To whoever rated Jamie Mackie a 10/10, I followed up with a 1/10 to balance the books.

Who ever could've rated that match anything more than a 2 is beyond me, it truly was abysmal!

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To whoever rated Jamie Mackie a 10/10, I followed up with a 1/10 to balance the books.

Who ever could've rated that match anything more than a 2 is beyond me, it truly was abysmal!

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Ref handled the pitch and the weather better than the footy.

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Well that game will go down in memory, not for the score or the result, but more for the gale, the downpour, the 18min delay, and the amusing reaction from the 1,300 Blue Army, “get your fork out for the lads”, “we’re Ipswich Town, we play in the rain”, “sh!t ground, 3 stands”. The Town performance was also memorable, in difficult conditions, to a man the Ipswich players put in a real shift, energy and closing, real effort in difficult conditions. It was not our most polished or ‘on the deck’ display. When we did get it down and pass/move in triangles we had real joy, but due to the conditions and a fear of mistakes (and perhaps an instruction) we tended to go direct and long in the majority of situations. I think also Lambert had seen that Rotherham’s more direct and physical play had unsettled Oxford on the weekend and wanted to replicate.

Oxford’s ground is well out of Town and suffers for it, with only a cinema/bowl complex offering a pre-match option. It is also only fed by a single road in the final approaches and this was completely jammed, even with an 8k crowd, which must have been lower than expected due to the weather putting off locals. Beers and food in Oxford much the better option, and it’s a city with some really good pubs.

I liked the look of Oxford as a team, they were technical. Every player could control the ball, lay off short, head with accuracy, move into space. They are clearly very well coached and trained, and their manager Karl Robinson is one to watch. Their left winger was unplayable. And they looked threatening on the edge of the box (13 shots, 4 on target). But it was credit to the Town players that we in general nullified them. I think to get 51% possession at their place is impressive. When Oxford did go up a gear we did struggle to get close to them, and in some ways the conditions suited us better than them. They’ll push for an automatic spot and will spank a few teams on the way.

I think we’ve had worse refs this season, and he was getting real stick when he was kicking the ball over the wet area of the pitch to test it ahead of the restart. A real talking point was the penalty shout in the first half with Norwood running through, I felt there was a definite pull back on the edge of the box and then the arm on shoulder by the penalty spot would be given 7 times out of 10, more so with the contact earlier. Robinson himself stated he thought it was a penalty, but the ref was balancing out a Norwood foul at the beginning of the exchange. In a way it was a move that justified our more direct style. Jackson may have suited the game better, with more mobility than Norwood. Norwood’s touch was little off during the game, he still did a lot of hard work and the defenders must have hated him. But Keane was the better of the two, and probably our man of the match.

I thought it was positive that Town stayed out on the pitch and passed and trained whilst the delay was on, also receiving a team talk. We carried on being the better team in the first half after the enforced break mid-way through, whilst Oxford had retreated to the dressing room during the pause in play.

Robinson and the Oxford pundits on local radio felt that Ipswich and Rotherham were by far the best teams Oxford had played and a draw was fair given their better chances and improved second half display. They were impressed by our strong midfield and waxed lyrical about Norris’ second half save from a 25 yard Oxford blast.

Despite Oxford’s better second half, I felt the last 10mins was when Town looked most threatening with Sears on and Keane continuing to cause havoc. We started to get it down more and play triangles on the right wing, with Downes now in his full pomp. Multiple corners, but probably didn’t carve out a clear enough chance in that period. But encouraging to finish so strongly. 5-3-2 is clearly suiting us as a team and should be continued.

I should add that Lambert received good support from the away fans, with multiple songs from and waves back to the travelling blues. Especially of course when he got into his usual touchline shenanigans with the 3rd official and Robinsons staff.

So, to the individual player’s performances:

Norris – justified his selection, with a good display. The Oxford keeper was struggling with kicking, albeit wind against. But Norris handled the conditions well. He made the key save and should continue in goal on that display.

Chambo – back in form for sure. A few errors but more up the pitch. He and Wolfenden only made one or two forays forward, where it looks like they’re about to get vertigo. But the centre backs had to be and were on their game tonight.

Wilson – he’s the deeper, no nonsense defender, and at times he just does launch it. But perhaps you need that at this level.

The Wolf- this boy is class. You can see the other teammates know he’s a ball player and move into space when he’s on the ball, as he has the ability to find them. He was good out wide defending. And his clearances were the best of our centre backs. Please stay, and I loved Lambert’s comments on the referenced Blades valuation – “you can’t get a flake for 3million”.

Edwards – I’m one of his biggest critics, but he was much better defensively. Like all the midfield it wasn’t very crisp as times, but he did cause problems. And his work rate and focus were much improved.

Garbutt – for me the loanee has been one of our most influential players this season. This was one of Luke’s weaker displays, more that he was a little error prone in passing, and the conditions did not favour him. He was also under pressure. He still did a lot right.

Huws – well if he comes through that game without a niggle, then we have our Welsh star back with a vengeance from his long-term injury!! I never thought I’d see him play like that again. In his position he was right in the BOG! And was running like a nutter, flying in. A big difference tonight. Now I have to say it was a bit headless at times, and he went down blind alleys and misplaced some passes, but it was a more Skuse performance, against a good opposition. He’s a must starter. And against lesser teams he can also feed Judge and the wings.

Downes – he’s as big a prospect as The Wolf, and despite not being as visible tonight he was working hard. Probably only showed real influence on the game going forward in the last quarter. But when he and Huws hunted in packs, we can dominate midfields.

Judge – again like so many players in the position, it wasn’t as polished and as technical a display from our number 10. But he’s clearly relishing the number 10 role – why the feck did Lambert play him wide in midfield. One memory of the night – apart from the monsoon and pre-match Masala Dosa - was Keane’s three chest down for Judge’s blasts from the edge of the box (they were all wide, but I liked the intent). Did he hurt the opposition enough? Perhaps not, and whilst the front 3 did look menacing, there’s more to come in cutting teams open – again conditions hampered this.

Norwood – as stated, probably not his best night, missed some flicks and short passes in key areas/passages of the game. But he is just such a nightmare for the defenders which freed up Keane.

Keane - one of the best games I’ve seen him play for us. He looked fresh and far more mobile than I can remember. His close control really causes problems to the opposition. Wish he’d had more chances. But the Oxford defenders stopped our attackers ‘inside the area’ activity with real energy.

It was a good physical performance in trying conditions, against a good technical team. In some ways our display was in a McCarthy stylee, when Mick was doing well. Physically dominating better technical teams with energy and a direct style. Nothing wrong with that, albeit you’d say the style Robison is embedding will reap greater rewards in the long term, and we should mirror.

Overall it feels like Town have their mojo back and we need to turn this revised confidence immediately into points, to drive to the top of the table. Tranmere (a), Lincoln (h) and Rotherham (a) in the remainder of January, needs to see 6 points to turn this near-term form into real momentum to take Town into a crucial February. February looks a month where we’ll decide our promotion fate. I really hope the Tranmere game is on, as these boys want to get back on the pitch. COYB.

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You couldn't fault the application from the players last night in extremely difficult conditions.

Oxford and Baptiste in particular looked neat and dangerous in possession. Arguably the conditions disadvantaged them more than us, and overall I thought we edged it.

Norris was faultless and the defending was good. Going forward, it is hard to be critical given the conditions but we had plenty of possession and got into some dangerous positions, but didn't create many actual chances.

Overall a good effort and a decent point.

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More like water polo, Maybe we Need more swimmers in the Team. A 2 is all the Farce is worth, sorry About the paying customers being disappointed.

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