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.