9th August 2022
Ipswich Town vs Colchester United @ Portman Road - Ipswich
Carabao Cup - First Round (League 1 vs League 2)
19:45 KO
£16.50 entry (pre-booking + booking fee)
Attendance - 11,654 (1,447 away fans)
Half-time score: Ipswich Town 0-1 Colchester United
Goal:
Colchester United: Hannant - 29'
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: Ipswich Town 0-1 Colchester United
I'm not usually big into the Carabao/EFL Cup, a lot of teams don't take the competition seriously so tend to field severely weakened sides, so it can feel like a waste of time and diesel. However, being a cup competition, it does draw up some tasty fixtures from time-to-time, such as the game a couple of seasons ago when Col U famously knocked out Spurs, and short of drawing a huge team, we got the next best thing, an away trip to Portman Road! Col U were drawn with Ipswich in the Papa John's Trophy last season, but that is even more pointless than the Carabao Cup, so I didn't bother going. But other than that, competitive games against the neighbours are few and far between so I jumped at the chance to go back to Portman Road.
For those that know me, my wife is a Suffolk girl and all of her family support the Tractor Boys, so I was keen for The U's to at least put in a respectable performance to spare my blushes, and with many of the squad having recently played for Ipswich, I was hopeful for a big performance. Ipswich are also firmly gunning for promotion, so I was hoping for them to field a 2nd string team, although with their squad, they should still fancy themselves at home, but I could see Col U nicking a famous win if they take their chances. I was gutted to be missing Thetford's FA Cup replay at Soham, but I still have a chance to go there in the league, and this is more than a fitting substitute, plus I love seeing the U's, even though it has been a difficult watch at times in the last couple of seasons!
I drove down to Ipswich after work, the same journey as to Col U, but getting off the A14 before the Copdock Interchange. I hit some traffic getting in and went to the West End Road car park, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake later in the evening, but at least I could see Portman Road from there so couldn't get lost. I headed straight to the away end (Cobbold Stand), it is looking a lot better since I was last there in 2019, with the previously scabby looking windows being covered up posters of historic events that have happened in the clubs illustrious history.
I bumped into Ipswich Town Vlogger Alex Griffin and gave an interview, it was nice having a chat with him as we watch his channel at home, I particularly enjoy the big away trips up north to grounds I will probably never visit, such as Fleetwood Town. I then picked up a programme for only £2 from one of the kiosks, pretty decent for a Carabao Cup tie, and made my way into the ground.
I was hoping to get one of the famous Portman Pies, but there weren't any in the away end, and the choices weren't great so decided to swerve the scran and just get a bottle of Orange Fanta. I found my seat and was a bit concerned to begin with as I couldn't see a thing, the sun was really low and blinding, however, with around 15mins to kick-off it thankfully dropped below the Co-Op stand opposite and I could see again. Just as the teams came out, some excitable Col U fans launched a red smoke bomb onto the pitch, to match our new away strip, which was the sign of things to come which I will summarise later.
KEY MOMENTS
IT = Ipswich Town
CU = Colchester United
7' - IT - A whipped in ball into the box needs to be cleared clear by Ossama Ashley, back across the goal, and out for a corner.
8' - IT - A long ball is pinged up the field by Woolfenden to find Greg Leigh deep on the left flank, he cuts in past the defender and into the box, forcing a good save from Hornby.
26' - IT - Ipswich attack down the right and a ball is cut back across the goal by Edwards, falling on a plate to Humphreys who skies it from the penalty spot - big let off for Col U.
29' - CU - GOAL (0-1) - Lax pass across the face of goal by Harper is latched onto by Hannant, who blasts the ball into the goal with his first touch, great finish.
40' - IT - Another ball is cut across the box, this time by Vincent-Young, and yet again it falls to Humphreys whose effort from the penalty spot is side-footed with less power, but still flies over the bar!
53' - IT - Scramble in the box from a corner, falls to John-Jules who also blasts over from close-range, with his left peg, good job for Col U that Ipswich don't have their shooting boots on tonight.
63' - IT - A quick attack down the left results in yet another low ball squared across the box, this time from John-Jules, and it looks like Kazeem beats the onrushing attacker to get a touch on the ball, which in itself forced a good diving save from Hornby.
65' - IT - A left-footed free-kick from captain Aluko, from a good position, is on target, dipping low to the bottom left corner, but Hornby is equal to it and pushes it out and clear.
68' - CU - Colchester have a rare foray into the Ipswich box and winger Coxe is brought down in the area, seen them given but it would have been soft.
79' - IT - Edwards attacks down the left and crosses in a dangerous ball, from the penalty spot, Harness attempts an acrobatic overhead kick which goes wide of the goal, it looked close in the ground but replays show it was quite a way from the target, it would have been a spectacular goal had it have gone in.
81' - IT - A frustrated 20-yard strike from Evans is comfortably stopped by Hornby.
And somehow, Col U held out for the win quite comfortably, a team which were bombarded the whole of the 2nd half, and have a terrible defensive record, standing firm thanks to huge performances from the whole team, with special mentions going out to Hornby, super captain Chambers, Eastman, Kazeem and Marshall-Miranda. In doing so, they secured Colchester United's first win at Portman Road for 71 years, and only 2nd in their entire history, against a much fancied Ipswich side, and fielding a weakened side themselves, with top scorer Sears and main playmaker Judge not even on the bench, and fielding a host of youngsters including Marshall-Miranda, Kazeem, Ossama Ashley, Tchamadeu and Tovide, so all-in-all a fine night for the U's. I must say, I have no idea how Ipswich did not score, but other than the two Humphreys chances in the first half, gilt-edged chances were few and far between, and the organised Col U ranks caused them to huff and puff all night to no avail.
The historic win, however, was somewhat tainted by a group of moronic Col U fans. From what I saw, it started off with letting off a few pyros, escalating to vandalism at around the 25minute mark, with seats being ripped out and launched from the back of the Cobbold Stand, but the worst part is, they were hitting the roof and dropping down onto the front rows of the Col U fans, and I saw several injured fans being escorted away, including children, as well as families in a panic trying to make a get away from the rowdy section. Seeing kids and parents in a state of panic is never nice and should not happen at a football game, it is not acceptable. After the goal, this sadly continued, and seats started raining down on the stewards, one narrowly missing me and hitting a youngster in front of me. I have been to a lot of football and not seen scenes like that, it is out of order and needs to be stamped out, so I am glad to see the statement that chairman Robbie Cowling has put out and look forward to seeing the culprits receive banning orders, but I should add that it was a minority of fans, most Col U fans are and were well behaved, and Ipswich's decision to ban the Essex police from coming in did not help the situation. It did eventually die down, and upon the final whistle, the worst I saw was a few fans jumping on the roof with their tops off, I was anticipating worse so was quite glad. After cheering the team, I made a nice easy get away from the ground but it took 45minutes getting out of the centre of Ipswich, the traffic was a nightmare - next time I will park further out and walk, it was a joke and I got home rather late. With all that said, I am glad I went to see a historic win, and I hope that Colchester can build some momentum from this in their next league game against Stockport County, UP THE U's!!!
Line-Ups:
IPSWICH TOWN: Vaclav Hladky, Kane Vincent-Young, Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess, Kyle Edwards, Cameron Humphreys, Rekeem Harper, Greg Leigh, Sone Aluko (C), Tyreece John-Jules, Kayden Jackson. SUBS: George Edmundson, Wes Burns, Lee Evans, Conor Chaplin, Marcus Harness, Matt Penney, Idris El Mizouni, Nick Hayes, Janoi Donacien.
COLCHESTER UNITED: Sam Hornby, Al-Amin Kazeem, Tom Eastman, Luke Chambers (C), Junior Tchamadeu, Marley Marshall-Miranda, Cole Skuse, Luke Hannant, Noah Chilvers, Ossama Ashley, Frank Nouble. SUBS: Ryan Clampin, Tom Dallison, Alex Newby, John Akinde, Cameron Coxe, Samson Tovide, Ted Collins.
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