Onwards and Upwards

As the game got underway, Ipswich dominated possession for more or less half an hour in the first half. They played very good football and I would certainly rate them second best to Preston who have visited the Turf so far.

I feel maybe that we lacked a little motivation, this affecting our performance. Ipswich struck first on the fifteenth minute mark courtesy of well-played football by their midfield. Richard Naylor played the ball to Sylvain Legwinski who to the Burnley fans relief struck it wrong and sent it over the bar. Alan Lee certainly had a share of the spoils for Ipswich after Accrington Stanley loanee Gary Roberts threaded the ball through for Lee who was no match for Brian Jensen. In reality Burnley's game kicked off on the half hour mark when Steve Jones was troubling the Ipswich defence but to no avail.

Burnley nearly broke the deadlock on 40 minutes after a scrappy affair in the box after Shane Supple miss hit the ball, it fell to Chris McCann who hit it with some tremendous force only for him to be denied by a last ditch attempt after Simon Walton threw himself in front of the ball, leaving him with a nasty limp.

The referee was certainly poor and was booed off at half time with Burnley looking a little shaky, maybe because of suspensions and injuries.

The team talk at half time for Steve Cotterill must have been a serious one as Burnley came out in the second half looking more alive and aware. Andy Gray nearly got himself on the score sheet near the hour mark after he attempted to lob Shane Supple. That would have been more or less identical to the first goal last Tuesday against Luton Town. But to Burnley's dismay Lee Naylor headed the ball over his own goal denying Andy Gray his tenth goal of the season, which would have brought him level with Cardiff City's Michael Chopra in the Top Championship Goalscorers tally.

After 58 minutes Alex Bruce was substituted for Luis Castro Sito, which in all fairness came as no surprise after Steve Jones was beating him time after time. I certainly have to merit Shane Supple who is still quite young and has represented the Tractor Boys since Lewis Price got injured. He certainly showed the crowd what he was worth and the only fault I could see in him was the goal and the way he approached the ball on a few occasions when he came out for it.

Alan Mahon came on for Wade Elliot in the 78th minute and made quite an impact. He had a few shots on target, one that was hit with fantastic accuracy only to sail into the goalkeeper's hands. Time was running out for both teams and Ipswich looked as if they could have stolen the game in the closing minutes as Gary Roberts hit a fantastic shot on his right foot that beat Brian Jensen but was ruled offside.

Finally on the 90th minute Chris McCann made amends for the few defensive errors he made by hitting a fantastic header from a pin point cross that was supplied by Alan Mahon from the right corner spot. This certainly sent Turf Moor rocking and was the winner. There was one minute left in stoppage time when Micah Hyde was awarded a second yellow after receiving his first bookable offence in the 8th minute for unsporting behaviour. By what I saw he only made a few foul tackles and nothing that was serious enough for a sending off, this summed up the referee's performance.

I don't think this performance is one that should be framed and hung up in the hall of fame but we got the three points and that's all that matters. This means that we are three more points closer to Cardiff who suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Colchester United and next weeks game could promise us a definite 1st or 2nd place depending on Preston's result at Roots Hall against Southend United next Saturday.

We stay third one point in front of Birmingham and five in front of West Brom.

Happy Days!