Ipswich Town - 1 (Wright 11)
Crystal Palace - 3 (Johnson 61. 86. Gray 65.)
Ipswich kicked off in the first half, but the first piece of action saw Michael Hughes get the ball to Andy Johnson, whose skill running at defence was going to cause problems all afternoon. His neat chip to Neil Shipperley saw the ball sail just wide of the mark, and things were looking good for the Palace faithful that had made the trip to Portman Road. Gary Borrowdale ran at the defence before feeding the ball to Julian Gray, his shot being just cleared by the defence, and then AJ shot just wide as Neil got the ball clear to him whilst he was in a good position to open the scoring.
Pablo Counago got a cross in that was just cut out by Danny Butterfield before Shefki Kuqi could get to ball, and at the other end AJ had two attempts at goal, that saw the keeper given a torrid time for a few moments. Tony Popovic cleared the ball at our end, though it fell neatly to Kuqi who blazed a shot over the top of the bar, thus relieving the pressure on the Palace defence. A free kick to Ipswich saw Jim Magilton fire the ball in, but it was Neil that was back helping the defence to tidy things up.
The resulting corner, though, was to prove embarrassing for Palace, as Magilton fired the cross in and Jermaine Wright had the simplest of tap-ins to give Ipswich the lead. Though many would say it was rather against the run of play a side does not get into 4th place in this League unless they capitalise on their chances, and Ipswich Town do that very well.
Danny fired a cross in that was well held by Kelvin Davis in the home goal before Kuqi tried a shot that went well wide of the mark. He really should have scored there, but it would have made things far more difficult for Palace to come back. Neil was robbed of the ball as he attempted to shoot, when he really should have played AJ in, and Ian Westlake tried a shot that Thomas Myhre held on to quite simply. Kit Symons then came to our rescue with a great tackle on Magilton as he found himself in a shooting position before AJ saw his shot well held by the keeper at the other end. Chris Bart-Williams cleared the next dangerous ball for his side as Wayne nearly got clear at the back post, and then AJ was caught offside before Kuqi was caught offside at the other end.
Julian tried to play Gary in, and then a dangerous cross from Wright found Westlake at the back post, but once again he was ruled offside. Fabian Wilnis fired a shot well over the top of the bar before Tony had to be alert to clear the danger as another cross came into our area. Magilton also fired a shot over the bar, and Wright repeated the feat from a free kick before Neil headed just wide at the other end after AJ played him in.
Magilton finally got a shot on goal that Thomas needed to produce a good diving save from, and despite only one minute of added on injury time the half came to a close with little further incident.
Iain Dowie would have been fed up continually going in to the break at 1-0 down, but he would have been hard-pressed to fault the work ethic of the players. All he could really do was to tell them to continue playing the way they were, and surely the goals would start to go in sometime soon. One certainly hoped they would.
Palace got the second half underway and it was Westlake who got the first shot on goal, his attempt going wide of the mark. Gary did well to dispossess Kuqi as he looked to make a run on goal before Wright sent in a stinging shot that Thomas did well to hang on to. Michael was booked for a clash with Bart-Williams and then Thomas spilt the ball from a shot by Counago, the Palace defence fortunately tidying things up before any further damage could be done. Julian saw his cross beaten away by the defence before Gary won a corner, though the attempt by Danny on goal was headed clear by the home defence once more.
Michael then played the ball to Gary, who set Julian free on the left. His cross found AJ in space in the centre, and he simply swivelled in the box and firmly sent the ball into the back of the net. Finally all our attempts had resulted in a goal, and we were back on level terms. Ipswich made a change to their line-up, with Darren Bent replacing Kuqi, but then another strange sight, the second in a week, witnessed Kuqi being booked whilst he was on the bench. One can only assume he said something to the officials on his way off.
Westlake hit the side netting when he really should have done a little better, and though Davis easily held on to a header from Neil the next action was to give him a little more trouble. A back-pass to the keeper saw AJ beat him to the ball. He ran round the Davis and squared the ball into the centre, and though a defender managed to get a touch on the ball it fell neatly to Julian who had no trouble slotting the ball home in the back of the net. From 1-0 down we were suddenly 2-1 up, and deservedly so.
Ipswich made another change with Bart-Williams making way for Martijn Reuser as AJ tried a long-range shot that was deflected behind for a corner. Wayne sent the ball back in and a header from Kit looked destined for the back of the net before Matt Richards cleared the danger. The ball came back to Wayne, but somehow the defence managed to clear his shot, and things settled down once more.
Bent wasted a shot on goal after he had managed to get past Tony before AJ ran almost the length of the field only to be brought down by Richards who was booked for his troubles. Ipswich made their final change, with Dean Bowditch replacing Wright, and Julian got the ball through to Neil whose shot, from distance, was easily held by Davis. Julian was booked, and the free kick was advanced 10 yards, meaning the shot was taken right on the edge of our area, but Thomas was equal to the task, as he beat down the shot that was fired in by Reuser.
Wayne got in a good cross that the keeper had to punch away from Neil before he could strike, but minutes later Julian got a good cross in to AJ, who fired home his second of the day to finally seal the match for the side, and ensure there would be no way back for Town. Palace made their only change of the match as Michael gave way to Shaun Derry, and a corner to our hosts was cleared by Tony, as the clock ran down. Three minutes was added to the end of the match, and a free kick to Ipswich was well cleared by Gary as the final whistle sounded, and the Palace faithful looked forward to a happy trip home.
It is now on to our visit to White Hart Lane, and following this match, and the fact that Spurs have lost their last 4 matches, anything could, and probably will, happen. See you at the Cup!
Colin Pryce
Ipswich Town: Kelvin Davis, Fabian Wilnis, Richard Naylor, George Santos, Matthew Richards, Jermaine Wright (Dean Bowditch 75), Jim Magilton, Chris Bart-Williams (Martijn Reuser 68), Ian Westlake, Shefki Kuqi (Darren Bent 61), Pablo Counago.
Substitutes not used: Tommy Miller, Nathan Abbey.
Crystal Palace: Thomas Myhre, Danny Butterfield, Kit Symons, Tony Popovic, Gary Borrowdale, Wayne Routledge, Aki Riihilahti, Michael Hughes (Shaun Derry 87), Julian Gray, Andrew Johnson, Neil Shipperley.
Substitutes not used: Cedric Berthelin, Curtis Fleming, Tommy Black, Dougie Freedman.
Attendance: 27,629
Referee: Mr S Tomlin