Ipswich Town 2-4 Nottingham Forest
by Asif Burhan
at Portman Road Stadium

ON THE Ides of March, Ipswich Town’s short stay in the Premier League was effectively doomed by a tenth home defeat of the season against high-flying Nottingham Forest at Portman Road. Coupled with Wolves win away to Southampton, it left the Suffolk side nine points adrift in the relegation zone.

Speaking after the game, Kieran McKenna called it “a very disappointing day” describing how the concession of three first-half goals turned “a stable game, an even game into a near impossible task.” He labelled the first and third Forest goals as “100 per cent on us, goals that shouldn’t happen and not something that we can accept. We need to take real accountability for that.”

Barring an unexpected chain of events, it seems certain that for the second successive season, the three teams promoted into the Premier League will go straight back down into the Championship. It seemed strangely symbolic that shortly after the game kicked off it was delayed by a blue balloon on the pitch. Leif Davis grabbed it, and attempted to burst it with his foot, but missed.

In contrast to the ponderous build-up from the home side, Forest attacked with pace down both flanks, especially utilising the direct running of Callum Hudson-Odoi down the left. In the 25th minute, he bamboozled Dara O’Shea and his cross from the touchline went inside Alex Palmer and across the face of the goal.

It took until the 33rd minute for the match to register its first shot on target when Palmer made a meal of a soft header from Chris Wood. It was an ominous portent. Moments later Palmer was culpable in conceding a needless corner. From it, Hudson-Odoi lofted a ball to the far post which was knocked back across goal. Under no pressure Liam Delap then headed it straight back into the danger zone where Nikola Milkenovic controlled it on his thigh before slamming it high into the net.

Two minutes later, Anthony Elanga raced down the right unchallenged by Jacob Greaves — later withdrawn at half-time — who backed off into the area. Elanga expertly stroked the ball across Palmer into the far corner. Elanga then scored again four minutes later when he nutmegged Palmer from the edge of the area chasing a hopeful ball forward by Milenkovic. The home crowd’s frustration at their side’s lack of urgency was highlighted when Woolfenden walked the ball forward out of defence shortly after, eliciting the derision of the fans.

Stirred by their half-time team talk, Ipswich came out with more purpose in the second period. Davis had their first shot on target in the 46th minute, direct from a corner which Matz Sels palmed away under pressure. Then, from another Davis corner, an unchallenged Delap headed wide. A goal then might have made more of a difference but it took until the 82nd minute for Jens Cajuste to pull one back. Fed by Clarke, Cajuste pirouetted away from Ryan Yates and curled the ball over Sels to score his first goal for the club.

Any thought of a comeback was extinguished when Morgan Gibbs-White, surprisingly overlooked by Thomas Tuchel in his first England squad, was released down the left, drew Cameron Burgess and squared for Jota Silva to steer the ball past Palmer. There was still time for substitute George Hirst to head home a second goal for Ipswich from an O’Shea cross.

McKenna admitted that “the gap is big, there’s no doubt about that, in terms of points. It’s not where we wanted to be at this stage.” For Nottingham Forest, a place in the Champions League beckons as they moved six points clear of fifth-placed Manchester City. Towards the end of the game their fans began to chant “Real Madrid — we’re coming for you.”