Tractor Boys bash Neil’s men
ALEX Neil apologised to the 435 travelling Preston North End fans for his team’s performance after they went down with barely a whimper at Portman Road.
Second-half goals from David McGoldrick and Bersant Celina – a true wonder strike – were added to a direct free-kick just before the break by Martyn Waghorn to ensure victory for the home side.
North End have now gone six games without a win, while Ipswich moved up to seventh in the league, only a point behind Derby in sixth.
“The first half was a scrappy game,” said Neil. “There was a five to 10-minute spell where we put four or five good crosses into the box and looked threatening and I don’t think they had a shot at goal until that stage. And then it’s a free-kick and they score.”
Neil pointed to the glut of injuries his players are suffering and added: “We have a smallish squad and we are being stretched to the limit. But we don’t need to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves.”
Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy praised his team for their battling qualities.
“It was what was required,” he said. “There are all sorts of different ways to win a football match. I have been in the Championship long enough to know that. There’s a team coming to play against us that’s going to be pretty tough and resolute and that’s what we were going have to be and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“The one bit of quality was the move before the first goal. It was a really good move. Waggy won a free-kick and he dispatches it nicely.”
Ipswich started brightly, winning a free-kick midway into the Preston half in only in the second minute. Waghorn’s delivery sparked a goalmouth scramble but McGoldrick headed over the bar.
McGoldrick and Jordan Spence then combined down the right with the former’s shot on goal deflected for a corner.
The Portman Road crowd was growing restless with the stopstart nature of the game and in the 23rd minute Jordan Hugill was booked by referee Andrew Madley for persistent fouling.
A minute later McGoldrick was also booked for arguing with the official after netting from an offside position.
A minute before half-time a foul on Waghorn on the edge of the penalty area, following neat interplay between him, McGoldrick and Kevin Bru, gave the Ipswich No9 the chance to curl a left-footed shot past the Preston defensive wall and into the net for the opening goal of the game.
Ipswich started the second half as they had the first and in the 49th minute a cross from the right by Spence was headed home by McGoldrick. Spence provided another cross three minutes later which was flicked on by Bru only for Jonas Knudsen to head narrowly wide.
Garner and McGoldrick combined well down the right once again in the 57th minute and Waghorn crossed for Knudsen, but the Danish defender to fired his shot just over the bar.
But seven minutes later Ipswich broke down the right through Spence and Celina, and from just inside the penalty area the Kosovan forward beat Preston goalkeeper Chris Maxwell by firing into the roof of the net.