Walters Wonderland

My favourite Tractor Boy, Jonathan Walters, has been tipped for International football after hitting his first ever hat trick on Saturday, in another thrilling game at Portman Road.

When I was travelling back to East Anglia on a train full of grumpy commuters I began to wonder if I'd chosen the best game to come home to.

Bristol have had an impressive season so far and have the record of never having lost when they have scored the first goal. With our shaky defence I was concerned by this statistic.

But five minutes in and the nerves had worn off, Johnnie had scored and less than a minute later Pablo had an almost identical shot go just wide of the post. I started to believe we might be ok.

On the fifteenth minute a goal from unexpected source David Wright set us 2:0 up. Walters and Wright had created some clever moves on the right hand side, much to the crowd's pleasure, and the defender deserved to get on the scoreboard for his part so far.

Fifteen minutes from half time Jim Magilton substituted Alan Lee for Danny Haynes. Lee had controlled the Bristol defence until this point and I was a little concerned by his early exit - especially as Haynes seemed to look somewhat lost in the fast paced game.

Lee was suffering from a knock to his Achilles but has declared he should be fit for our next game in 10 days time.

The second half flew by in a flurry of goals, I almost didn't dare close my eyes in case the world had changed when I opened them again!

Walters, of course, added twice to the score and Pablo and Miller were the others on target.



Despite Johnnie's hat trick I believe that the best man on the field was Pablo Counago. As my Dad has said after every game, 'Chamionship defenders just don't know how to handle him', he's got skill, speed and an imagination that ties them in knots.

How wonderful is it to not have to worry about loosing him in the transfer window to raise funds for the club?

By the end of the game the 20,000 fans were singing 'We want 7...!'

How about at Cardiff next Saturday??!

Ten in a row, fourth in the league!

Town's defeat of Wolves on Saturday was quite honestly the best game of the season so far.

Three wonderfully taken goals and a clean sheet summed up perfectly an afternoon which saw us climb to fourth in the Championship.

Wolves could have taken the game in the first five minutes when a penalty was awarded for a foul by Neil Alexander.

Alexander told the East Anglian Daily Times: 'I had to go for the ball and I did touch the lad, so i didn't have any complaints over the penalty'.

Wolves' failure to convert the penalty gave The Blues a confidence boost - just as it had when Colchester made the same mistake. Whilst Wolves had played some nice football for the first half hour, Town were finally able to take control of the game.

Alan Lee looked to have taken the ball too far into the box but slotted it past the keeper calmly. The goal was timed perfectly by allowing Town to go into the break 1:0 up.

He later told BBC Suffolk that he believed the team should now be looking to move to second in the table. A little ambitiuos for my liking but aim for the stars and you'll reach the sky I guess!

Pablo also looked to have taken the ball too far on his own with Clarke to his left providing a more than viable option for a pass. But cleverly, if a little arrogantly, he side stepped two defenders and the keeper to put Town 2:0 up.

Jim Magilton told the Ipswich Town website: 'Alan's goal was a terrific finish and the first goal was always going to be crucial. Pablo showed great strength to get the second and that gave us the breathing space we needed'.

Haynes showed a touch of class too - so much so that his goal was featured in the early highlights of the Championship on Sunday morning!

Being the kind person that I am I will not mention the league position of our friends in Naaarfalk - I guess it must be hard enough for them, wayching us from such a long way behind!

Legwinksi goal should have ended away day blues

Sylvain Legwinski showed his team mates how it's done with the best strike of the game to put Ipswich Town ahead on 53 minutes.

His pinpoint volley from a Garvan throw in slipped inside the top right hand corner of the QPR goal and we really thought our poor away record had come to an end.

The first half had been a poor show from the Tractor Boys, QPR prevented us from playing our best passing game and no clearcut chances were created. Magilton moved himself from the dugout, to jump around at the edge of the technical box. I was glad I wasn't in the changing room at half time.

The second half saw much better football but a number of well created chances went without the end result of a goal. The play did eventually lead to the Legwinski goal, though.

The QPR goal seemed to come from nowhere; against the run of play, Nygaard had made his way through our defence and finished well. De Vos and co. looked gutted and angry with the officials, though I'm still not entirely sure why!

Town would have deserved three points had they taken advantage of the huge number of chances that came up.

Lee found the ball just a little out of reach on a couple of occasions, De Vos rose above the QPR defence to see his header go inches wide of the post, and Clarke pleaded to the heavens as shot after shot was too high, too low, or just completely miss hit.

Danny Haynes brought a new energy to the front line after he swapped places with Clarke on 80 minutes. A beautiful cross form Gary Roberts found Haynes but the striker couldn't get enough power on the ball to see it past the QPR keeper.

The mood of the Town fans after the game might have suggested we had been defeated, but a draw just did not seem enough. The disappointment was briefly lifted with the news of another home defeat for Naaaarwich and thoughts were turned to the derby in two weeks.

The coming week sees two home matches, against Colchester and Wolves, and there is a small hope that we will be 6 points better off afterwards. But thoughts are already turning to the local derby.

The one thing that got me through yesterday was the possiblity that our first away win of the season could be Carrow Road... dare i jinx it?!