It’s going down to the wire; what an end to the season this is going to be. Yesterday, Hull drew 3-3 against Ipswich in one of the best end-to-end games I have seen at The MKM Stadium. After the results before the match, Norwich dropped two points and West Brom lost, we had a great chance at closing the gap, however, Leeds also lost so Ipswich came out all guns blazing too and it set up an enticing fixture. It felt like the match before a cup final.
A win would have been so much better because we would be on the same points as West Brom in sixth place, but second prize is good too; it just means we have to win on the final day of the season, unless we draw and The Baggies lose by 9+ goals, which is very unlikely. Unfortunately, I could not get tickets for our final game against Plymouth, but I'll be watching it from home.
Rosenior did not make any changes to the starting eleven he fielded against Coventry in midweek, save for Ozan Tufan replacing Liam Delap, who is still not fit enough to start. That meant we lined up as follows, in a 4-3-2-1 formation: Ryan Allsop in goal; Matty Jacob, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Regan Slater as the back four; Morton, Carvalho and Seri anchoring the middle, with Omur and Philogene on the channels and Ozan Tufan up-front.
Town came out of the stops the better side and it felt a little like the Boro game: we started off very poorly and the visitors looked more up to the mark. They were getting the ball forward too easily and our defence was switched off. Thus, they were able to get their goal in the 19th minute; Wes Burns took the ball to the dead ball line on the right before sliding the ball into the box, which was mis-kicked by Morton, which fell to Hirst, who could not miss and slotted it past Allop into the bottom right corner.
This was a wake up call for us and going down early worked in our favour as we were able to take control of the game and have some decent chances. Carvalho curled just wide of the post towards the half hour mark and shortly after, Philogene had two shots on target when the ball fell to him in the box–his first was fired at Hladky, their keeper, and the rebound was fired over the bar.
After knocking on their door for a long period, we finally drew level in the 40th minute; Hladky played the ball short to Sam Morsy, Seri anticipated this move early and pounced on him, winning the ball back fairly and driving towards goal, before unselfishly squaring it to Tufan who rifles it into the top of the net.
Alas, our hard work to get back into the game was ruined by Ipswich’s best player of the game, Omari Hutchinson, who had to be one of the best players to come to the MKM since Nathan Tella last season. In the second minute of added time, the Tractor Boys were passing the ball around the edge of the box and, unlike us, who mess around with it for too long, they took a shot through Hutchinson, who cut in from the right, looked up and curled one into the top-left corner of the goal from the edge of the box. An exquisite goal, but why was nobody closing him down?
The first half ended 1-2 to Ipswich, which is the first time in 13 games where we have been behind at the break.
The start of the second period was brilliant from us as from the kick off, we got the ball forward quickly and we made a neat cross in for Tufan, who, unmarked and with lots of time, just put it over the bar. He had a similar chance moments later, but did the same thing. Not to worry, though, as we were able to equalise in the 56th minute; some great link-up play on the right allowed Omur to release Carvalho, who put in a great ball across the frame of goal, which was met by Delap (subbed on at half-time) and he was able to direct the ball past their keeper.
Ipswich fired back at us and had two brilliant chances when Davies swooped in an enticing ball into the box from a freekick which was met by Burgess who headed it onto the bar; moments later, Kieffer Moore forced Allsop into a heroic save after his rising shot on the turn was deterred. However, we were not able to keep preventing them as Hutchinson was gifted a opportunity to pull off some more magic in the 67th minute; a corner was played short and the latter was able do the same thing as he did for his first goal: take his time, put some curl on it and place it into the bottom left corner of the net. Questionable defending again.
The visitors tried to kill off the game as Hutchinson had another chance, after he was allowed to run freely into the box before striking straight at Allsop. Sarmineto had a similar chance a couple minutes afterwards, but our keeper was able to parry it away.
Rosenior made two changes, bringing on Noah Ohio for Omur in the 74th minute and Ryan Giles for Regan Slater in the 81st. This paid dividends and the same player who came off the bench against Coventry and got the winner, made an instant impact again. In the 87th minute, Carvalho’s freekick was headed towards goal by Jacob, which fell to Ohio, who was able to smash the ball into the crossbar, which directed it into the back of the net. Complete ecstasy in the home end and the stadium suddenly came alive.
It was not us who had the final opportunity to steal the three points as in the 94th minute, Ipswich broke forward and Hutchinson, yet again, drove into the box, before getting his shot off, which was saved by Allsop, but only to Sarmiento at the back post whose shot was blocked by Jones and the follow up from Morsy was blocked again by the same player. My heart was in my mouth at this point, but fortunately that was the last bit of action before the referee blew his whistle.
What a game in our last home game of the season. We could have had many more games like this, but it is what it is and all will be forgotten if we get into the playoffs. The night was nicely capped off by the staff, players, owner and manager doing a lap around the pitch at the end.
If we play like this against Plymouth next week, we have nothing to worry about. Let’s hope Preston and Birmingham, who both have something to fight for, help us out.
Another excellent write up. I always look forward to your match reports. Keep up the excellent work. Part of me wants us to stay in the Championship. It’s a brilliant league. Most of me wants us to go up though. Fingers crossed for last day 😊