Ipswich v Watford - 20 October

Tue, 20 Oct 22:18:40 2009

More late woe for Town

Nathan Ellington struck deep into stoppage-time to earn Watford a 1-1 draw and ensure Ipswich will have to wait for their first Coca-Cola Championship win of the season.

Watford striker Ellington popped up right at the death to deny the Tractor Boys a deserved win and ensure there would be yet more frustration for manager Roy Keane.

Gareth McAuley's early header looked to have lifted Ipswich off the foot of the table, but Ellington had the final say at Portman Road.

Ipswich remain the only club in the English leagues to be without a win, while Watford are now unbeaten in six matches away from Vicarage Road.

Keane's side needed an early goal to settle their nerves and it arrived after only four minutes when Liam Rosenior's cross was headed back across goal by Jon Walters and McAuley planted a header into the back of the net.

Things almost got even better less than two minutes later with Rosenior again providing the cross which Pablo Counago should have headed home before Lee Martin's strike hit the crossbar.

John Eustace had an opportunity at the other end but the experienced midfielder headed straight at on-loan goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

But Ipswich continued to look threatening going forward and it took an agile save from Scott Loach to deny Spanish striker Counago.

On-loan midfielder Henri Lansbury had a chance to equalise but the midfielder dragged his right-footed strike wide of the target.

Winger Carlos Edwards spurned a chance to double Ipswich's lead when he flashed a shot wide from the edge of the area nine minutes before the break.

Adrian Mariappa had the first opportunity of the second half when Lansbury's cross picked him out, but the Watford defender's header drifted wide of the upright.

Edwards was causing problems for the Watford defence and England Under-21 goalkeeper Loach produced a fine save with his feet to keep out the former Sunderland man's right-footed drive from 12 yards out.

Watford boss Malky Mackay brought on Ellington in a bid to add some firepower but the Hornets remained on the back foot and Town substitute Connor Wickham came close with a header from David Wright's cross that looped narrowly wide.

Ellington had his first sight of goal 17 minutes from time, but the former Wigan frontman failed to get any power on his long-range strike and Begovic made a comfortable save.

McAuley had a chance to score his second goal of the night but the central defender headed an Edwards cross over the bar from close range.

The impressive Loach was again called into action to deny Wickham and Tommy Smith late on to set up a nervy finish.

And with time running out, Ellington slotted home Danny Graham's cross from six yards to silence the Ipswich faithful.

 

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  1. The Emporers New Clothes ? Can no one else see that­ Ipswich have an imbecile for a manager and an imbecile­ for a chairman. With all due credit for the fantastic­ efforts of tonights players surely this is time we woke­ up to realise this just isn't happenning. Dubious­ team selections, the total absence of some of our best­ players from the squad (you know who) and tactical­ blunders (e.g. tonight by putting a 16 year old on when­ an ex Watford striker was waiting on the bench and a 4­ foot right winger on the left as a "tactical­ change") cannot go on. Wake up everyone -­ we're the worst team in the entire football league­ and that's offical and RK is the worst manager­ we've ever had (ditto). In 33 years of supporting­ ITFC I've never known anything like it. How long­ will we keep the faith? It's such a shame that we­ let people with absolutely no football credentials take­ control of a club that with such proud traditions. We­ all apreciate the financial backing but our (invisible)­ chairman is making decisions which he has no­ qualification to make. Why on earth did he think that­ the inexperienced RK (I can't say his name) could­ do the job for us. You've only got to look at­ RK's track record as a player to see that he is a­ reckless fool who gets off on danger - I think he's­ enjoying this. Look at his last season at Sunderland­ to see that all the warning signs. Sure he got­ promoted in his first season but he proved he­ couldn't sustain it. End it while there's­ still time or next seasons we'll only have the two­ EA derbys to look forward to - League 1 is no place for­ ITFC !

    From markabby, on Tue 20 Oct 11:06PM
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