Brewers again can’t hold lead as Ipswich hit back for win
LEAGUE ONE: IPSWICH TOWN 4, BURTON ALBION 1
IF Burton Albion had been unfortunate in previous defeats to Ipswich Town, they could not make that claim on Saturday, as the Tractor Boys reignited their promotion hopes with a 4-1 win.
In doing so, they almost certainly ended the Brewers’ remaining hopes of challenging for the playoffs.
A win at Portman Road might have kept the flame flickering a while longer and while the top six is far from mathematically out of sight – with several of the top sides still to visit the Pirelli Stadium – there comes a time for a realistic appraisal.
While some supporters will wail about the sale of Liam Boyce and some think not being in the Championship is somehow a failure, competing in League One and looking to build for better remains a massive achievement.
Who knows, a run of wins now could require these words to be eaten and I would be fine with eating them but perhaps this is not the time to be placing any bets.
Oddly, for 20 minutes on Saturday,
you would not have guessed what a humbling day this would turn into for the Brewers.
They were quick and sharp and took the lead in the sixth minute while Ipswich, four games without a win, looked tentative in front of a home crowd who were quick to get on their backs.
The goal came when Lucas Akins challenged for the ball just inside the Ipswich half. It broke loose and Ryan Edwards swept a pass into the wide open space on the left that Jamie Murphy was charging into.
What happens next is becoming familiar, as the Scottish winger moved inside and, while this was not as spectacular a finish as those against Rotherham United and
Oxford United, he spotted the gap and threaded a low shot past Thomas Holy.
It was a fourth goal in six games for Murphy but an inescapable statistic is that all four have given the Brewers a lead they could not hang on to.
For a while, it looked as though they might this time.
Murphy had another chance after 10 minutes, this time shooting tamely at Holy.
Five minutes later, Joe Powell, in space 25 yards out, targeted the top corner and perhaps a goalkeeper shorter than Holy’s 6ft 9in might not have reached it but Holy did, turning it away for a corner.
The first warning at the other end came after 20 minutes when Alan Judge, played in down the right, hit a shot which cannoned away off the bar.
At that point, the attack had come from nowhere but, soon, Judge and striker Kayden Jackson were starting to find pockets of space around and behind the relatively inexperienced centre-back pairing of Richard Nartey and Conor Shaughnessy.
After 28 minutes, Jackson got free on the right, went wide of an advancing Kieran O’Hara and shot wide from a tricky angle.
A minute later, he was free in just the same place but, this time, he crossed and Judge flicked a shot which looped past O’Hara for the equaliser.
At 1-1, it was still an even game and Powell volleyed over before Oliver Sarkic sent a free kick straight at Holy from 22 yards.
Jackson was offside as he again ran away from his markers but that was now happening too often for comfort and Ipswich took the lead in first-half stoppage time with a ridiculously easy goal. Shaugnessy and Will Keane both missed the ball as they challenged for a long punt from Holy, the bounce caught out Nartey and Jackson got ahead of him, reaching the ball just before O’Hara to lob it into the net.
To compound the Brewers’ woe, Jackson had caught O’Hara on the ankle as they both went for the ball, an accidental collision, and the keeper could not continue, leading to a League debut for Ben Garratt.
He was busy even before half-time, as Jackson yet again escaped and crossed from the right, Garratt blocking Keane’s attempt to turn the ball in.
In the second half, it was apparent what a difference that goal had made to Ipswich, who rediscovered the swagger one assumes they had had when starting the season 12 games unbeaten.
When they made it 3-1, after 52 minutes, it felt like the moment the play-offs disappeared and a midtable finish loomed. Perhaps it was the manner of the goal.
Reece Hutchinson took a heavy touch controlling a forward ball midway inside his own half and Judge nicked the ball away from him.
His cross from the right bounced between the centre-halves and Jackson, despite pressure from John Brayford, stooped to direct a header over Garratt into the top corner.
Nartey limped off after 62 minutes, a sorry end to a day he will want to forget, and the Brewers were picking the ball out of the net again two minutes later.
Again, they lost possession just inside their own half and Keane ran at them before sliding the ball through for the irrepressible Jackson.
He fell under a challenge from Shaugnessy and when the ball ran loose, Judge’s shot was half-saved by Garratt and trickled goalwards, making it over the line before the keeper’s desperate second attempt to stop it.
While there was no doubt the Brewers attempted to keep going to the end after that, there is also no escaping the fact that they looked disheartened and Garratt made a series of saves to keep the score down.
He turned away a fierce shot from substitute Tommy Bishop at full stretch and saved with his legs from both Jackson and another substitute, Freddy Sears.
Burton mustered a shot comfortably over the bar from Brayford, a man who never gives up, but they were well beaten by then.