Stu says: Six observations following 3-2 home win against Portsmouth

BIG, BIG WIN

An emotional rollercoaster ultimately ended with an intoxicating combination of relief and joy.

Town had let a 2-0 lead slip at Sheffield Wednesday in the latter stages to draw 2-2. Town subsequently led 1-0 at Plymouth going into the latter stages but lost 2-1. So when Colby Bishop converted from the spot in the 79th minute to draw Portsmouth level for the second time in this match there was a major sense of deflation and frustration. This was Barnsley at home all over again. Leads in that game had lasted six and five minutes respectively. They'd lasted seven and five this time.

Had it ended like that then all the talk would have been about Town's record of choking in front of big crowds and their repeated inability to get victories over the line against the better sides in League One.

Three highly competitive performances which 'deserved more' would have been of little comfort when reflecting on the return of just two points from this top-end-of-the-table trilogy. Doubts would have crept in. Unfair doubts linked almost entirely to a previous era, McKenna and co could rightly argue, but doubts that would only have been natural given all the previous false dawns suffered by this fanbase.

It didn't end 2-2 though. To adapt a famous Sir Alf Ramsey quote 'you've won it twice, now go and win it again'. Ipswich did just that.

Six days on from losing their own unbeaten league record, the Blues had taken that same proud status away from someone else.

Another demon has been slayed. This represents another improvement on the same fixture from last season (0-0 draw). A sense that there is so much more substance underpinning this strong start has been further fortified rather than slightly eroded.

Yes, the three points are worth the same as any other win. Yes, it's only early October. But this could well be a moment we look back on in months to come as being a really defining one.

RISING TO THE OCCASION

Rail strikes and problems on the A14 couldn't disrupt operation 'Pack Out Portman Road'. A crowd of 28,434 was in attendance. That really is remarkable for a club that is playing in the third-tier for the fourth successive season.

Would the players be paralysed by the pressure or rise to the occasion? Very quickly it became apparent we were getting the latter.

Wes Burns, back from international duty with Wales, saw a thunderous shot in the box blocked. He was looking in the mood. Town forced several corners. Tyreece John-Jules saw an effort scrambled away. Conor Chaplin thumped the post. Portsmouth were penned in.

Marcus Harness wheels away after scoring TownOs first goal. (Image: (C) Copyright Stephen Waller)

Just when you thought the visitors had ridden out that storm and were starting to settle, Ipswich raised the tempo again to score.

Sam Morsy's tenacity won the ball back, John-Jules' neat footwork prevented a rapid turnover and then Chaplin's well-weighted through pass allowed Marcus Harness to beat the offside trap and coolly slot past the on-rushing keeper.

Two former Pompey players had combined to make it 1-0. Things were going swimmingly.

PAYING THE PENALTY

Portsmouth ended this match having produced three shots on target. One of them was a free-kick. The other two were converted penalties which came completely out of the blue.

Had Ipswich not won this game then they would only have had themselves to blame.

The first spot-kick was awarded after Luke Woolfenden's lapse in concentration allowed Dane Scarlett to drift in behind. Christian Walton could subsequently do little else but bring down the talented Tottenham loanee.

The second originated from a short throw-in that was allowed to sneak into the box via a bounce. Sam Morsy, looking to hook the ball over his shoulder and away, ended up catching Connor Ogilvie with his follow through. There were no real protests.

McKenna pointed out afterwards that this was the third penalty Ipswich have conceded at home already this season (Bolton the first), while his team haven't been awarded one, home or away, for more than 30 matches now (35 to be exact).

SUBS MAKE AN IMPACT

During the first few weeks of the season Ipswich's subs so often made a positive impact. At Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth, however, that didn't happen.

With the likes of Sone Aluko and Greg Leigh injured, bench options have diminished. But this game was a reminder that there are still plenty of game-changers to call upon.

Freddie Ladapo and Kyle Edwards came on for the hard-working John-Jules and hit-and-miss Harness respectively in the 73rd minute. At that stage a stop-start, bitty second half was beginning to drift and the atmosphere was in danger of going a little flat.

Then Ladapo scored with his first touch. It was a brilliant first-time, left-footed finish into the top corner from 12 yards out following Leif Davis' powerful surge and cool cut-back. That's three goals in three games across all competitions for him now.

After that, Edwards came to the fore. His direct running got the crowd going. One such dart up the outside led to the winner. Both he and Town fully deserved the good fortune of his cross looping up off a sliding defender and over the keeper for Burns to nod in on the line.

"He's put together his best couple of weeks training consecutively by far in my time at the club and if you do that you deserve your chances," enthused McKenna afterwards.

That'll be music to the ears of a fanbase that clearly have taken the ever-smiling, exciting-to-watch attacker to their hearts.

TASTE OF OWN MEDICINE

Ipswich have faced plenty of cynical time-wasting at Portman Road over recent months. It was looking like it might be another one of those oh-so-frustrating days when Portsmouth increasingly began to take their time over throw-ins with the score at 1-1.

So there was a great irony in the fact that the ever-animated Danny Cowley, no stranger to the dark arts, was left hopping with anger at the sight of the home fans taking great pleasure in not giving the ball back whenever it went out of play during the closing stages.

Portsmouth team manager Danny Cowley.

It wasn't particularly classy. It was a move which could easily have backfired had Portsmouth scored in stoppage-time. And it's not something I wish to see become a regular occurence.

However, I must admit, I did quite enjoy seeing Town fans dishing out 'a taste of your own medicine' on this occasion.

Portsmouth players lost their heads. Ipswich saw it out nicely.

MIND GAMES

Kieran McKenna was more pumped up than usual at the full-time whistle.

Kieran McKenna is enjoying life at Ipswich Town

In his post-match press conference, he hit back at Cowley's pre-match comments centred around Ipswich's budget.

"It's a false kindness designed to trick and trap the football club into feeling like anything other than hard work is going to win us football matches," he said.

"People will want to downplay their own club to justify styles of play and approaches to games. We need to be above that.

"If you want to count the Championship appearances between the two teams you would find an interesting match-up."

He's right. Portsmouth's starting XI had 827 Championship appearances between them (Michael Morrison 415, Marlon Pack 269, Josh Koroma 64, Clark Robertson 44, Owen Dale 15, Joe Morrell 11 and Sean Raggett 9) compared to Ipswich's 511 (Sam Morsy 146, Lee Evans 120, Christian Walton 83, Conor Chaplin 78, Wes Burns 21, Leif Davis 19, Tyreece John-Jules 11, Marcus Harness 10, Janoi Donacien 10, George Edmundson 10, Luke Woolfenden 3).

To hear an Ipswich manager defend the club so intelligently and articulately capped off a very satisfying afternoon.