The imps fell to defeat last night at Portman Road after a toothless attacking display. Michael Appleton made three changes to the side that beat Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Jordan Wright came into the side for an injured Josh Griffiths in goal. Tom Hopper and Joe Walsh were rested and replaced by Liam Cullen and Adam Jackson.
Last night was disappointing, but Ipswich are (on paper) the best side in the division. They have one of the biggest budgets and a very good manager. They left Macaulay Bonne unused on the bench, which tells you how good and deep that squad is. It’s not an excuse by any means but resting Hopper and Walsh is probably a good decision after their injuries and saving them for this weekends six pointer is a good idea.
People are suggesting, because of the players we rested that we accepted defeat. I don’t think that is the case at all, we came out strong and looked really good in the opening twenty minutes. We pressed Ipswich high but for all the half-chances we had, balls across the box and controlling possession, we had no shots to show for it. Ipswich showed their quality, TJ Eyoma got caught out and Kayden Jackson was played in behind and squared it to Wes Burns, who left Jordan Wright no chance.
Wes Burns gave us a difficult night, in particular Morgan Whittaker. Whittaker isn’t a left wing back by any stretch of the imagination. He is a young player, and he came up against on of the best you’ll find at this level. He also had no left footed centre-half next to him to help him, so he was obviously going to struggle. We looked slightly better when Bramall came on, but whether they took their foot off the gas or we got better, we’ll never know.
The second goal was offside. Simple as that but it’s not an excuse, without that goal we would’ve still lost the game. Saturday is massive for us now, win and we are eight points clear and if we lose, we are in a dog-fight.
We struggled to create much, but we did limit the damage done after going 2-0 down so early. Some may see it is as accepting defeat, but it’s protecting the players confidence. If we lose by five or six, it will destroy their confidence, whereas if we settle for a 2-0 defeat then it looks respectable. Obviously we don’t want to lose football games, but the bigger picture is that we have a very important game at the weekend and we can’t lose.
A few people will look at our lack of ability to create chances but it’s one game against the in-form side in the division. We will lose games like this to top level sides as we aren’t one ourselves, that’s the harsh reality.
We go again Saturday in a must win game.
The AllLincoln MOTM is Adam Jackson.