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We had a full strength team out today, in which we saw Joey Cole start on the left wing, Sinclair on the right and Carrick and Lomas in the middle. That midfield is what won us today's game. Carrick and Lomas were excellent and done all the right things today.
We started off brightly. Kanouté was looking sharp up front. We nearly got the goal when Schemmel crossed into the box and a sliced clearance from Fabian Wilnis hit the post and went out for a corner. Di Canio also had a chance when he went one on one with the defender but failed to shoot at the right time and was crowded out.
The goal did come when Di Canio put a great cross in for Steve Lomas to rise above the keeper and nod the ball into the net. It was Stevie's second consecutive headed goal.
Our best chance after the goal was from Joey Cole whose shot was saved fantastically by the Ipswich keeper Matteo Serini to deny us a quick second.
Di Canio fizzed a ball across the area which was crying out for someone to tap in but Kanouté couldn't reach it and another chance went begging. Di Canio again nearly put through Cole but the Ipswich defence got rid it of it at the last second.
So we went in at half time happy. We had rarely been troubled at the back. But the man who I said would cause us trouble, Marcus Bent, appeared to be causing a bit of unrest in our defence.
So onto the second half. We again started brightly with Di Canio crossing for Kanouté to blaze over from just a few yards. It was a poor miss from Freddie who worked hard all day and deserved his goal.
Kanouté had another chance when he went one on one with the keeper but was too slow and the defence caught up with him and he was crowded out. He was set off by a superb ball from Carrick who was spraying balls around all day.
Lomas set Kanouté down the right side and his cross fell to Cole but Joey had his back to goal and couldn't turn and shoot.
As it sounds we had a lot of chances and we kept the pressure up.
And this was the sickener! Repka sliced his clearance and Ipswich lay seize on our goal and after series of rebounds and failed clearances Marcus Bent fierd home to make it 1-1. Which was totally undeserved.
We had to hit back quickly. And that's exactly what we did. Di Canio cut in from the left and fired a shot from outside the area which the keeper parried and it bounced up and came back to Di Canio who fired a great shot into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Soon after the goal Kanouté came off and Jermain Defoe came on. It didn't take long for young Defoe to make his mark. A great ball over the top from (who else) Di Canio set Defoe away and he hit a great shot into the left hand corner to send the "you gotta play me" message to Glenn Roeder.
As the final whistle went you couldn't help but be impressed with what you'd seen today. It was a great game, we played good football, and we got stuck in. We saw great skills from Joey and Paolo. Great determination from Lomas and Schemmel. Fantastic passing from Carrick. And steadiness from the likes of Dailly and Winterburn.
Overall - A great win. And I'm very pleased.
Players
James 7 - Not much to do today. But did his job well and was calm when under pressure.