Skuse: Derby Win Could Spark Play-Off Push Wednesday, 14th Feb 2018 17:34 Town midfielder Cole Skuse believes a derby triumph on Sunday over mid-table rivals Norwich could spark a play-off push for the Blues. Both teams are locked on the 44-point mark and by kick-off time at Carrow Road there could be an 11-point gap between them and the top six with 15 games left to play in the current campaign. Skuse, 31, said: “This isn’t just a huge game in terms of our rivalry and what it means to the fans. It’s also a huge game in terms of trying to get closer to the top six. “If we win it will be a huge result. It could provide a real spark to our play-off chances. “We’re level on points, both in the middle of the table, so if we’re going to make a move towards the play-off places we need to do it pretty soon. We need this win.” Skuse is well aware of the recent history between the two sides and that Town have failed to register a victory over Norwich in the nine games that have taken place since Jim Magilton’s team won 3-2 at Portman Road in April 2009, coincidentally his last in charge before his dismissal to make way for Roy Keane. He added: “My team as a boy was Bristol City and if we went that long without a win over Bristol Rovers it would hurt. I feel the fans’ frustration and I was discussing it with a supporter I bumped into when I was shopping the other day. “He was saying ‘It’s been nine years, we need to beat Norwich’ and I said ‘I completely understand. If I was in your position as a fan I’d be very frustrated, so we’ll be trying our utmost to get the right result on Sunday’. “I love the derbies. I used to go along and watch the Bristol derbies as a kid. There weren’t many of them because we [City] were always in a higher division. “As a player these are the games you want to play in. A couple of years ago we played Norwich and there was a tongue in cheek remark that I made — something about it not being nice being jeered and booed — and their manager at the time, Alex Neil, took it the wrong way. “I’m well aware that if I’m being booed by opposition fans it means we’re doing something right and getting on top of them. “The Norwich game is one we’re all looking forward to. Personally, I love these games and I know what they mean to the fans. “The chap I was chatting to at the supermarket reminded me that Norwich don’t score many goals — 31 in 31 league games so far — and we’ll be trying our utmost to make sure that’s the case on Sunday. We’ll be playing a very disciplined game, trying to put our stamp on them. “I know we lost at home to them this season but I thought we had a very good game and probably deserved to win it, as mad as that sounds. We nullified them as much as we could and last season’s game at Carrow Road was a tough one to take. “If we go about our business in the right way and put our footprint on them it would be nice to come away with a win.” As one of the most experienced players in the Town side Skuse won’t be fazed by the occasion on Sunday and responded in predictable fashion when asked how he would feel about being handed a man-to-man marking role on Canaries’ £20 million-rated midfielder James Maddison, whose goal decided the corresponding fixture at Portman Road earlier in the season. Skuse said: “He’s a fantastic player and been a great signing for them. He’s had a great run of performances and he’s being tipped to go on and do bigger and better things. “I know he’s being watched by a number of top division sides. It will be a tough ask but if I’m asked to do a job on him I’ll go about my business the way I do most weeks if I have to look after an opponent. I’ll be trying to stop him having a footprint on the game.” Several Town players, among them ex-Rangers pair Joe Garner and Martyn Waghorn, will be making their first derby appearances at Carrow Road. Skuse laughed: “My dad’s team is Rangers. He’s a big fan and I’ve been asking them questions about the Old Firm derby. "They tell me it’s on a different scale altogether — you can’t leave your house all week in the build-up and if you lose you can’t leave your house for two weeks. “In terms of the East Anglian derby my experience is that the build-up is important. In training, for example, you are trying to give the players who haven’t experienced it before all the confidence you can and build them up as much as you can. “A derby is a different environment, it’s much more hostile and atmospheric, so you just try to prepare them for that. You want them going into the game high on confidence and hopefully they perform on the day.” One of Skuse’s most endearing qualities is his ability to poke fun at himself and he was at his self-deprecating best when the possibility of him grabbing a rare goal — he has only netted twice in his 196 Town appearances to date — at Carrow Road and, if so, did he have a celebration ready? He added: “I haven’t to be honest. Would you like to suggest one? Any ideas? But I’m due a goal — actually, when am I not ever due a goal? I don’t think I have the physique to copy Bersant taking his shirt off and throwing it into the crowd at Burton. “When Tommy [Smith] scored in the play-off game at Carrow Road he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of our fans. I’m not sure I could run that far so I’d prefer to score at the same end as where the fans will be. “When I first signed for Ipswich I was a bit taken aback because the supporters at my first away game were unbelievable. The atmosphere they created was phenomenal. “Let’s not beat about the bush — Ipswich is geographically challenged, to say the least. Every away game for Ipswich is hours and hundreds of miles, so the away following we get is fantastic and full credit to them. “Sunday will be one of their shorter journeys so it would be nice to give them the win they deserve as a thank-you for their support up and down the country. “It was the same — and still is — for Bristol City. Most of their trips are long old slogs. Chambo was saying the other day that when he played for Nottingham Forest he was nearly always home by around eight o’clock from away games. He said they seemed to be just two hours from nearly everywhere.”
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