Broken Dreams?

Following Towns draw against Burnley and Cardiffs last-gasp victory over Watford, surely Towns season is finally over? Or perhaps if that wasnt enough evidence, then maybe the season-ending injuries for Jon Walters and Luciano Civelli are?

Its been a very strange couple of weeks for Ipswich Town.

After the season low-point, and perhaps Jim Magiltons managerial lowpoint, of the 3-0 defeat to Southampton, the rest of the season seemed to be panned out.

A gentle run into the finish, with odd bright spots, but general despondency as we watched other teams seal promotion, seemed the likely outcome.

But then two excellent away performances, taking four points from top three opposition, left things very much on an upward curve. The signing of Giovanni Dos Santos had revitalised supporters hopes further, a signing perhaps gaining more excitement than any since Francis Jeffers had arrived back in 2006.

Only for an untimely draw against Burnley to stop things in their tracks once again. The Burnley result in its own right was not particularly bad, especially when considering the very good 3-0 victory at Turf Moor earlier in the season, but its timing was, given that they were the last play-off side we could probably have any realistic hopes of catching at this stage.

Burnleys 7 point lead looks entirely unnassailable. Ipswich have failed to put a winning run together of more than 2 games in Magiltons entire reign as manager. Even if they become Barcelona and win all 7 games, they are relying on Burnley failing to win three of their remaining 7.

Hopes could perhaps then turn to Cardiff with their 5 point lead? In truth the real hope was that tiredness would prevent them amassing any further points from the lop-sided amount of remaining games they have. Their subsequent victory over Watford, increasing the gap to 8 points, perhaps demonstrated that was wishful thinking.

So, was it over then? Not quite. Having finally found a player to fit the troublesome left-midfield spot, the season ending injury to Luciano Civelli seemed to be a final indication to fans that, this season, its not going to happen.

The last couple of weeks have seen good news follow more good news, followed by bad news and more bad news. Much like the rest of this inconsistent season.