Coventry City 1 Ipswich 1

Playing away from home against promotion hopefuls, a draw would ordinarily be seen as a credible result, particularly for a side who have recently departed a six-match losing sequence.
However, the circumstances of the result left Ipswich fans, and Manager Roy Keane, frustrated at another indication of the lack of penetration within the struggling Town side. The second half of Saturdays match saw a one goal lead disappear owing to some simplistic defending and a failure to break down a Coventry side with a man disadvantage for the last half hour.
Boss Roy Keane felt his side were better equipped to win the match in the first half, despite the advantage presented to them in the second “If people think the sending off helped us, it certainly didn’t. Sometimes it just galvanises the home team and their supporters.
“We would have been happy playing against 11 because we played against 11 in the first half and we were the most dangerous team.”
Having seen two successive matches beaten by the frost, and the last competitive outing being the snow escapade against Leicester City, there was very little in the way of form for Roy Keane to look to when making his team selection.
As it was, the changes were largely circumstantial. Jaime Peters returned to the side, with Gianni Zuiverloons brief Ipswich career becoming somewhat briefer with his recall to parent club West Brom. Similarly, the training ground injury to Shane O’Connor robbed him of the opportunity to build on his impressive outing against Leicester, allowing Carlos Edwards to return to the starting line-up.
However, it was in central defence where Roy Keane introduced his biggest surprise, as Gareth McAuley returned to the first team some weeks ahead of his expected recovery.
After a solid first half performance, highlighted by a spectacular effort against the bar from Carlos Edwards and a less than spectacular finish from David Norris, it fell to new boy Rory Fallon to slam home his first ever Town goal after Westwood spilled Colbacks low drive.
However, it took minutes of the second half for Town to undo the good work. A long punt from Westwood found Marlon King with ease, who laid the ball back for the untroubled Freddie Eastwood to shoot home.
What should have amounted to the pivotal moment in the game, occurred approaching the hour mark. Marlon King, having proved to be the best player in a City shirt, was dismissed for a lunge on Darren O’Dea that left the Irishman needing lengthy treatment.
But the flow of the game remained largely interrupted. Chances were shared at both ends, Colback in particular missing a clear opportunity but, even with Ronan Murray added as an extra striker for the final five minutes, Town were unable to make any significant inroads into the Coventry defence.
After the match, Keane once again lamented the lack of invention from his goal-shy side “In the attacking third, we took far too many touches and were too predictable.
But having said that we had the best chance of the game through Jack Colback. As a team we don’t take these chances, so there should be no surprise there. We don’t score enough goals and we haven’t since I’ve been at the club.
One or two of our players didn’t take responsibility. We were passing sideways and backwards when you’ve got to be braver”.
In the context of Towns recent form, particularly given that the Leicester match was completed in such unusual circumstances, the performance in securing a point away from home has to be seen as a positive.
The improving form of Rory Fallon has been an unexpected surprise, as the New Zealander has proved himself to be more than simply a target man, offering good movement and hold up play. With time running out on his loan period, he would appear to have secured himself a permanent move, with his first goal no doubt being a welcome addition.
Defensively, the goal aside, Town were fairly comfortable, perhaps aided by the weakening of the oppositions attacking options in the second half, but unquestionably bolstered by the return of Gareth McAuley. With the rest of the defensive corps changing seemingly match by match, it will be a welcome sight for Roy Keane to see his most consistent performer back out on the pitch regularly.
Having suffered a somewhat curtailed Christmas period, a point has done little to halt Towns slump down the table in the short term. With two cup games imminent against Chelsea and Arsenal, it becomes something of a necessity for Town to record a victory on Monday, when they make their long awaited return to Portman Road for a tough match against improving Nottingham Forest.