I saw a dead man walking come back to life, live on Sky TV. To be honest I was tempted to stay home and listen to the match on BBC Radio Suffolk rather than walk to the Bell for the TV coverage.
Walking along the touch line back to the dugout after the interval Paul Jewell looked a lost soul, preparing his farewell speech for the assembled media pack in 45 minutes time, at least he wasn’t too far from his Bradford home.
We were 2-0 down at the halfway point and looked dreadful, a poor penalty conceded by a hesitant Stockdale led to the first goal. Then there was Sonko’s Mr Gadget moment, after losing possession to Craig Davies just inside his own half, he somehow managed to track back and hook the ball off the line and against the post to make amends in this comedy moment! This after the aforementioned striker’s shot which Stockdale managed to deflect looked bound for the back of he net. Poor marking at a corner allowed Ricardo Vaz Te in for the second goal.
I had a “what the fuck’s going on?” chat on the phone with Max at halftime, neither of us thought that PJ would survive the night! “I saw Paul Ince on Football Focus at dinner time, wouldn’t mind him as manager” and “Its either going to be 2-2 or 4-0, no there’s no way back I’ll go for 4-0” were the summary of my thoughts, Max went for 3-1.
Then something weird happened, Ipswich scored five goals in 37 minutes and looked a completely different team. Andrews got things underway with a low shot from the edge of the box a minute after the restart, he added a second with a header soon after, Collins then headed in from Martin’s corner for the third before Chops and Scotland wrapped things up. Barnsley got a third goal in the 89th minute with a brilliant free kick from Davies, but fortunately there wasn’t enough time left for us to capitulate! Surely this must be the most Jekyll and Hyde performance of any ITFC side in their history?
So Mr Jewell can take the rope from around his neck and look forward to seeing off his previous employers Derby County next Saturday.
"Its a funny old game, Saint"
| — | Jimmy Greaves talking to Ian St John |
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