There's only one Mattie Holland...

I have wanted to go to the Valley for years... four years to be precise... because that was when my favourite ever player moved there - Matt Holland

As one of the Chamionship to Premiership 'yo-yo teams' I have always respected Charlton Athletic and had been looking forward to travelling to South London for a long time.

Not just to see my Mattie!

An appalling first half was partly made up for by a passionate second half performance, as this report from the Website describes, with a contender for the goal of the season from Counago!




But yesterday my high opinion of our hosts was severely damaged by the dirty tactics used by their players. I'm sure it sounds like sour grapes but the red card awarded for an foul after the final whistle proves my point.

Jonathan Fortune was sent off for punching Alan Lee to the ground just seconds after the five minute injury time had come to an end.

The incident has been only vaguley described by reports today but if you ask me he should have been forced to take an early bath long before the fight broke out.

Fortune had conceded a free kick for pulling Lee down just outside the area, the result of a number of nasty fouls on our striker - which continued until the end.

There was time wasting from every Charlton player, frustrating when Ipswich were trying to maintain the momentum they had build up following the Pablo goal.

And then there's Danny Mills....

Foul after unsportsmanly foul on Jonathan Walters who spend most of the second half with a bandage round his head, fighting off the bullying of Mills.

After a particularly bad foul on Walters he refused for at least five minutes to answer the referee's request that he join him.

Even once he did listen to the official he refused to take his punishment - wasting more precious time.

I cant understand why football clubs employ such awful players - he is hardly a role model to young footballers, is he? And not someone that I would want associated with my family.




Lucky then that Charlton had Mattie Holland to make up for it.

As the teams entered the pitch my heart skipped a beat when i saw him for the first time since Richard Naylor's testimonial.

During the warm up he walked over to our half to shake hands with old colleague Jim Magilton, and when the squads were read out he recieved a huge appluase from the 3,000 Ipswich fans.

Best of all was the respect he showed the away fans at the end of the match.

My Dad and I have long considered Holland's lap of honour at Portman Road a beloved tradition... so to recieve that honour again yesterday, I dont mind admitting, brought tears to my eyes - just as it had the last time he did it at Derby County.

Matt has kept up his relationship with the Tractor Boys, often travelling to Suffolk to watch games and even picking us as his promotion favourites - along with Chalrton of course!

When he came out of the ground over an hour after full time he was so friendly and welcoming to the waiting Town fans.

He asked us if we'd had a nice day, said he was sorry the result wasn't better for us and chatted away about how pleased he was to be playing again after his knee injury.

What an asset to any club he goes to.

And I swear that as we were asking him if he'll ever come back to us... there was the tiniest hint of a twinkle in his eye!

International Blues

The sports pages have been full this week of statistics on foreign players in the English Football league.

Arsenal, a team who used to be known for its youth training, fielded a completely non-english squad. Seeing as they are top of the Premiership it is a telling statistic of the direction in which the league is moving.

I had always believed that Ipswich, with their famous youth training academy, were an example to all with their home grown talent - Kieron Dyer, Richard Wright, Titus Bramble and Darren Bent have all done us proud (to some extent!).

But when I thought more about it I realised that our starting team actually contains a majority of non-English players:

Neil Alexander: Scottish
Tony Wright: English
Alex Bruce: English
Jason De Vos: Canadian
Dan Harding: English
Jonathan Walters: English
Tommy Miller: English
Owen Garvan: Irish
Billy Clarke: Irish
Alan Lee: Irish
Pablo Counago: Spanish

(N.B. English player Bruce has been called up for the Irish squad and Walters has been linked to the country's B team!)

6 out of 11 foreigners in the first team - and when Wilnis and Legwinski play that can go up to 8.

But is that a bad thing? Counago, De Vos, Alexander and Lee are all from foreign shores but Town's story this season may have been completely different without them.

So I say thanks to the Spanish for giving us Pablo and I raise my glass to the Canadians for Jason.

What difference does a player's nationality make if that player is passionate and committed to his team?

As for the worry that these international players will overshadow our own talent - perhaps the English should develop the mentality that a little competition never did anyone any harm and maybe it could even improve us.

So I say all for one and one for all - unless you are from Naaaarfalk!!!

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??!

Wish I was there

My sympathies go out to those people who are, for whatever reason, unable to travel to Town matches. Yesterday I became an 'Armchair fan' for the most important game of the season and it was torture!

I was so nervous I was jumping around and punching anything within arms reach which is not a good idea when the closest thing to you is your wonderful boyfriend who has given up his Sunday afternoon to watch a football game for you. (I'm sorry if I bruised you baby!)

It was however nice to hear the commentators raving about a game that was, genuinely, really enjoyable to watch. There was some nice attacking football and so much passion from both teams.

Pablo Counago was our star player yesterday - even though his habit of falling over in and around the penalty area was again made clear! His assistance for Alan Lee's goal was pure class, holding the ball up for Lee and he caused their defence no end of problems.

It was nice to see him rewarded with a derby goal. Replays showed that the ball should have been given for a goal-kick but these things happen, especially when Rob Styles is refereeing!

Our exciting attacking play was overshadowed somewhat by the shakey defence. It should have been easy enough to pick Dion Dublin out as a the main threat so I was gobsmacked when he came close to scoring no less than FOUR times.

Equally, as Sky said - when a player is given a job for defending corners he should fulfill that, not just stand there whilst the player he is meant to be marking nips in front and puts the ball in the back of the net.


As such their first goal was scored and Alan Lee was the man to blame. My Dad reckons that the corner in quesiton should not have been a corner. As my whole world had come to an abrupt halt at that moment in time I am unable to confirm or deny this claim. If he is correct - which he normally is- I would suggest it was a case of swings and roundabouts.

Kudos to Alexander though who made save after incredible save to keep us in the game AGAIN.

Derby day results are so hard to predict, the normal rules of football just don't apply. Each team will relish the point earned, with ours returning us to fourth place and their's moving them a little closer to the rest of the relegation strugglers.

Now we can get back to concentrating on the Championship and focusing on tomorrow night's game against Sheffield United. Even my Kev, a lifelong Blade, reckons we are set to win that.

Could this finally be our first away win?

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!

Home form continues without me!

'Easier than the score suggests' my Dad said to me after the game.
His opinion has been reflected across the media, another fantastic home performance:
Ipswich Town: 2, Preston North End: 1.
The EADT's Derek Davis complimented no less than eight players during his report, a good sign that the team is playing well together.
Most notably all of our attacking players have been complimented by boss, Jim Magilton.
The boss was pleased Lee has added to his goal run, with a headed goal from about a foot off the floor!
He feels Pablo Umbongo's (nickname awarded by my boyfriend who kindly endured the Palace match with me!) skill is causing trouble for defences across the league.
Unfortunately the striker has been warned for 'card waving', but I believe this is a trait which alot of fans find endearing, not least amusing.
My man Walters has been singled out again as having a big impact on the game. One to watch that one.
And it is good to see Billy Clarke not only getting on the first team, but being a key player in the majority of our moves.
As for their penalty: seems a shame to have lost a clean sheet for a foul that nobody seem to be able to pinpoint - Was it Wright, was it Alexander, was it a slightly long blade of grass that tripped him up???
I only wish I had been there to see it... a sentiment I'm sure is reflected by the people who left huge gaps in the usually packed North Stand.
Looking forward to visiting Loftus Road in 10 days, perhaps a chance to improve on that away record?
Although for keeping Naaaarwich in the relegation zone I almost feel like letting them have a point anyway!
My friend Ibs was at the match, his blog has had me thoroughly amused for the last ten minutes and will do so for days. Although I must apologise for his mispelling of Naaaaarwich.