Portman Pleasures

Anything yellow and blue
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Kairdiff Exile
Mid-life Crisis
Posts: 707
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:59 pm

Portman Pleasures

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Well I was there on Saturday, Jerome, and I thought it was a bloody good day out! Like many others in the away end, that was my first trip to Portman Road, and I was very impressed by the stadium. It felt like a proper old ground whilst at the same time boasting all mod cons and being in the middle of the town.

As for the game, it was tough for both teams in such strong swirling winds, and in the first half particularly it looked like neither side could control a bag of spuds. Errors all over the pitch, and I said to my pals that whoever scored first would win as it felt like one of those days. God knows we rode our luck at times, but some heroics from Eastwood and Dickie as well as home hapless Town shooting meant we kept our necks above the water.

But that should take nothing away from a fine goal and some excellent game management. I think we all thought we'd overplayed the chance from which we scored - Brannagan chose not to shoot, Henry chose not to shoot, Taylor took a touch when he might have hit it first time... but yet it still ended up in the net. That's the mark of a team who are playing with confidence and who trust each other, I think. And Taylor is hitting form at the perfect time (as are the team as a whole - but having a "fox in the box" who can be relied upon for a regular stream of goals is critical).

My favourite part of the game was watching how well we managed the game in the second half to close things out. Having Jamie Mackie to come on in those scenarios is a thing of rare beauty, and let's also give yet more praise to Rob Dickie who was immense.

I may be over-reading it, but I think that result could be a season-defining one, like Bradford last year. Coming off the back of our thumping of Wimbledon in midweek and with three very winnable games coming up, could this be the moment where we take this league by the scruff of the neck? Certainly it feels like a year where none of the favoured sides have performed consistently.
slappy
Grumpy old git
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Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:52 pm

Re: Portman Pleasures

Post by slappy »

A local's write up of the match is worth a read.
https://trippingovertheball.blog/2020/0 ... -united-1/

It was good to tick off a new ground. Due to engineering works out of Liverpool Street, many fans decided to take the Kings Cross - Cambridge, and Cambridge - Ipswich route. The first leg was a fast 45 minutes, and the second was on new trains with seats in 2 x 2 formation and plenty of table seats and leg room too, a welcome change from some of the rattlers on my travels.

Once at Ipswich, the ground is straight across from the station, and the Riverside pub was welcoming to away fans, and having welcomed much bigger away supports than ours in the past, was well geared up to serve fans. As the town centre was I think 20 minutes walk, we decided to stick with it, though it was shut directly after the game, presumably to encourage away fans to get straight out of town.

We just managed the four minute connection at Cambridge on the way back, although I think the trains back from there are more regular at four an hour, rather than once an hour from Ipswich.

Anyway, being at the back of the lower tier meant I couldn't really see the size of the crowd, but could see all of the pitch. I'll take a 1-0 away win all day long, and once Ipswich were down to ten men we managed out the game playing the ball around in the corner.

We face Accrington on Tuesday night, and I remember they were a big test at the away game, with our defence struggling against big forwards and balls lumped into the box.
SmileyMan
Middle-Aged Spread
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Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:39 am

Re: Portman Pleasures

Post by SmileyMan »

Kairdiff Exile wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 9:42 am I may be over-reading it, but I think that result could be a season-defining one, like Bradford last year. Coming off the back of our thumping of Wimbledon in midweek and with three very winnable games coming up, could this be the moment where we take this league by the scruff of the neck? Certainly it feels like a year where none of the favoured sides have performed consistently.
For the first time in what feels like years I'm getting excited about an Oxford team. I thought the transfer window would kill our chances, but if we can continue with the winning ways then a playoff place is a real possibility. Fingers crossed we can stay injury free.

Two swallows don't make a summer though, and we've got four matches coming up that if we're genuine contenders should return 12 points, followed by the Chairboys away and Pompey at home which will be promotion six-pointers.
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