Having endured what must have seemed endless scrutiny of the poor performances of his team, the irony will not escape Roy Keane that, when his side finally arrested their six match losing streak, Ipswich Towns performance was not the main focus of discussion.
Instead, interest centred upon the snow which had turned Portman Road into a suitably festive Christmas scene and put the match itself in some danger, particularly around the hour mark when referee Stuart Atwell appeared to momentarily lose his nerve and the match appeared to have ended prematurely.
Instead, after some heroic clearing efforts by an Ipswich Town groundstaff who, complete with blue pitch markings, had managed to recover the fading lines, the match was able to continue and Town saw themselves to their biggest victory of 2010.
Roy Keane was grateful to his groundstaff and the referee for combining to allow the match to finish, with the elements seemingly the only thing in the way of a win for the home side. Speaking to the BBC after the match, Keane said “He took us off to give it ten minutes to see if it would settle down, when clearly it wasn’t going to get any better. But he made a brave decision when he was under a lot of pressure, as youd expect from one or two people from Leicester.
It would have been ironic if he had called it off. Clearly it gave the groundstaff the chance to clear the pitch. The referee has to look after the safety of the players, and it was the same for both sets of players.
There were lots of people trying to get into the referees room, I had a spell in there, Ive never seen so many people in the referees room, it was like being in a nightclub, it was packed. He said ‘I don’t think the players safety is at stake ‘, and were grateful for that.”
Town took to the field with Martin Fulop finally restored to the starting line-up, where he was joined, perhaps more notably, by Damien Delaney, dispelling any notion of a fall-out between player and manager.
In midfield, Shane O’Connor was granted only his second start of the season, and the first at left midfield.
Town adapted to the conditions far more quickly than a Leicester side ill-at-ease with the falling snow. Within six minutes, Fallon teed up Norris to smash into the net.
It was a pattern that continued as Town pressured their opponents when in possession, with the ball being returned to blue shirts repeatedly.
Within half an hour, it was two, as Fallon again capitalised on lost possession to feed Jason Scotland, who drilled into the far corner from outside the area.
Having made little impact on the match, Leicester changed their approach as they threw on Steve Howard in an attempt to make more impact aerially, but it failed to stem the tide. Shortly before half-time, a mazy run by the impressive O’Connor saw him finally feed Scotland on the six-yard box, who hammered home.
At the half-time whistle, the match was all but over and the key aspect determining the result of the match was the ability of the groundstaff to clear the pitch.
Despite hardly surprising Leicester complaints, the match restarted and took its biggest turn of events when Attwell saw fit to call the game to a temporary halt 15 minutes later. Once the game restarted once more, Town withdrew two-goal Jason Scotland, scoring his first goals in nine games, opting for a solid five-man midfield to ensure the result without further dramas.
On a night where the conditions clearly had an impact on the way the game progressed, Town can nonetheless take positives from the manner of the performance. In stark contrast to their opponents, Town adapted quickly to the conditions, pressuring their opponents into the kind of mistakes which have blighted many of Towns recent performances.
Despite the snow, Keanes players showed a hunger to go out and win the game and, in the end, Leicesters best chance of a positive result rested only in postponement.
Roy Keane was pleased with the application of his side “Credit for the way we adapted to the conditions. We took our chances, with a good honest performance. We adapted well, there were plenty of plusses and we got a clean sheet.
We were quite relaxed during the week, we’re not forgetting about the fact we’ve lost the last six games, but I think there was an honesty about our performance today that any supporter would only ask for.”
Aswell as a long awaited clean sheet, the first in nine games, it was also a positive night for Towns front two, with Fallon showing impressive hold-up play complementing his strike partner Scotland, who responded with a bright performance. “They get their buzz from putting the ball in the net and I thought him and Rory were a handful tonight. It wasn’t a night for over-complicating the game, we got it forward quickly and we bumped things off Rory and got our rewards.”
But the best performance of the night rests with Alan Ferguson and his team. The preparation and protection of the pitch in the hours leading up to the match not only ensured that it took place where countless others didnt, but that, with snow covering the pitch during the course of the match, the surface remained both safe and playable.
Whilst Keane might have wished a little bit more focus on his team after a winning performance, he would not begrudge the limelight for the team of people who contributed as much towards the win as anybody playing on it.
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