MICK’S TRICK HAS IPSWICH PURRING
Half-time switch finishes Bolton
MICK McCARTHY’S Ipswich halted their two-game losing run with a win against struggling Bolton who have now suffered five straight league defeats.
A heavily deflected Cole Skuse volley opened the scoring after a stale first half, and David McGoldrick sealed victory for McCarthy’s men after Bolton spurned multiple chances to get on level terms.
A catalyst for the win was McCarthy’s decision to change from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 at half-time, with the Ipswich manager recognising his side were being outplayed by the Championship’s bottom club.
“It was a great result. I’m not going to sit here and tell you we were brilliant, but the result is,” McCarthy said.
“They’re a good side, they’re a handful with well-worn Championship players and they were far better than us in the first half, we were lucky to get away it. We had to defend, we had to scrap and we had to be belligerent.
“I decided to change it at halftime because it wasn’t working. I said at half-time we needed a spark from somewhere, wherever it might be, and we started the second half well and the goal was the icing.”
Space in midfield was at a premium in a dreary first half, but the best of the early chances saw a shot from Craig Noone deflected wide before Filipe Morais troubled Bartosz Bialkowski at his near post, forcing him to palm his stinging effort away.
A deep corner from Grant Ward found the head of Dominic Iorfa close to the break, but his effort bounced harmlessly wide with a decent area of the goal to aim for.
McCarthy’s tactical switch at the break created space on the pitch and Ipswich used it to their immediate advantage. McGoldrick found Skuse 25 yards from goal, and his volley took a fortunate deflection off Josh Cullen, wrong-footing Ben Alnwick on its way to goal.
Bolton probed for a quick equaliser, but Jordan Spence threw himself into the path of the ball to deny David Wheater, while poor finishing saw Gary Madine lob over the bar.
Phil Parkinson’s side were made to pay late on as McGoldrick – who had looked dangerous throughout – got on the end of Joe Garner’s flick and shimmied inside his man before lifting the ball high into the left corner with the outside of his boot.
Bolton continue to sit bottom of the table without a win in any of their eight league games and no goals in their last four, but Parkinson believes a win isn’t far away after an improved performance.
“We did enough to get something from the game. We came here knowing Ipswich didn’t have a midweek game and we had, which everyone knows is a factor, but I don’t think it was evident,” Parkinson explained.
“We were in parts excellent and created a lot of chances, but a deflected goal just after the break was a crucial moment.
“Even after that we got in enough good positions to get a goal back.
“We’re hurting because we haven’t got a win but all we can do is keep concentrating on the process, the training and the preparation and that win will come.”