Ipswich 1 Hull City 1

Often in football, match commentaries refer to the “luck of the irish”.
On Saturday, Paul Jewell certainly had the luck of the irish on his side, but it was of the misfortunate kind, as he shared the sort of luck his irish predecessor would have empathised with.
Just under three months ago, Ipswich completely dominated a home match with Swansea City, even taking the lead, before two quick fire goals from the Swans turned the match on its head, leaving fans and manager somewhat bemused. On this occasion, the managers may have changed, but the sense of injustice was the same.
Speaking to the BBC after the match, Paul Jewell spoke of his frustration “If it was a boxing match they’d have called it off at half-time. That’s why this game drives you crazy, because it’s all about sticking the ball in the net.
“The way we cut them open at times was a joy to watch and we were thinking that, if we got one, it could be any score. But in any game, if you don’t take your chances, if you’ve got someone on the ropes and they swing a wild left hook and it knocks you out, you lose the fight.”
Paul Jewell continued his minimalist approach to team selection, making just the one change from the promising display at QPR. The injured Colin Healy was always destined to drop out, but the manager sprung a surprise in re-introducing David Norris to his starting eleven, the captain recovering from injury ahead of schedule.
Town started the match in positive fashion, and began creating the parade of chances which characterised the first half. The impressive Lee Martin found space to exploit former Ipswich man Herman Hreidarsson, returning to Portman Road for the visitors, again and again picking out team mates from the touchline with unerring accuracy.
When Martin found his route blocked, so Carlos Edwards overlapped him, or drifted inside in the manner which has come to define his spell at right-back.
Gareth McAuley felt himself to be unlucky, as teammate Jason Scotland managed to get in the way of a seemingly goal-bound header, inevitably from a Bullard corner. Scotland himself spurned a near post effort having been expertly fed by Edwards from the wing.
Perhaps the most glaring of misses fell to Connor Wickham who somehow contrived to head wide following an excellent Norris run and cross, the young forward perhaps fearing for his own safety as the goal post loomed large in front of him.
On reaching the half time whistle, the Town side were met with applause from a set of fans who, for the third successive match, had seen their side produce a positive display that had only lacked the deserved goals.
The second half began in similar style, with further chances falling to Scotland and Wickham. Inevitably though, with the Portsmouth defence the only one threatening to be breached, it was Town who conceded, David Norris misjudging a cross before failing to shut down David Nugent, the Pompey forward smashing the ball low into the net.
With the pattern of the play disrupted, Town tried to recover their momentum, but even a double substitution, unheard of under Jewells Ipswich management, was of no aid. With ten minutes remaining a poor sliced clearance from Marton Fulop resulted in Nugent supplying Cotterill to add a second and decisive goal.
A late chance for substitute Tamas Priskin only served to demonstrate that the Hungarian isn’t necessarily the required goal poacher either.
After such a positive performance through much of the first hour, it would be of some concern for Paul Jewell to find himself with no points as reward. It completed a series of three matches in which Town have dominated in each, before falling to goals late in the game which have left them with just a solitary point to show for their endeavours.
Whilst Jewell was understandably delighted with the progress being made at the club, it left him echoing the thoughts of Roy Keane, a manager who ultimately saw his Town career come to an end as a result of his sides inability to kill off the opposition.
“When you go in 0-0 at half-time when you should be three or four up, you start to wonder whether it’s going to be your day. Today we made actual chances, and not just half-chances, gilt-edged chances.
“You can blame luck, you can blame whatever you want, but you’ve got to make your own luck over the season.”
As Town go to Cardiff for Saturdays televised match, Jewell will find an opposition side with the striking riches to capitalise on the kind of opportunities his own side have been creating. It will require a new found ruthlessness from somewhere if Town are to return from the Principality with any points.