Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Seven: Ipswich Town v Barnsley

Team News

Carl Dickinson is still a major doubt with potential ankle ligament damage- with rumours he could be out for the rest of the season- so Luke Potter is set for back to back league starts for the first time in his Barnsley career. Winger Adam Hammill is a doubt after pulling his hamstring in the midweek victory over Nottingham Forest so Emil Hallfredsson and Anderson De Silva will battle for his spot. Rob Kozluk is still sidelined.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Ryan Shotton

Luke Potter

Stephen Foster

Bobby Hassell

Felipe Teixeira

Emil Hallfredsson

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Daniel Bogdanovic

Jon Macken

Head To Head

Barnsley head to Portman Road expecting nothing but defeat- as has been the case on 11 of their 16 previous trips. The Reds have won just twice in Suffolk, in December 1998 and October 1960. Ipswich have taken the three points from this fixture in three of the last four times and those wins have included 5-1 and 6-1 scorelines!

In 1999-2000, Ipswich thumped The Reds 6-1 at Portman Road in October. David Johnson (2), Mark Venus. Richard Naylor, James Scowcroft and Jim Magilton were all on the scoresheet with Sean McClare replying for The Reds. The amazing thing about this game was that it came just two days after Barnsley had thumped Portsmouth 6-0 at Oakwell! The Tractor Boys would claim two more victories over Barnsley that season- 2-0 at Oakwell in February 2000 with goals from Scowcroft and Marcus Stewart and then most notably at Wembley in May 2000, 4-2 to send Town into the Premier League. If The Reds were to remain in the league where they are now -12^th- it would be their highest position since that season.

Teams:

Ipswich 6-1 Barnsley:

Ipswich: Richard Wright ,Wilnis (Stockwell ,81 ) ,Thetis ,McGreal ,Venus (Brown ,46 ) ,Clapham ,Wright (Magilton ,81 ) ,Holland ,Scowcroft ,Johnson ,Naylor
Subs not used: Salmon,Axeldal,

Barnsley: Kevin Miller ,Moses ,Jones ,Tuttle ,Eaden ,Barnard ,Richardson (McClare ,71 ) ,Appleby ,Hignett ,van der Laan (Dyer ,66 ) ,Sheron (Hristov ,80)
Subs not used Bullock,Tinkler,

Barnsley 0-2 Ipswich:

Barnsley: Kevin Miller ,Curtis ,Barker (Sheron ,77 ) ,Chettle ,Morgan ,Barnard ,Eaden ,Hignett ,van der Laan (Thomas ,65 ) ,Shipperley ,Dyer (Appleby ,65)
Subs not used: Hristov,Brown,

Ipswich: Richard Wright ,Croft ,Clapham (Wilnis ,80 ) ,Mowbray ,McGreal ,Holland ,Magilton ,Brown ,Scowcroft ,Johnson (Naylor ,87 ) ,Stewart
Subs not used Stockwell,Salmon,Wright,

Barnsley 2-4 Ipswich:

Barnsley: Kevin Miller ,Curtis (Eaden ,71 ) ,Morgan ,Chettle ,Brown ,Barnard ,Tinkler (Thomas ,60 ) ,Hignett ,Appleby ,Dyer (Hristov ,64 ) ,Shipperley
Subs not used: Sheron,Jones,

Ipswich: Richard Wright ,Croft ,McGreal ,Mowbray ,Venus ,Clapham ,Holland ,Magilton ,Wright (Wilnis ,89 ) ,Johnson (Naylor ,22 ) ,Stewart (Reuser ,83)
Subs not used Brown,Branagan,

The other major thumping The Reds have taken at Ipswich came in their first season back in the Championship in 2006-2007 when they crashed 5-1. Gary Roberts, George O’Callaghan, Danny Haynes, Francis Jeffers and Jon Walters all netted for Town with Daniel Nardiello replying for Barnsley.

Teams:

Ipswich: Price ,Wilnis ,De Vos ,Bruce ,David Wright ,Peters ,Garvan ,O'Callaghan ,Roberts (Haynes ,71 ) ,Walters ,Lee (Jeffers ,46)
Subs not used: Supple,Williams,Miller,

Barnsley: Colgan ,Hassell ,Reid (Kay ,46 ) ,Nyatanga ,Heckingbottom (Rajczi ,75 ) ,Jones ,Howard ,Togwell ,Hayes (Nardiello ,64 ) ,Reid ,Ferenczi
Subs not used Letheren,McCann,

That result left The Reds marooned in the bottom three of the Championship and seemingly destined for a swift return to League One. However, they would win their next three matches which ultimately kept them up.

The Reds also suffered a pretty heavy defeat at Portman Road last season, losing 3-0, with goalkeeper Heinz Muller at fault for two of the goals but they earned an impressive 0-0 draw down there in 2007-2008. The result was made all the more significant by the fact Barnsley had lost their previous four away matches whilst Ipswich had won their previous 12 home matches stretching back into the previous season!

Barnsley have enjoyed more success on their home turf against Ipswich, winning 10 of the 17 meetings at Oakwell, including three of the last four. They won 1-0 in 2006-2007 when a 90^th minute goal from Grant McCann in Simon Davey’s first game as caretaker manager sealed a vital three points. They then thumped Town 4-1 in 2007-2008- three days after knocking Chelsea out of the FA Cup, with Brian Howard grabbing a hat-trick and then they earned another last minute success back in October. Ex Tractor Boy Jon Macken scoring the decisive goal in the 96^th minute of a 2-1 win. The one blemish was a 2-1 defeat back in January 2009. Daniel Bogdanovic netted a consolation debut goal in that one.

Barnsley 2-1 Ipswich Match Report 3/10/09

Barnsley 1-2 Ipswich Match Report 27/1/09

Barnsley 4-1 Ipswich Match Report 11/3/08

Barnsley 1-0 Ipswich Match Report 25/11/06

Last Six Ipswich v Barnsley results:

3/10/09 Barnsley 2-1 Ipswich (Championship)

27/1/09 Barnsley 1-2 Ipswich (Championship)

30/9/08 Ipswich 3-0 Barnsley (Championship)

11/3/08 Barnsley 4-1 Ipswich (Championship)

1/2/07 Ipswich 0-0 Barnsley (Championship)

7/4/07 Ipswich 5-1 Barnsley (Championship)

Overall Record:

Ipswich Wins: 18

Barnsley Wins: 12

Draws: 4

Ipswich Goals: 57

Barnsley Goals: 47

At Portman Road:

Ipswich Wins: 11

Barnsley Wins: 2

Draws: 3

Ipswich Goals: 34

Barnsley Goals: 11

This Season

It’s quite difficult to sum up Ipswich’s first season under the stewardship of ex Manchester United captain Roy Keane. The basic stats show Ipswich in 17^th position with just nine wins. But this doesn’t tell the whole story. Draws have been the main bane for Keane this season, as he has watched his side end a game in a stalemate 17 times- the most in the Football League, and they have lost just 11 times which is less than all the teams sitting from sixth to 16^th in the league.

A dreadful start has contributed to Town’s relegation struggle. It took the Tractor Boys 15 games to gain their first win as they drew eight and lost six in that opening period, before finally gaining a 1-0 win over Derby at the end of October. They are though difficult to beat on their own patch, having lost just twice at home this season- only Newcastle, unbeaten at home, have lost less on their own turf, but on the other side of the coin, they have won just six at Portman Road this campaign- only Plymouth have won less home games, and have drawn 10 times in front of their own fans which leaves them as the only side in the Football League who are into double figures on home draws. Ominously for The Reds though Ipswich are unbeaten in their last 13 home matches since losing 4-0 to Newcastle in September and haven’t conceded in their last three, winning the last two- 2-0 v Cardiff and 1-0 v Scunthorpe. They did suffer defeat in midweek, losing 2-1 at Watford.

Barnsley are looking for their second away victory in their last three trips, and their first ever double over Ipswich. If they can secure only their second ever league victory at Portman Road it will give them seven away wins for the season- the first time they will have achieved this since winning seven in the League One promotion season of 2005-2006 and the first time they have reached that amount at this level since they won nine in the Play-Off Final season of 1999-2000. They are also looking for back to back wins for the fifth time this season.

Record for 20^th March:

Ipswich have an impressive record on the 20^th March winning eight and losing just twice on in their 12 matches on this date. They started their run on this date with three straight wins in 1948, 1954 and 1965, and have won the last two they have played, beating West Brom 1-0 in 1999 through a strike from Manuel Thetis and more recently, an emphatic 4-1 win over Watford in 2004. Dean Bowditch hit a stunning hat-trick on his first league start and Jermaine Wright also got on the scoresheet. Their two defeats on the 20^th March came in a Premier League game at Norwich in 1995, losing 3-0 to goals from ex red Jamie Cureton, Darren Eadie and another ex red Ashley Ward, and a UEFA Cup tie, 1-0 at Lokomotive Leipzig in 1974. This meant the tie finished 1-1 on aggregate and Leipzig triumphed 4-3 on penalties.

Barnsley have an average record on the 20^th March, winning seven and losing five of their 16 games. The most recent record is quite fractured and the last five matches on this date reads, W,L,W,L,D. The last win though arrived back in 1976 when they won a Division Four game at Huddersfield 2-1- one of only two away wins that season, and the most recent game on this date was a 0-0 home draw with Port Vale in 2004.

Overall playing record for 20^th March:

Ipswich: Played 12, Won 8, Drawn 2, Lost 2, Scored 19, Conceded 11

Barnsley: Played 16, Won 7, Drawn 4, Lost 5, Scored 18, Conceded 19

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Ipswich:

16/3/10 Watford 2-1 Ipswich (Championship)

13/3/10 Ipswich 1-0 Scunthorpe (Championship)

9/3/10 Ipswich 2-0 Cardiff (Championship)

6/3/10 Blackpool 1-0 Ipswich (Championship)

27/2/10 Ipswich 0-0 Bristol City (Championship)

23/2/10 Scunthorpe 1-1 Ipswich (Championship)

W: 2 D: 2 L:2 F: 5 A: 4 GD: 1 Points: 8