No Long Ball Joe this year

His playing career came to an end at the age of 37, and he couldn't have thought he would be back at Ipswich within a month. Royle was sacked a week after the season ended, and after attempts to get Tony Mowbray and Phil Parkinson failed, the board turned to the crowd favourite Magilton.

Since taking over he's made some significant changes to Royle's squad with no fewer than nine new faces, four of them currently on loan at the club. To counter that there have been departures including strikers Sam Parkin and Nicky Forster who have moved to Luton and Hull respectively, whilst Ian Westlake left for Leeds in a swap deal that saw full back Dan Harding join the Tractor Boys.

Harding was one of just two signings made before the new season got underway, the other being Alex Bruce who was allowed to leave Birmingham by his dad Steve after struggling to win a place in their squad.

The season didn't get off to the best of starts, the first three games were lost, the fourth was drawn and it was then that extra players were brought in. West Ham's Mark Noble and Simon Walton from Charlton came in on loan, young midfielder Martin Brittain was signed from Newcastle, although he has since gone to Yeovil on loan, and on the last day before the transfer window closed they captured Sylvain Legwinski from Fulham.

It's not stopped there, in September they took Jonathan Macken on loan from Crystal Palace, and last month Accrington Stanley winger Gary Roberts, he who did all the diving around in the pre-season signing against the Clarets, signed on loan with a view to a permanent deal. That was followed up with the signing of Czech goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny who had previously been with Fulham.

The bad start was ended with a win in front of the television cameras at QPR, it started a run of four wins and a draw. But that came to an end with three successive defeats although they arrive at the Turf not having lost any of their last three games. They won easily last weekend against Luton whilst in midweek they earned a point in a 1-1 draw at Plymouth.

Click HERE to see all Ipswich's results this season.

They are currently just below half way in the table with seven points less than the Clarets. We'll be hoping to extend that lead over them to ten points. One thing we will have to watch out for is the obvious physical style Ipswich must be adopting. They have already collected an incredible 49 yellow cards this season. That's nine more than any other club in the division and 30 more than our total of 19 yellow cards.

Magilton, like Steve Cotterill, will be forced into at least one change due to a suspension. Fabian Wilnis was sent off at Plymouth and will miss today's game. Also ruled out is Jonathan Macken who is recovering from a hamstring injury whilst there is a doubt over new Portman Road hero Billy Clarke.

Dean Bowditch is out of the equation, he's gone out on loan again, this time to Brighton. Owen Garvan is back playing but this game comes too soon for him.

Clarke is likely to play and if he does then Magilton is expected to make just the one change with Richard Naylor coming into the defence to replace Wilnis. If that's the case then Ipswich will line up:

Shane Supple, Richard Naylor, Alex Bruce, Jason De Vos, Dan Harding, Jaime Peters, Simon Walton, Sylvain Legwinski, Matt Richards, Alan Lee, Billy Clarke. Subs from: Jaroslav Drobny, Mark Noble, Danny Haynes, Gary Roberts, Darren Currie, Scott Barron, Castro Sito, Darryl Knights.

Click HERE to see the full Ipswich squad.

Steve Cotterill will have to make changes in the centre of the defence, something he's had to do in each of the last five matches following injuries to John McGreal and Wayne Thomas and now a suspension for Stephen Foster.

Thomas is thought to be doubtful so it is looking as though Frank will partner the in form Michael Duff leaving question marks as to who might play at right back. Micah Hyde, Wade Elliott and John Spicer have all played there in emergencies and I suspect it will be Wade, who dropped back into that position on Tuesday following Foster's red card.

With Gifton Noel-Williams expected to return that could mean Kyle Lafferty playing in that position on the right hand side, or alternatively Alan Mahon could come back into the side with Steve Jones moving across to the right.

The team could be something like: Brian Jensen, Wade Elliott, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Kyle Lafferty, James O'Connor, Micah Hyde, Steve Jones, Andy Gray, Gifton Noel-Williams. Subs from: Danny Coyne, Chris McCann, Garreth O'Connor, John Spicer, Alan Mahon, Graham Branch.

We'd played ten games, won just one of them, and were only off the bottom of the league on goal difference. That was the position the last time they visited Turf Moor in September of last year. Ipswich at the time were in tenth place.

Steve Cotterill opted to leave out the disappointing Gifton Noel-Williams and went with a 4-5-1 formation with Ade Akinbiyi as the lone striker, and it worked a treat with Ipswich second best from start to finish.

It took some good fortune for us to get in front just after the half hour when a shot from James O'Connor from outside the box took a deflection and beat Ipswich keeper Lewis Price. It was just what we needed and there was never going to be a way back for Ipswich after that.

Ipswich were doing no more than trying to hold us at bay in the second half but a foul on Graham Branch twenty-five yards out ended their resistance as Garreth O'Connor hit the free kick into the bottom corner.

It was just a case of how many we might get now and after the two Dublin born O'Connors had scored, the third and last came from another Dubliner Chris McCann who was on as a substitute. He scored from a header following a corner for his first goal for the club.

The 3-0 win took us up five places in the league, it had lifted the confidence and three days later we went and won at Molineux.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Keith Lowe, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Garreth O'Connor, Micah Hyde, John Spicer (Chris McCann 78), James O'Connor, Graham Branch, Ade Akinbiyi (Karl Bermingham 89). Subs not used: Duane Courtney, Wade Elliott, Gifton Noel-Williams.

Ipswich: Lewis Price, Castro Sito, Jason de Vos, Richard Naylor, Jay McEveley, Darren Currie, Jim Magilton (Jaime Peters 61), Kevin Horlock, Owen Garvan, Dean Bowditch (Danny Haynes 61), Sam Parkin. Subs not used: Shane Supple, Fabian Wilnis, Jimmy Juan.