaman added 15:44 - Aug 23 MM said on the Radio that the back Four were not at fault neither was the goalkeeper for there goal!!! THEN MICK WHO THE HELL WAS AT FAULT FOR IT ??????
11

Toronto_Tractor added 15:44 - Aug 23 Felt like we were playing 4-0-2. I. Praying there will be a silver lining to this in the form of new midfield recruits but it's hard to be optimistic. Really poor game all round but we literally have no one who can keep hold of the ball.
3

Walk_the_Wark added 15:46 - Aug 23 Anyone actually surprised by this result? What did you expect?
9

battyblue added 15:46 - Aug 23 We need this manager to change his ways or leave asap it took him far to long to realize Nouble was not a championship footballer and now his eyes are closed to other awful performances from others
8

blueboy1981 added 15:47 - Aug 23 To the pathetic people who keep condemning the so called noise level :- Serving up regular episodes of today's inept performances will only see less enthusiasm and noise from the crowd - so be grateful for what we have. This was a local derby - the players should easily be capable of orchestrating such response from the crowd. On many past such occasions my pulse rate has undoubtedly soared - today not in the slightest. Also watch the crowd levels continue to drop - unfortunately. We could not even fill the ground today for a 'local derby' - WHY ?? - I think we ALL know the answer to that, or should do.

13

BillBlue added 16:00 - Aug 23 Say it then Blueboy - come off the fence!
-2

Talbs77 added 16:04 - Aug 23 Blueboy1981 wouldn't disagree that performance was inenept but supporters shouldn't need players to make a noise, we're there to lift the team not the other way round.
-4

Dozzells_Bobblehat added 16:09 - Aug 23 Poor game in general, poor performance from almost all in blue, and as for those raving about Mings I think you must have been at a different match to me. He did a couple of really good Last ditch tackles but in general was very poor. Positional sense is almost non existent, runs around like a headless chicken and distribution woeful. Parr and Henshall in please.

2

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls