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Brian Laws takes Burnley on the road for the first time this season and we'll all be hopeful of a better season away from home than we did last season in the Premier League.
The win at Hull was the only away win of the season and only the third since before Christmas 2008, the other two coming at Blackpool and Plymouth in March 2009.
Those were the two away games either side of our last visit to Ipswich which, coincidentally followed a home win against Nottingham Forest.
Our last three visits to Portman Road have all ended in draws, but our last, and only, win there came in January 1970 when a Frank Casper goal gave us a 1-0 win.
Ipswich picked up one of the best results of the day last week. Middlesbrough are considered favourites by most for the Championship last season, but the Tractor Boys travelled up to the Riverside and came from a goal behind to beat them 3-1.
Roy Keane will be delighted about getting the first win so quickly. Last season the first victory came against Derby County on 31st October by which time Ipswich were rooted to the bottom of the table. In the end they were well clear of relegation after turning the season round.
Keane has strengthened the squad this season. Mark Kennedy has arrived from Cardiff whilst he's brought in both Conor Hourihane and Marton Fulop from his old club Sunderland. There are now six former Mackems on the playing staff at Portman Road.
A much better season is envisaged this time round and they go into the game with two wins behind them having come through a tough game at Exeter in midweek in the Carling Cup. They won that one 3-2 after extra time.
Ipswich will be without Gareth McAuley and Carlos Edwards with back and groin problems respectively while Mark Kennedy is unlikely to make it because of a hamstring injury sustained on his debut.
To add to that Troy Brown has a twisted ankle and Luke Hyamis is doubtful with a shin injury.
They were expected to have some new players in this week. Cardiff's Ross McCormack and Michael Chopra have been mentioned, as has Jason Scotland the Wigan striker who they have agreed a deal for. To date, however, the only new arrival is Tottenham's Andros Townsend on loan and he'll go into the squad.
Last week, at Middlesbrough, Ipswich lined up: Marton Fulop, Jaime Peters, Gareth McAuley, Tommy Smith, Mark Kennedy, Grant Leadbitter, Carlos Edwards, Luke Hyam, David Norris, Jonathan Walters, Tamas Priskin. Subs: Reggie Lambe, Colin Healy, Daryl Murphy, Jack Ainsley, Troy Brown, C onor Hourihane, Jonathan Stead.
For Burnley, Michael Duff is almost certain to be ruled out although the injury that forced him off during the first half of last week's win against Nottingham Forest is not thought to be serious.
The club received a massive blow this week with the news that Chris McCann has been ruled out again, and for six months at least, but the positive news followed on Thursday with the loan signing of Jack Cork from Chelsea.
Cork will be in the squad today, although I suspect he'll be on the subs bench in what will be an unchanged side other than Clarke Carlisle starting in place of Duff.
Burnley's expected team: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney, Martin Paterson, Chris Iwelumo, Ross Wallace. Subs from: Lee Grant, Leon Cort, David Edgar, Jack Cork, Chris Eagles, Jay Rodriguez, Steven Thompson, Kevin McDonald.
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Our defeat at home against Sheffield Wednesday was now forgotten and we'd followed it up with wins at Blackpool and at home to Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest to take us back into fifth place ahead of the trip to Suffolk.
Ipswich started the brighter and twice probably should have scored with Giovani Dos Santos and Luciano Civelli both putting in weak efforts. But it was Burnley who took the lead. Rhys Williams, who had a difficult night, played the ball to Wade Elliott down our right hand side.
Elliott went on a storming run, went wide and then hit a superb shot from a tight angle across Richard Wright, giving the goalkeeper no chance.
That was the cue for Burnley to really take the game to Ipswich. Chris Eagles and Steven Caldwell both went close and then Elliott almost got a second with a header that was just about grabbed on the line by Wright.
We couldn't quite get the second before half time and the second half was a more even affair although Wright was very fortunate to prevent Caldwell from scoring. It came after some magic from Robbie Blake in front of the away fans, which resulted in an Ipswich defender fouling him. He took the free kick himself and Caldwell was first to it only to see it smash into Wright's face.
Then the game changed, and we had to endure a real battering from the home side and inevitably it led to an equaliser from Giovani. At that point Ipswich were favourites but they didn't trouble as again and we could have gone on and won it on at least three occasions.
It was a fantastic game of football, if today's is half as good we are definitely in for a treat.
The teams were;
Ipswich: Richard Wright, David Wright, Gareth McAuley, Ivan Campo, Ben Thatcher, David Norris (Owen Garvan 62), Tommy Miller (Alan Quinn 74), Luciano Civelli, Giovani Dos Santos, Jonathan Stead, Kevin Lisbie (Pablo Counago 63). Subs not used: Shane Supple, Pim Balkestein.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Rhys Williams, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Christian Kalvenes, Graham Alexander, Chris Eagles (Joey Gudjonsson 78), Wade Elliott, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Martin Paterson (Jay Rodriguez 59). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Michael Duff, Kevin McDonald.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2002/03 | 1 | a | 2-2 | 22,736 | Gnohere Papadopoulos |
| . | . | h | 1-1 | 15,501 | Blake(pen) |
2003/04 | 1 | a | 1-6 | 22,048 | Facey |
| . | . | h | 4-2 | 11,343 | Little May Chaplow Blake |
2004/05 | C | a | 1-1 | 23,183 | Blake |
| . | . | h | 0-2 | 11,969 | . |
2005/06 | C | h | 3-0 | 10,496 | J O'Connor G O'Connor McCann |
| . | . | a | 1-2 | 24,482 | Ricketts |
2006/07 | C | h | 1-0 | 11,709 | McCann |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 20,254 | Lafferty |
2007/08 | C | h | 2-2 | 9,852 | Lafferty Gray |
| . | . | a | 0-0 | 20,077 | . |
2008/09 | C | h | 0-3 | 11,312 | . |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 18,745 | Elliott |