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Hull City 2-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report Saturday, 18th Nov 2017 17:18
Jordan Spence netted an 88th minute equaliser as Town drew 2-2 at Hull City, their first draw for 25 matches. The Blues got off to the perfect start when David McGoldrick put them ahead in the sixth minute but the Tigers levelled through Jarrod Bowen on 34, then went in front via Nouha Dicko six minutes after the restart. McGoldrick missed a penalty in the 75th minute but Spence’s third goal of the season grabbed Town their first draw of the season with two minutes remaining.
Boss Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side with the Blues again lining-up in their attacking 4-2-3-1 system with McGoldrick, Martyn Waghorn and Bersant Celina behind Joe Garner.
Callum Connolly again joined Cole Skuse, who was over the injury he suffered in the 3-0 victory over Preston before the international break, in the deeper midfield roles.
There was no place in the 18 for Emyr Huws, who was in contention to return to the squad for the first time since joining the Blues on a permanent basis in the summer after recovering from his achilles injury.
Hull made four changes, Michael Hector, Kevin Stewart, Markus Henriksen and Dicko coming into the side for Max Clark, David Meyler, Jackson Irvine and Fraizer Campbell.
Town started brightly, Henricksen blocking Waghorn’s 30-yard freekick in the second minute.
And four minutes later, the Blues went in front. Hull keeper Allan McGregor impressively tipped Garner’s header over but Town scored from the resultant corner.
Waghorn played a quickly-taken short flag-kick to Celina, who returned the ball to the former Hull loanee, who crossed to the edge of the box. Skuse turned into the area and, after Jonas Knudsen had mis-kicked a loose ball, McGoldrick hit his eighth goal of the campaign into the corner of the net.
Having got their noses in front, the Blues continued to look the better side with the home team unable to make an impression on the game, much to the frustration of the home fans, already in a fractious mood due to their team’s 20th position in the table going into the game and their unpopular owners.
On 17 Garner tried an ambitious chip from not far inside the Hull half which McGregor was able to watch loop wide of his goal.
The Tigers struck their first shot of the game in the 22nd minute but Bowen’s 25-yard effort was straight at Bartosz Bialkowski in the Town goal.
As the game moved towards the half-hour mark Hull put the Blues under pressure for the first time with a number of balls played into the box but the Town backline remaining resolute.
However, in the 34th minute the Tigers levelled. Kamil Grosicki cleverly turned his way past Connolly as he broke into the area on the right, his cross hit Adam Webster, wrong-footing his team-mates and falling to Bowen at the far post and Bialkowski could only palm his shot and ninth goal of the season into the roof of the net.
The goal gave the home side increased impetus and on 40 Webster was forced to pull back Henriksen as he broke away towards goal after the Blues had lost possession and the former Pompey man was shown the first yellow card of the game.
Grosicki saw a strike blocked as the Tigers ended the half on top having grabbed their equaliser, deservedly on the balance of the first 45 minutes as a whole, Town having been the better side earlier in the period when they should have made more of having gained the lead.
Hull midfielder Seb Larsson was booked for a foul on Celina in the first minute of the second half.
Three minutes later, the Kosovo international unleashed a strike from the edge of the box but McGregor saved.
But in the 51st minute the home side went in front. Skipper Luke Chambers initially failed to deal with an aerial ball from deep, Dicko then held him off and ran through one-on-one with Bialkowski before beating the Blues’ keeper.
Town boss McCarthy will have been frustrated by the manner in which the goal was conceded, hardly the first poor goal shipped by his side this season.
Grosicki shot wide for the Tigers, now with their tails very much up, when he might have done better, then Bowen and Connolly had their names added to referee David Coote’s book for fouls.
Having made such a disappointing start to the half, the Blues started to come back into the game, Hector making an important interception ahead of Waghorn as Celina cut back.
At the other end, Dicko shot wide from 25 yards on the hour, then Garner was booked for the latest in a succession of indiscretions.
Moments later, the former Preston and Rangers man may have been a touch fortunate not to receive a second yellow card for clashing with Hector - who he had fouled to pick up his caution - having been felled by the on-loan Chelsea defender.
Knudsen joined the lengthening list of booked players for a foul on Bowen on 67, the Dane’s fifth caution of the season which will see him miss Wednesday’s game against Sheffield Wednesday. A minute later, Hull swapped Grosicki for Jackson Irvine.
Dicko almost profited from an under-hit Knudsen backpass as the game moved into its final 20 minutes but Bialkowski reached the ball and cleared ahead of the one-time Wolves man.
In the 74th minute Town were awarded their first penalty of the season after Waghorn had been clumsily tripped by Stewart as he cut into the area on the right.
Town’s earlier goalscorer McGoldrick took the kick but hit it too close to keeper McGregor, who saved to his right.
The Blues made a double substitution in the 80th minute, Grant Ward and Kevin Bru taking over from Waghorn and Connolly. Hull swapped Larsson for Meyler.
On 86 Freddie Sears replaced a frustrated McGoldrick with the Blues having started to put the Tigers under some late pressure.
And in the 88th minute they levelled. Webster nodded on Chambers's ball into the box after Ward had played a freekick short to him and Spence flung out a leg to divert home off the inside of the post.
Hull switched Dicko for Adama Diomande as the game moved into five minutes of added-on time. Soon after, Ward became the fifth Town player to pick up a yellow card for foul on Bowen, then Stewart joined him for a cynical foul as the Blues broke.
The Tigers should have won it at the death when Meyler found Diomande at the far post but the sub headed wide when he ought to have have scored.
Referee Coote brought the game to an end soon afterwards with the Blues claiming a point from what was an up and down afternoon.
Having started well and grabbing the lead, Town allowed a struggling Tigers side to get back into the game and then to go ahead.
The Blues had rarely looked like getting on terms before McGoldrick’s disappointing penalty. But Town showed their now familiar stoicism with Spence to man to pop up with the important late goal, not for the first time this season.
Overall, a point from a trip to a relegated former Premier League side is never a bad result, however, the Blues will feel that having gone ahead they might well have claimed all three. Equally, they looked destined for defeat for much of the second half.
The draw was Town's first for 25 matches (23 in the league) since the 1-1 with Birmingham on April 1st.
Going 15 league games at the start of a season without a draw is a new club record, beating the previous similar run of 14 established at the beginning of the 1954/55 campaign.
The result moved the Blues up a place to seventh before Derby's 1-1 draw at Fulham saw them return to eighth ahead of Wednesday’s live Sky game against the Owls at Portman Road.
I have only made one home game this season, admittedly due to work and living up here in Lincs. But I don't really miss not going anymore as I already believe it will be a mid table finish. IMO MM has improved to a degree this season, but it's still not good enough for any real excitement.
The club needs to re-invent itself, which means new owner, more funds and a new manager to add some excitement into the proceedings. As Elisabeth says it could all go wrong like Coventry, but it. could go right like Huddersfield and Burnley. That's the risk and so the excitement of the risk.
At the moment the club is boring, 17 seasons in this league! We need change to at least cause a stir. Otherwise there will be more like me happy to follow the game in the Chat room. Talking of which there were on 92 fans on-line at one point. I rest my case!
Some very deluded posts! League position pointed out and play off possibilities ! I suggest some of you need to get a grip! This manager is a spent force free-wheeling, even the clueless owner knows that, because he's doing the same!
....that's the only reason why McCarthy has taken the ‘shackles' of his usual ‘negative paint drying' tactics! He's off come end of season, thus chuck the fans a bone!
If we do end up with more points than last season (which is looking likely) it's down to the fact that McCarthy under pressure from the supporters and a poor last season to bring in Waghorn, Celina, Garner and Adayemi to add a more attacking approach to our game rather than let's not get beat attitude which accounts for many draws over recent seasons as opposed to the win 1 lose 1 and draw less statistics so far this season. Sadly it's taken a few seasons for Mick to realise this and a tight owner to release the purse strings to a degree. On the minus side as each season goes by McCarthy's defensive nuance seems to have disappeared up his own backside.
Good result and overall performance but we seriously need some defensive reinforcements. some of the goals we have conceded this season are past comical and Chambers seems to be at the heart of them all. Time for a change?????
Bert, other clubs gate figures are irrelevant , ITFC attendances are what count, and they are declining, and reflects the disenchantment of a lot of longstanding fans like myself ,Fans that have seen the good times, times when pride was evident on pitch and terraces, Times when ITFC competed for everything. Now support is dwindling and seems largely to come from those happy to accept second best, mundane crap ,
Ok, I've read all the comments and I think I've got it. To summarise:
We are making absolutely no progress under McCarthy, but if we are making any progress, it is not due to McCarthy but is down to the fact that he is listening to town fans.
But he doesn't listen to town fans and only plays his favourites, and even though he played Celina (who is apparently not one of his favourites) today, the fact that Celina was quiet today is McCarthy's fault.
And we should competing with Arsenal (yes, I know), who beat Spurs today and whose fans hate the manager even though he plays attractive football.
It seems McCarthy should play youngsters like Connolly, but apparently we were better when Connolly went off.
Still I'm like most of those fans who said they weren't getting carried away in August, but would reserve judgement until after October when we would probably be in the relegation zone. And although all the fans were ecstatic with us having 4 excellent strikers in August, McCarthy is now like a kid playing Fifa by picking all 4 strikers.
So that's pretty clear. Why doesn't McCarthy just listen to the fans??
It's amazing how we are soooo dull!! I mean only wolves and Hull have scored more than us (we still have a game in and). Only Hull have more goals in their games than us yet people on here act as if we are the most boring team in the world. God knows how miserable supporters of other teams must be!! I do feel we need to change at end of season but not because MM is a Dino and done a poor job. Simply because there are a faction of supporters who seem hellbent on seeing him off and the atmosphere around the club has turned toxic. This despite the fact he has finished above where the club should have done given the financial resources at his disposal. Think its clear he will go at end of season, which is best for all parties, but if we can't all get behind the team now, while we are close to the play offs (when most experts thought we would be at other end) then I seriously question some motives.... (cue the minuses!!!!)
Some people need to really get a grip, swallow some pride and have a sort it out.
We're one off the play offs.
We DO have a game in hand - many don't like the fact we do. Though with 4 games in a very quick time, I hope we don't have another Cardiff game.
We're sitting alright thank you after a horrific injury run to start with.
I think Norwich would swap places with our points total, as would many others.
Yes, not everything is perfect, but this really isn't the time for Mick out, Dino, ' entertainment ' ............... try supporting the team, you never know, it might be more fun.
Spot on BraveDave . Most commonsense I've heard on here in some time! Mick will get no credit for anything. We get a win and it's because he's listened to the fans ! We lose and it's fully down to him and bad decisions. TimmyH a prime example . We only have Celina Waghorn Garner and Adeyemi on the books because of his protestations. Mick and his team found these players, who else had been aware of them and their availability ? One point off play-offs in November, that'll do for now !
Call me fickle if you like Cat. It's funny saying that though when you're the one who went to Arsenal Spurs. Whereas it's me who does 35-40 games a season.
It shows just how average this division is not mentioning the top 5 - Norwich: very average but put a run together for a period (2 points behind), Brentford: Struggled terribly for the first 2 months then put a run together, played Cardiff off the park today but lost (3 points behind), Sheff Wednesday: so far inconsistent this season (1 point behind), Leeds: started well but now blowing more cold than hot (2 points behind), Forest: inconsistent, don't know what you'll get from them (1 point behind), Boro: inconsistent start from big spending club but playing somewhat better now (1 point ahead).
I recall watching Waghorn's highlights reel for Rangers and if my memory serves me right he certainly knew how to take a penalty so was a bit surprised he didn't step up, especially given he was the one that won the penalty. I actually think that wouldn't be a bad rule for football, that is to say, whoever is fowled for the penalty should be the one that has to step up to take it. I went to the Ipswich vs Barnsley game last season and DmG had not trouble with his penalty that day but his penalty today was awful! Can't knock him too much though because he had already scored from open play. On the radio they were very critical of our defending today which is always a concern. Sadly I do think Chambers can be a liability at times. It's a great shame as you can see he has the passion but the quality is sadly lacking at times. But I can see how he's a positive character to have in the dressing room and I imagine he's well thought of by his other team mates. They said on the radio Celina had a quiet game but did say the team didn't get the ball to him enough and that he could of been better utilised. Even so, we were playing a team that had just come down. I know they have struggled this season but if you compare their wage bill to ours I'm sure we'd be a long way behind on that score. I'm no Mick fan at all, but one thing he's really got on me at the moment is that I always used to moan to my friends that we draw too many games and how MM often seems over joyed with a point. But the fact that this was our first draw in 25 games says rather a lot. But nonetheless, I still do feel underwhelmed and bored at our style of play at times but I do have to say it's certainly an improvement on last season. Some tough fixtures coming up so I'd be surprised if we are still sitting so pretty in the league in 2 or 3 weeks for now but if we are then full credit has to go to the team and management as we are punching above our weight. It might not be pretty and it's certainly not got me sitting on the edge of my seat, but we're sitting much higher up the league than I imagined we would be at this stage of the season. I thought we'd definitely be in the bottom half of the league for most the season. However, I'd be highly surprised if we somehow managed to sneak into the Play Offs this season and falling into the bottom half is still highly possible but thankfully unless things fall off an absolute cliff those pre-season relegation fears (especially after the 6-0 Valley trouncing!) look very wide of the mark. I'm resigned to Mick being here till the end of the season (surprise surprise Sunderland didn't want him) so while he can be a stubborn g*t, we may as well try and get behind the team as best we can and see if we can continue to keep punching above our weight. I think Mick will most likely move on to pastures new next season and I won't lose any sleep over him moving on but I do realise that he will be missed by some of our fans who argue he's done a good steady job on a tight budget. Hopefully we don't jump out of the frying pan and into the fire and get somebody like Tony Poolis who could be seeking alternative employment in the near future! He never gets relegated but he bores the hell out of me. Have you noticed his teams so often seem to be given the Monday night Sky fixture which nobody can be bothered to watch! You wouldn't want to be a striker if Tony Poolis was your manager, you'd be like a second-class citizen! Here's what Michael Owen said about playing under Tony Poolis:
I reckon some of all this stuff with the mick out lot on the news section is down to you being a bit stubborn. Like mick is ironically.
You were all telling us after the Charlton pre season shambles that we play awful football, would struggle to score goals and are a boring team who we're destined for relegation.
Then we started well and it was 'well we've had easy fixtures. See where we are after 10-15 games. DinoMick out'.
Now we are 16 games in, have a game in hand and yet are still only 1 point off the playoffs. And yet you lot still won't admit that perhaps, just maybe, we might do alright this year.
So rather than get behind the team, anything positive is made into a negative whether that be the way you interpret Mick's comments, or his choice of players or whatever it is.
At the end of the day, every single one you would've taken being in the position that we are currently in at this stage of the season.
I'm a “Mick outer” for a whole host of reasons but it doesn't mean I don't love this great club of ours any less than those who back him. Folk point out how we're just outside the play offs with a game in hand but fail/refuse to acknowledge we can't and haven't beaten anyone in the top half of the league. There are those who maintain that the lack of investment by him upstairs has stifled Monotonous Micks ambitions, but the ‘Uddersfields of this world prove you don't have to spend big to succeed, you just need the right philosophy. I actually think we have a decent squad which in the right hands and with one or two additions, could produce. Dino should take some credit in assembling them but in the final analysis, he's from another era, he's well past his sell by date, move on Mick.
Having got the early goal against a team that were there for the taking it's disappointing that we failed to take advantage and allowed them a foothold in the game. However it's a positive that we then got ourselves a draw from 2-1 behind. We are in a good position in the table but I just can't see us staying there as I don't believe we are good enough. I believe Mick said a while ago that he loves proving people wrong well I hope he does it to me now
I think ITFC needs to make radical changes at the club. Move the club to an area of England where the local people support their team, manager and owner, What is wrong with ITFC fans? Top six, scoring goals, playing young players and exciting games and being better than NCFC. Not enough for Ipswich folks. Pathetic.
Rensham. We are not top 6. We are not top scorers in the Championship. And the games are not exciting at all. I did enjoy your earlier post about renewing the managers contract though. Very witty.
Currie10 & Seasider. I don't know if you saw my other comment on the Smith story or not but Chambers is the weakest link in our defence, as shown again today. The Smith & Webster pairing is what we should be trying to build, or Smith Webster Spence if we play 3. Never gonna happen though as the manager will never drop Chambers.
Well said Rommers and Elizabeth wasted amongst the glass half empty moaners of the news site. I was at the game and i thought we did look better when Bru came on Skuse had a good game doing we he does well tidying up in the midfield. In the end pleased with the point its knicking points like this that get you into the play offs. Hogster Celina had plenty of the ball just didnt do much with it when he got it.
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