Ipswich Town’s terrible run in the FA Cup continued as the Blues lost 1-0 on the road against Accrington Stanley at the Crown Ground.

Town have not won an FA Cup game since 2010 with their last victory a 2-1 win against Blackpool nine years ago, and they have now been eliminated from the competition by lower league opposition in three of the last four seasons.

In the first ever competitive meeting between Ipswich and Accrington, it was the home side who looked to catch the defence off guard as a corner came swinging into the centre of the box, but Freddie Sears cleared the danger after two minutes.

Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski got bumped by Stanley striker Andy Mangan as he chased down a long ball and after an exchange of words, the referee restored order.

In the eighth minute, Paul Lambert’s men had their first meaningful attack with new loan signing Callum Elder, fresh from Leicester, linking up with Sears to make a run down the right but the 29-year-old wasted his delivery across goal.

Flynn Downes made a dart down the middle, only to see his burst of pace come to nothing as Accrington intercepted the ball and launched a counter-attack.

Stanley’s Sam Finley then unleashed the first shot on goal, which was comfortably collected by Bialkowski.

It was Gwion Edwards’s turn to try and spark a chance for Town and as the ball fell awkwardly in front of him, he released a wild drive into the Crown Ground car park with 18 minutes gone.

Bialkowski was made to work again soon after as Jordan Clark fired a low drive from the right but the Polish stopper was equal to it.

Tempers flared between the two sides after an altercation between Downes and Finley and for his intimidating reaction, the Brentwood-born youngster received a yellow card.

Approaching the half-hour mark, Clark caused problems for Town’s defence as he raced across the byline with quick feet until they were halted by a critical challenge from Toto Nsiala to clear for a corner, which came to no trouble.

Nsiala was forced to deny Clark again and the power of the Stanley midfielder’s shot was so vicious, the rebound inadvertently launched a counter-attack for Town, but Sears misread the path of the ball, as he ran underneath a high, awkward bounce.

In the 37th minute, Sears sprinted forward in search of support and he was joined by ex-Stanley striker Kayden Jackson, who followed the play through to Jon Nolan. Nolan had time and space for a strike from distance but again, the ball was way off-target.

At the other end shortly afterwards, Bialkowski was again forced to deny Clark as he tipped a low strike at his near post before keeping Town in the game again as he made a quick move to cancel out an attack from Finley.

Accrington were awarded a freekick with two minutes to the break after Downes and Clark collided in the middle of the pitch but that chance was given away by the home side with a high ball running out of play.

Sears desperately ran forward again on the right and cut inside to try and bend a shot into the far bottom corner but it was no problem for Stanley keeper Connor Ripley.

Accrington’s star-man Clark made the last move of the half to try and steal a half-time lead but his header fell wide of Bialkowski’s right post as the two sides went into the changing rooms goalless.

When play resumed, Town made a change as Downes came off for Teddy Bishop, and the 22-year-old had the first strike of the second half.

After Town’s freekick from the left was headed out, Bishop blasted a drive from distance, which curled wide to the left.

Bishop continued to make an impact as he surged forward and laid the ball off to the left wing, where Town earned a corner. Again, it came to nothing as a sea of heads deflected the ball out of Accrington’s area.

As the hour mark approached, Stanley attempted to catch Town out with route one football but Nsiala, was on hand to stop Accrington striker Billy Kee with a professional foul.

Bishop’s introduction much improved the visitors' style of play as he inspired more ball movement from across the midfield with two more attempts.

He dragged a left-footed effort across the face of the goal before failing to find the target from distance yet again.

Jon Nolan then found inspiration to have a go at pulling the Blues in front and his hard shot across the grass was parried away by Ripley with just over 20 minutes to play.

Town conceded a freekick in a dangerous position from the left in the 74th minute from which they fell behind.

Stanley captain Sean McConville posted a high arching ball to the far post, which was headed back across goal by Ben Richards-Everton for Kee to nod into an open net.

Sears burst into life again in the last 10 minutes to try and salvage an equaliser but he was denied a hero's goal once again by Ripley having been played in by Bishop.

The Blues pushed for an equaliser in the closing stages but once again their FA Cup campaign ends at the first hurdle, and as so often to lower league opposition. The Blues are now 14 games without a win in the competition they won in 1978.

Town's season of woe shows no sign of an upturn with their next fixture the visit of fellow strugglers Rotherham to Portman Road next Saturday.

Accrington: Ripley, Johnson, Hughes, Richards-Everton, Clark, McConville, Finley, Sykes, Mangan (Brown 66), Barlaser, Kee. Unused: Maxted, Williams, Mingoia, Perritt, Conneely, Watson.

Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Pennington, Nsiala, Elder, Nolan (Harrison 80), Edwards, Downes (Bishop 46), Dozzell, Sears, Jackson (Keane 66). Unused: Gerken, Chambers, Kenlock, Lankester. Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire) . Att: 2,869 (Town: 1,224).

Photo: Action Images

Swn98 added 17:31 - Jan 5 I s the worm turning for Lambert? I can sense the toxic atmosphere returning to Portman Rd You got what you wished for.
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dirtydingusmagee added 17:32 - Jan 5 anybody reckon we will bounce straight back when we get relegated after that ?,dream on , the Club is in total free fall and will fade away into obscurity, Evans gave up on it years ago his ''dabble with football'' backfired and apathy set in .RIP ITFC.
12

BaaBaaBlue added 17:33 - Jan 5 Absolutely terrible.. I've truly no idea on where we're headed as a club (other than League 1 of course) We could be in the wilderness for years with this current regime.. Us nice folk of Suffolk need to get a bit angry about the situation.
7

pragmatic added 17:33 - Jan 5 Difficult to remain positive after this display but as a “real supporter” will always get behind team & Lambert & whoever plays,
4

Swn98 added 17:34 - Jan 5 Blue arrow?
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brian_a_mul added 17:35 - Jan 5 Tbh this shows this squads true level, rotherham at home next is our biggest game of the season. Fail to win and i fear our season is over
3

BaaBaaBlue added 17:35 - Jan 5 Evans needs to go!! It is that simple.
4

RRanger added 17:35 - Jan 5 What the hell does our owner have to do with 11 players losing a football match at Accrington Stanley, apart from paying their wages? It is so easy to make puerile comments. As pathetic as our team at the moment. Cue the down votes.
11

H1960 added 17:36 - Jan 5 Why the hell do these bloody managers play one up front!! it never works, I just wish for more positivity, if we are going to lose lets at least go down fighting and having a go
10

runningout added 17:36 - Jan 5 I'm stupid enough to love em when ITFC has faded into obscurity The mug I am :-)
3

suffolkpunch1978 added 17:38 - Jan 5 Thanks evans, thanks a bunch
4

blue86 added 17:38 - Jan 5 will always love town, but this is just ridiculous. going to the rotherham game and im dreading it to be honest, out of the cup again we are a joke! also, kayden jackon i guess your old accrington buddies will be having there burgers tonight eh!!!! one thing i do know, i want Marcus Evans gone asap, its like he has put a curse on this club its just terrible, since he took over its just got worse and worse. i think its nearly getting to a point where a protest needs to start to get him gone somehow? I mean how bad is it going to get? this wouldnt happen at 99% of other clubs, sad sad times indeed.

4

midastouch added 17:38 - Jan 5 Accrington were the shorter price to win this game which sums up how far we've fallen under Evans! Been 3 World Cups since we last won an FA Cup, we're beyond a joke under ME. What that man knows about football I could write on the back of a atom!
9

britbiker added 17:39 - Jan 5 Sorry its all my fault. I really thought we would put in a performance today. I totally forgot that we are always pathetically powder puff against smaller teams. I stupidly put some money on us to win as the bookies had made Acc Stanley favourites. I also put money on Colchester to win at home against the bottom team and Ayr Utd ( my Scottish team) to win at home against the bottom club. Not one of them won. I hate football and I hate myself for being so stupid.

6

midastouch added 17:39 - Jan 5 meant been 3 world cups since we won an FA Cup game, not the whole thing obviously!
3

clint_eastwood added 17:39 - Jan 5 This club is reaching rock bottom. How far low can we go? Sad times
3

robmonkey007 added 17:40 - Jan 5 RRanger.....don't forget, we run at a huge loss each year and he pays 5-6 million of his own money to cover that. SOME (and only some) fans called for MM to go....they got that. We want an up and coming young manager....they got that. B@gger...it hasnt worked. Who can we blame?
0

ITFCsince73 added 17:40 - Jan 5 On 01/01/2019 Evans was presented with an opportunity to turn around this misery. He hasn't upto now chosen to take the opportunity. It was going to take huge investment from our very, very wealthy owner in this window. The 2 brought in, particularly Keane having played so little football over past 4 yrs, tells me L1 here we come.
9

19781981twtd added 17:40 - Jan 5 Just when you thought it coundnt get any worse along comes another totally gutless performance against an average league 1 outfit can we get a refund on the two new half wits on the 30 day rule refund for sub standard goods in 40 plus years following the team I have never been so depressed I have no idea how things can change today proves league 1 will be just as bigger challenge as this season it pains me to say it but if and when we go down I don't think we will ever get back sad sad times and the scummers from Norfolk having a right good laugh is just the fuc*** icing on the sh** cake time for beer and hope this is all just a bad nightmare but we know it is not it real and it hurts like hell.

5

PSGBlue added 17:40 - Jan 5 Marcus Evans - can please show some leadership for once and address the fans. Firstly, upon how you propose to avoid relegation to league one this year. But, secondly if the inevitable does materialise, what is your 2-3 year plan to restore Ipswich to the Championship. Quite frankly as Owner of Ipswich Town its absolute disgrace that you do not address all those fans who have payed over the odds for their season tickets for the past eleven seasons and seen nothing but a demise of this once famous club. Whilst you may not want to invest, lets hear your reasons why and your future plans - that's the least you owe us, in the worst season in over a generation!

15

hugster added 17:40 - Jan 5 Listened to 2nd half on Radio Suffolk. Mathie was doing his nut that we weren't going 2 up front. Then Spence gives away another needless freekick and I knew what was coming. We need to get Spence out of the team, he is costing is every week. Chambers or Pennington at right back perhaps? Not ideal but currently no other senior right back at the club.
7

geminimustang added 17:41 - Jan 5 PL is shown as averaging 0.55pts per game for ITFC in the league according to a web site I found today.Somebody may know better.Today was another bad day.Of course,PH brought it about but PL has been unable to stop the rot.Talks a good job but I become less convinced by the week.I've no idea where we go from here but relegation seems a given.Why ME never backed MM with serious money I will never understand but that looks to be an opportunity missed.Promotion was a real possibility and now one bad day after another.

5

Felstow1978 added 17:43 - Jan 5 Lambert. 6ecking good at self promotion and PR. Not quite so good when it's comes to actually managing a football team. Was Norwich just a lucky opportunity with a decent bunch of players and Villa, Blackburn and Stoke his natural level?
1

I_AM_GOD added 17:44 - Jan 5 I have no words any move for how frustrated with the whole club. Players out of their depth and some seeming totally inept or disinterested at any level. No investment of any serious intent. Do not turn on Paul Lambert who has made progress and without the ability to replace said players in the team yet, has his hands tied with the crap we have. A large blame on the owner. But as we wished for a change in manage and got screwed over, anyone fear the owner would screw is over even more in leaving?

4

Gilesy added 17:44 - Jan 5 I went to Blackpool in 2010 with my son. After the match we stopped off at the Trafford Centre and bought a Lego Star wars set. He's now at university.
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