CUTTING UP ROUGH
Blood drawn, derby game drawn but it’s no spectacle
NiNe years, four months and 14 days is a hell of a long time in football. even longer if you are an ipswich town fan who has endured nearly a decade of taunts from those just 45 miles up the road.
the gibes will go on for a bit longer after Moritz leitner’s left-foot strike equalised for Norwich after gwion edwards’ opener.
ipswich dominated the period between the two goals and had opportunities to kill the game.
‘we could well have broken Norwich’s will at that point and we should have done,’ said ipswich manager Paul hurst.
Both sides were fortunate to finish the game with 11 players after Kayden Jackson and grant hanley came together early in the first half in a clash which left the Norwich captain with blood pouring from his face. it is now six Championship games without a win for hurst’s side — three draws and three defeats.
‘i desperately want to get that win so we can stop talking about it,’ hurst added.
‘we haven’t won here but we also haven’t lost. the lads have got to stick with it, i’ve got to stick with it and the fans have been great.
‘i really enjoyed the game, apart from their goal. you know what derby day is and the atmosphere lived up to that — particularly our fans. the atmosphere was really through the roof and i feel for them that we did not get the result i felt we deserved.’
it has been a tough start for hurst, who is managing in the second tier for the first time. he was appointed after Mick McCarthy walked out before the end of last season.
‘Be careful what you wish for,’ was the message from managers and pundits to fans who had protested so aggressively for McCarthy’s exit.
hurst has some big achievements on his c.v., reaching the league one play-off final with relegation-tipped Shrewsbury and returning grimsby to the Football league, but his lack of experience managing in the Championship made his appointment a risky move.
‘it just hasn’t clicked yet,’ said former ipswich favourite Matt holland before kick-off.
here it started to click and part of the reason for that was the partnership between Jackson and Jon walters, who has been brought back to the club on loan from Burnley eight years after leaving Portman road for Stoke.
even at 34 — turning 35 this month — walters can still chase down and harry defenders as if he was the same age as Jackson, who is 10 years younger.
walters is the only player in this ipswich side to know what it feels like to beat Norwich. he played in a 2-1 win in april 2009, a year before ipswich’s last victory over their rivals.
he was roared on by the majority of the 25,690 crowd but this was not to be his day. he got into some good positions but never really troubled Norwich keeper tim Krul.
the partnership between Jackson and walters could have been broken before it had even started to form when Jackson was involved in a tussle with Norwich captain hanley 10 minutes in.
hanley tried to shield the ball out of touch with Jackson behind him. hanley went down and dragged the striker with him before appearing to aim a kick at Jackson. as the ipswich player got up his boot caught hanley and left the defender with blood pouring from his cheek. referee robert Jones played on.
while both players stayed on the pitch after that clash, ipswich’s Cole Skuse and
Norwich defender Timm Klose were forced off after a clash of heads before half-time. That was about as fierce as it got as both sides struggled to gain a foothold in a game that lacked quality.
Ipswich found a way through when edwards, signed for £700,000 from Peterborough in July, shot from inside the Norwich box. His effort deflected off Ben Godfrey and past the stranded Krul.
That long wait for a win seemed to be coming to an end against a Norwich side that can no longer call on James Maddison or Josh Murphy for inspiration. Playmaker Maddison and winger Murphy stepped up to the Premier league this summer, bought by leicester and Cardiff respectively.
on this evidence Daniel Farke’s side are badly missing their creativity. But the Canaries kept battling away and equalized when leitner sent a cut-back from Jordan Rhodes through a crowded penalty area and into the bottom left corner of goalkeeper Dean Gerken’s net. ‘The way we came back showed a lot about our togetherness and our attitude,’ said Farke, whose side have won just once in the league this season and are only two points better off than Ipswich. He added: ‘It was a fair result but I’m totally pleased and proud of my players who kept going until the end.’