FM10 - From the Bottom Up

[Radii]

Midseason Update

Standings

1. QPR - 50 pts
2. Ipswich - 48 pts
===================
3. Stoke - 48 pts
4. Huddersfield - 48 pts
5. Hull - 45 pts
6. Watford - 40 pts
===================
7. Cardiff - 39 pts
8. Burnley - 39 pts
9. Leicester - 38 pts
10. Plymouth - 37 pts
11. Norwich - 32 pts
12. Leeds - 32 pts
13. Exeter - 32 pts
14. Scunthorpe - 30 pts
15. Charlton - 28 pts
16. Sheffield Wednesday - 27 pts
17. Crystal Palace - 26 pts
18. Gillingham - 25 pts
19. Middlesborough - 24 pts
20. Bolton - 21 pts
21. Swansea - 18 pts
===================
22. Fulham - 17 pts
23. Woking - 16 pts
24. Portsmouth - 13 pts


Goals

1. Constantino - Ipswich - 17 goals
2. Steve Carroll - Leeds - 17 goals
3. Odion Ighalo - Hull - 16 goals
4. Colin Meade - QPR - 15 goals
5. Adrian - Stoke - 15 goals
...
21. Matthew Khan - Ipswich - 8 goals


Assists

1. Danny Swanson - Stoke - 9 assists
2. Bogdan Stancu - Burnley - 9 assists
3. Bryan Bennett - Ipswich - 9 assists
4. Gordon Donnelly - Ipswich - 8 assists
5. Gareth Barry - Watford - 8 assists
6. Neil Gordon - Ipswich - 7 assists


Man of the Match Awards

1. Constantino - Ipswich - 6
2. Steve Carroll - Leeds - 6
3. Adrian - Stoke - 5
4. Rob Elliot - Charlton - 5
5. Sam Hardy - Sheffield Wednesday - 5
6. Matthew Khan - Ipswich - 4


Average Rating

1. Colin Meade - QPR - 7.70
2. Adrian - Stoke - 7.64
3. Constantino - Ipswich - 7.63
4. Franco di Santo - Burnley - 7.55
5. Steve Carroll - Leeds - 7.55
...
8. Matthew Khan - Ipswich - 7.40
...
11 - Bryan Bennett - Ipswich - 7.38
...
27. Gordon Donnelly - Ipswich - 7.23



QPR have 49 goals/18 allowed for a +31 goal differential. We're second in the league with 44 goals/21 against and a +23 differential. Stoke is at +22, Watford +21, next best is +16.



We're dealing with some injury issues for a little while but we've put ourselves in an outstanding position at the halfway point.

[Radii]

Contract Updates

-- MC Paul Coutts will take $13,750/wk for the next two years. He makes $16,750/wk now. That'll help us out a bit and Coutts can play AMC and DMC which has helped us out a good bit this year, I offer him what he wants.

-- MC Josh Walker wants $14,750/wk which would be less as well, but I'm not quite sure I want him back. Perhaps I should re-sign him since Bennett and Paulo are loaners and we'll need to add tons of midfielders next year. I'll wait on that decision either way.

-- DRC Michael McKerr wants a 4 year deal at the same rate he makes now. That would have him here til he's 31 as a backup to Berthet. I'll wait on him as well.

-- DL Stuart Kirkland wants $4800/wk for 2 more years. Sure thing! That's 3k/wk more than he makes now so it'll raise our budget at the moment but I like Kirkland a ton, he's 18 and playing great for us.

December 26th, 2017

Watford(12-4-7, 6th) @ Ipswich(14-6-3, 2nd)

This seems like it should be a good game but the books think we're going ot win easy, we're 1:2 favorites to their 9:2 dogs. We tied 1:1 earlier in the year, 3-2-8 lifetime against Watford.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Gudmundsson/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Gordon
ST: Graham/Constantino

Watford's Mihai Costea leads them with 14 goals, second best is 5. Danny Graham starts for Jon Stead today, and Gudmundsson is in for Alex Bruce. We're ok this match but we're going to be really really tired in a few more days when we play again. Standard mindset today.

7': We get the ball forward into a crowded defense, Bennett to Gordon to Constantino, Constantino has 3 defenders nearby but has a little room for a shot about 18 yards away, he strikes it towards the left post, its by the keeper and just barely in!! Bennett held off two men to keep the ball and Constantino with a very poised shot. 1-0

21': Bennett with a foul way out wide left. They cross the free kick into the area, there's a header over the bar.

36': They have a throwin in our end, we clear it out near midfield but they push it back in, there's a pass between our two central defenders to their star striker Costea. He snuck in behind our D and easily beats Murphy. 1-1

HALF: We shoot 4 times, putting one on target. Watford shoots 5 times, one on target. We've got a small possession edge and this one seems pretty even with the teams taking turns attacking and each team getting one goal.

54': Whoa, that was unexpected! After minimal buildup Donnelly passes the ball to Danny Graham, he's 20 yards out and pretty wide left. He pulls the ball back as his man tries a slide tackle and he has a little room in front of him, he cuts into the area and shoots from a pretty tough angle, its aimed perfectly, by the keeper and just inside the far post!! Great individual effort by a guy we hardly ever use. 2-1

75': Walker in for Paulo, Fryers in for Graham and he moves back into defense, we go with a 5 man back line and defend the rest of the way.

85': They're trying to attack but we're doing a great job winning balls and keeping them from setting up. Here Fryers tries a tackle 35 yards out, he slows up his man but he gets by, he pulls up and shoots from there and Murphy has to make a diving save as that ball was curling in from the right and looked really dangerous. Corner comes to nothing.

We finish this one easily.

Ipswich 2 : 1 Watford

We got a really great game winning goal from Danny Graham today, our 4th string forward, solid win!

Man of the Match: Gordon Donnelly (7.6)
Goals: Constantino (7.6), Graham (6.9)
Assists: Donnelly, Gordon (6.9)
Notables: Kirkland (7.2)

Gudmundsson takes the blame for the goal we gave up, he doesn't do anything else to recover from it and has a really bad 5.4 rating today.

[Radii]

-- Stoke wins by 3 and now has a goal differential better than ours. We fall down to 3rd as a result for now.

December 30th, 2017

Gillingham(8-1-15, 18th) @ Ipswich(15-6-3, 3rd)

Gillingham promoted up last year from League 1 and look to have what it takes to stay up, but we're massive 1:3 favorites here. They're 7:1 to get a win, 3:1 to tie.

GK: Murphy
D: Gudmundsson/Fryers/Bruce/McKerr
DMC: Paulo
MC: Walker/Bennett
AMC: Gordon
ST: Stead/Constantino

We have to go again in two days so I bring in a bunch of backups. Fryers/Mckerr are clear backups, Bruce rested last match. Walker at MC for Donnelly, Stead for Graham. Standard mindset again today since we have such a different back line.

6': They try an attack and we win the ball and start a quick counter. Bennett gets it to Constantino in the area, he's by the defense and has a great look, its a clear cut chance but he puts it wide. He really should have hit that.

13': We work the ball forward, Constantino takes a pass from Walker and draws an extra defender 25 yards out, Bennett makes a run into the open area left by the doubleteam, Constantino passes it ahead to Bennett and he buries it! Solid play there. 1-0

34': a solid 20 minutes with no highlights at all, probably a good thing for us here since we have the lead.

HALF: We really slowed things down after that goal. We shoot 5 times, they shoot 4 times, each team puts just one on target. We had a couple other pretty good looks and couldn't score, it could have been 2-0 or 3-0 here easily.

50': We get a corner with our second shot on target, Paulo with a nice shot that the keeper has to save and put over. Corner is cleared easily.

65': Troy Brown is on for Neil Gordon, more of a sub to save gordon's energy for the next match than anything.

75': Danny Graham in for Constantino, again for rest.

We easily put them away.

Ipswich 1 : 0 Gillingham

Man of the Match: Bryan Bennett (8.2)
Goals: Bennett
Assists: Constantino (6.8)
Notables: McKerr (7.2), Gudmundsson (7.4), Fryers (7.5)

Neil Gordon puts up a 5.8 before he's subbed out. This was basically as close to a second team as we have so this is a solid result.


-- QPR ties their last two matches in a row and they fall to 4th. The 3 teams tied for 2nd during that midseason update (Stoke, Ipswich, Huddersfield) each won the last two. Now we are all tied for first. Stoke has won the last two by 7 goals, they're in first. We're second, Huddersfield 3rd.

[Radii]

January Update

-- We have league matches on the 1st, 13th, 20th and 30th. We play in the FA Cup on the 6th and if we win would play again on the 27th.

-- Our youth pull GK Chris Mason has improved his goalkeeping according to our trainers. If we can get a couple more years out of Murphy maybe Mason can take over straightaway.

-- Bryan Bennett is 2nd in the Young Player of the Month voting this month.

-- Our young DL/ML Jack Hughes is on loan in the Blue Square North is killing it. He's got 10 games, 8 assists, and 4 man of the match awards. He wins the player of the month award in the BS North.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership still. Signing Bennett is the highlight, the League Cup remains the only thing they can bitch about. We lost $905,000 last month.


Transfer Out

-- 4th string ST Jon Stead's transfer to Scunthorpe takes place now that the transfer window opened up again. We let him go for cost cutting reasons. Stead is 34 years old and is pretty much done. He came to Ipswich in 2008/09. Until Matthew Khan came along Stead was the team's top striker. The year that Ipswich promoted out of the Championship to the EPL he scored 23 goals.


Transfer Rumors

-- Rumors abound as the transfer window re-opens. There's interest in Neil Gordon, Michael McKerr, and Zeki Fryers. Fryers requested to be put on the transfer list a couple months ago but has since played in a few matches, I'd like to keep him on as a backup.

-- I should try to sign a free transfer GK, and I have a vague idea that I'd like to use my 4th season long loan on a AMC to split time with our youngster Neil Gordon. I like Gordon and he has 5 goals/8 assists, but he's been a little inconsistent and Coutts is really the only other guy that can fill the role. Someone who can play MC as well to add extra depth would be ideal.

January 1st, 2018

Ipswich(16-6-3, 2nd) @ Cardiff(12-9-4, 6th)

We're very slim underdogs today, 13:8 to their 6:4. We tied 2:2 at our place back in August and are 9-2-5 lifetime. We're going to play Cardiff again, at their house, in 5 days for the FA Cup.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Gudmundsson/Bruce/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
ST: Graham/Constantino

Rob Miller leads them with 13 goals, Adam Phillips has 9 goals. This is the first match where i've had to change my formation due to injuries/fatigue. We go with a 5 man D line and sit Neil Gordon, no AMC today. We'll defend on the road today.

8': Midfielder Ledley with a yellow.

12': They run down the rigth side, there's a cross into the area, Troy Brown is there, but he doesn't have control of the ball, it deflects off him and into the net... its an own goal. 0-1

21': Bennett is hurt... ugggggh.

32': They earn a corner, its crossed into the area, header over Donnelly... its well placed and Murphy can't get to it. Can't win em all, eh? 0-2

HALF: So we're getting owned here and Bennett is hurt. We haven't taken a shot yet. I kinda feel like this is just a lost cause and lets get the hell out of here without getting anyone hurt. Maybe if we pick up a goal we'll do something to try to tie it up.

57': Constantino with a bullshit yellow going up for a header on a super long goal kick.

63': We hve our first shot of the match, a blocked shot after a corner, whee!

69': Bennett picks up a yellow.

70': Constantino tries to get us back in it all by himself. He makes a run down the right side, runs by a defender, cuts by another one into the area, by a 3rd to the end line and they finally tackle it behind for a corner, he was close to being able to challenge there.

76': We earn a corner, Donnelly takes it and sends it long, Bennett runs up to it, wins the header and blasts it by the keeper! That's the goal we needed to try to get a second goal. 1-2

77': We win a ball in the defense and Donnelly sends a perfect long ball over the defense... Constantino runs onto it and he's in the area, he cuts right to try to get an angle on the keeper who has rushed out, he's got a great look to tie it up... and he sends it inches wide. Noooooo!!

78': Gordon in for Bruce, up to AMC. Walker in for a completely exhausted Bennett. We'll attack the rest of the way.

92': A last ditch attack, Constantino makes a great cut 40 yards out to get by his man, he outruns everyone and gets a decent look but again the keeper has rushed out to cut off the angle, he shoots, keeper is able to tip it wide. We can't do anything with the corner and the whistle blows.

Just not our day.

Cardiff 2 : 1 Ipswich

Goal: Bennett (7.7)
Assists: Donnelly (7.7)

Everyone else is in the 6.5-6.7 range.


Injury Update

Bryan Bennett is going to miss 2-3 weeks with a turned knee. Dammit! Luckily we have a week between each league match.

[Radii]

-- Nottingham Forest makes a $2,400,000 offer for our captain, DC Troy Brown. Not available, not at all.

-- I scout a large number of free keepers. they suck. Bad. We've got 75k we can spend in transfer fees and I'll see if there's someone available that I could potentially afford that would be worth carrying on the roster. I was chatting with a buddy today that plays FM and learned some stuff that I probably should have already known but didn't, including the fact that keepers can often go to age 36-37 before their skills start to degrade. I may be able to get a couple more years out of Murphy and none of the guys i'm scouting to come in and be a backup are anywhere close to as good as our 16 year old youth pull Chris Mason. If I can't find someone for 75k or less calling Mason up if Murphy gets hurt may be a reasonable option.

-- Great, great news: "Matthew Khan has begun full training following his foot injury"

... jesus, followed by news that destroys our MC depth.

Injury Update

Josh Walker has a strained knee ligament after an awkward fall in training today. He's out for 6-8 weeks. Coutts is still out for 2 more months as well. We have ZERO MC depth.


Potential Loaners

I made offers to two guys to come on loan at Ipswich for the rest of the year. The first is 17 y/o Steve Mills, a guy who looks like an absolute stud from Wolverhampton. The problem is that he's an AMC/FC. He was the best AMC available so I took a look. He's willing to come. The second is a guy with a lot less value but a guy who plays AMC/MC. Mills has accepted my loan offer already. I delay it a week to wait and see what happens with offer #2. I will have to cancel one and will re-offer a 3 month loan. I think at this point I must secure the MC.

January 6th, 2018

FA Cup 3rd Round

Ipswich(16-6-4, 3rd) @ Cardiff(13-9-4, 6th)

Today Cardiff are 5:4 favorites and we're 7:4. Still close but not quite as close as when they beat us earlier in the week. We're off til the 13th after this. We're seriously weak today though.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Gudmundsson/Berthet
DMC: Bruce
MC: Donnelly/Paulo
AMC: Gordon
ST: Graham/Constantino

Bruce to DMC, Paulo MC, Gordon is back in today. We've got 4 guys hurt and only have 3 subs available today. I probably should have thought about that beforehand and brought a couple guys off the youth squad just to make sure we have full coverage. We'll try a standard mindset today just because sitting back and defending was so bad last match.

10': Constantino receives a ball forward cuts into the area through a couple defenders but has it tackled away for a corner, we can't do anything with that. Another nice move by Constantino going through their defense like our last match but nothing comes of it.

25': After a little buildup Gordon receives a pass 20 yards out, turns and shoots, just high. We've allowed 1 shot as well.

30': They're attacking, we win a ball in the defense and clear a little ways, they try to recover but Paulo makes a great steal, he sends it to the midfield for Constantino who takes off, beats a deefnder near him, outruns everyone else and is down the right side... he sends in a little cross, we have good numbers, but they have a defender there to turn it away.

40': Its another counterattack, Constantino has the ball in midfield, he sends a ball towards the penalty area and Neil Gordon has made an absolute perfect run, controls it well and has a step on his man. He is into the area, stops and shoots and its by the keeper!! 1-0

HALF: Its just a totally different match from the one we played 5 days ago. They have 5 shots, but none are on target and most aren't even close. We've had 4 and put 2 on target. Constantino's speed is giving Cardiff an impossible time today.

51': Their first shot on target comes from 30 yards out, a random strong strike that Murphy was ready for, he parries it away and we clear.

61': Paulo is brought down hard by their midfielder Ledley. Ledley picks up a yellow and Paulo needs attention off the field...

65': Yellow for Bruce

68': Yellow for O'Hanion tackling Danny Graham and he's hurt too!

70': Yellow for defender Naughton tackling Donnelly. This is devolving pretty badly.

71': Troy Brown goes down trying to win a ball after a free kick and he's hurt...

75': Matthew Khan comes in for Graham.

82': A quick attack, Donnelly to Khan, Khan with a shot, its a great look, our second clear cut chance of the match actually, but the keeper turns it aside. Corner comes to nothing. Welcome back Matthew!

88': We give up a corner. We clear it out easily. They try to send it back in but their corner taker is offsides.

90': Thanks to all the injuries we've seen, there's going to be SIX minutes of injury time. I don't think i've ever seen that before.

91': defender Mike Brown with a yellow for Cardiff.

93': They attack, their man Phillips receives a pass 20 yards out, he turns and passes ahead quickly and to midfielder Ellis, he's 15 yards away, he shoots near post and we just weren't ready, a very quick, precise attack. He beats Murphy and ties it up. 1-1

Nothing happens in the last few minutes of extra time.

Cardiff 1 : 1 Ipswich

Given our attrition we really should be happy with this result, the way it happened though we had a win in hand and they got their goal to tie things up, that feels pretty crappy. Their goalscorer is man of the match.

Goal: Donnelly (7.0)
Assist: Constantino (7.1)
Notables: Kirkland (7.2), Brown (7.0)


Injury Update

-- Our captain Troy Brown has a pulled hamstring and is going to miss 3-4 weeks. *throws hands up in air* WTF.



-- We still get our full week off, the replay at our house will be on the 17th.

[Radii]

Just a quick injury update as this is getting a bit crazy:

MC Josh Walker - Out 6-7 weeks
MC Paul Coutts - Out 7-8 weeks
DC Troy Brown - Out 3-4 weeks
MC Bryan Bennett - Out 2 weeks
ST Rob Lewis - Out 5-7 weeks

Because of the selloff we had to do to get our finances under control, at the start of the season we basically had 17-18 men on our roster. We needed everyone healthy to have a full compliment of backups + one extra guy not playing. We sold off another striker to continue to work on the finances, and now have 5 guys hurt.

-- At this second, we have 13 healthy men on the senior team.

My Reserve squad has one man on it. His name is Dave Newman. He's hurt right now.

17 y/o DL Jack Hughes loan from York ended a couple weeks ago. I bring him up to the senior squad. He's not really 100% ready for prime time, but he's got some speed, he can pass, he's very determined (19 there!), and he'll probably see some time on the pitch before Troy Brown returns from injury.


I click continue in game, and the next day the loaner I was waiting on is ready to come to Ipswich.

New Loan Acquisition

Welcome 21 y/o AMC Jordan Ford to Ipswich. He plays for St Mirren in the Scottish Premier League. He can play MC as well. He's not the best guy I could have brought in but he fills the needs that i have right now. 16 pace/17 accel is a huge plus for me, I love speed. 13 teamwork/14 work rate/12 creativity/13 off the ball. He has a few low ratings, aggression/decisions/positioning are under 8.

Technically he's ok but not great, 10 passing, 11 crossing, 11 technique, 13 first touch. Not bad, but not ideal. We'll hope he can make use of his speed to make some things happen on the pitch.


The other AMC I was going after I'm going to try to get on a 3 month loan as well.

[Radii]

New Signing

-- We pay $70,000 to Dag & Red for 18 y/o GK Dominic Johnson. This is the cheap backup that I was able to get ahold of to keep our youth pull training without having to worry about randomly getting called up to the Championship. He's not great but he's ok. 13 aerial ability/10 command of area/11 communication. 12 handling/14 reflexes. He'll do ok in a pinch. He's a young guy and maybe will train a little with us, he's only making $775/wk.

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

The winner of Cardiff/Ipswich is going to play host to Man City in the next round.


Loan Acquisition

Another mistake on my part here, this one works out hugely in my favor. I don't know what the international loan rules are, we have Gudmundsson from the Dutch leagues and Jordan Ford is from Scotland. The 4 young loaner rule is just for English players. So I could actually offer the "other" AMC target that I was going after a loan for the rest of the year as well. Ford will play MC primarily and this new guy will play a lot of AMC. Welcome 17 y/o AMC Steve Mills to Ipswich for the rest of the year! He's a reserve at Wolverhampton worth $4.1M. He's not the fastest guy in the world, 9 pace/10 accel. But he's got a lot of skills. 15 dribbling/13 finishing/14 first touch/14 passing/14 technique/16 crossing. 17 teamwork, lots of other mental abilities in the 13-15 range. I'm a lot more excited to have Mills than Ford.

-- Hopefully this covers our depth problems until our injured guys come back.

January 13th, 2018

Woking(5-1-20, 23rd) @ Ipswich(16-6-4, 3rd)

We're 1:6 favorites here, Woking are 10:1 to win. They are 8 points behind 21st place Fulham. They're not staying up unless something miraculous happens.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Gudmundsson/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Ford
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

Jordan Ford gets his first start, and its really, really nice to see Khan/Constantino up front today in the starting lineup. We'll attack at home today.

4': We win a ball off a goal kick. Donnelly to Khan, he's about 35 yards out. He avoids a tackle and sprints by his man, he's into the area and beats Lynch for an easy goal. 1-0

11': Ogogo with a yellow for tackling Khan.

20': Paulo randomly decides to shoot from 30 yards out, it hits the crossbar, close!

27': We have a throwin in their end, Constantino gets the ball and runs around their defense for awhile, he passes back to Kirkland, he crosses in, Khan is there, heads it... into the net! 2-0

34': Paulo with a ball into the left corner, Khan is out there, he retrieves the ball, crosses into the area, Gordon puts it into the net! 3-0

42': Ford tries a through ball, its blocked, the ball falls back to Donnelly who shoots from 25 yards out and he buries it! Poor Woking. 4-0

HALF: Poor Woking. What else is there to say. I get Steve Mills in for Gordon at AMC, Jack Hughes in for Kirkland at DL. Both get their first ever action for Ipswich.

56': They randomly get a goal from Don Cowie, a great strike from 25 yards out, I have no idea who he is! Harsanyi got the assist there. 4-1

63': Mills with a pretty pass into the area for Constantino, Constantino buries it, 1st assist for Mills! 5-1

68': Danny Graham is in for Khan, resting him up for our Cardiff rematch.

83': Vince Taylor brings down Constantino in the area. Our new guy Jordan Ford takes the PK, I'll have to check that to make sure its right. He buries it. 6-1

Easy win. Sorry Woking

Ipswich 6 : 1 Woking

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (9.3)
Goals: Khan 2, Constantino (9.1), Donnelly (8.4), Ford (7.9), Gordon (7.6)
Assists: Berthet (8.2), Kirkland (7.6), Constantino, Khan, Mills (6.9)
Notables: Murphy )7.0), Bruce (7.4), Gudmundsson (7.4), Paulo (7.3)


-- Neil Gordon and Gordon Donnelly both score their 25th career league goals today.

[DCSportsFan12]

speaking of woking, any way we can get an update on some of your former players or who they brought in to replace you?

[Radii]

-- Kirkland and Khan are named to the Championship team of the week this week.

Injury Update

REALLY?! Starting DR Sylvain Berthet sprains an ankle during a heavy fall in training. He's going to miss 5-6 weeks.


January 17th, 2018

FA Cup Third Round Replay

Cardiff(13-10-4, 7th) @ Ipswich(17-6-4, 2nd)

We're 6:4 favorites today at home. If I'm looking at the rules right, there's no aggregate or road goals designation here. If we're tied after 90, extra time, and penalties after that. This will be out fourth meeting this season. We've lost once and tied twice. Time to get us a win!

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Ford
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

McKerr in for the injured Berthet. Standard mindset.

13': Foul on them about 25 yards out, Gordon takes it, off the wall and back for a corner. Corner is cleared easily.

20': Gordon receives a pass about 20 yards out, turns and shoots immediately, its off the crossbar, so close! Constantino to the rebound but offsides.

33': Yellow for midfielder Woolford tackling Ford.

35': Jordan Ford is tackled in the midfield... he goes down hurt and he's got to come out immediately. COME ON. Bruce moves to DMC, Paulo up to MC, Zeki Fryers is in at DC.

42': Ledley picks up a yellow for a tackle on Constantino.

48': We win a ball in the midfield and counter hard, there's a pass down the right, Constantino runs into it and sprints down the right side. Paulo is wiiiiiide open in the area, Constantino hits him, he gets our first clear cut chance, and sends it wide left, just missed, we really needed a goal there.

HALF: They shoot 10 times, we shoot 8. 3 on target for them/2 for us. Possession is about even, all stats are really really close. We're going to come out attacking this half.

61': We had an early attack but never managed a shot. A good bit of time runs off, we give up a corner here, but they head it over the bar off the corner.

68': Gudmundsson commits a foul about 20 yards out, they shoot well off the free kick, Murphy makes a diving save and pushes it behind for a corner. We block a shot off corner #2 and give them a second corner... we clear that one out.

74': McKerr with a yellow.

75': We take our first shot of the half finally, a really long one, blocked and its a corner for us. Mills comes in at AMC for Gordon.

80': Midfielder Ellis with a yellow.

84': We have a free kick out right maybe 40 yards out. Its taken to Gudmundsson near midfield, he puts it into the area, Constantino runs onto it perfectly, controls it perfectly and puts it into the net! We drop back to defend. 1-0

90': Young guy Jack Hughes is in for a tired Alex Bruce.

92': We get the ball on offense and work it around for a good awhile, stalling as much as anything... Paulo has it 35 yards out, sends it ahead to Constantino. Constantino makes a brilliant turn, leaves his man in the dust, takes a couple steps into the area and buries a shot far post by the keeper!! Brilliant, brilliant stuff. 2-0

Ipswich 2 : 0 Cardiff

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.8)
Goals: Constantino 2
Assists: Gudmundsson (8.0), Paulo (7.6)
Notables: Murphy (7.3), McKerr (7.3), Kirkland (7.3)

We advance in the FA Cup on a couple solid goals by Constantino, good stuff!


-- We receive $110,000 for our win today in the FA Cup

-- The 4th round draw had already occurred. We're going to be hosting Man City.


Injury Update

This is getting comical. Jordan Ford is going to miss 7-8 weeks with a torn groin muscle.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by DCSportsFan12

speaking of woking, any way we can get an update on some of your former players or who they brought in to replace you?

Sure! I've looked a couple times and its not good.

Currently Woking are 5-1-21. They've scored 19 goals and allowed 52. They're next to last in the league, 8 points away from a safe spot.

Midfielder Simon Ferry (a guy i picked up and basically never used in the midfield) leads Woking with 5 goals.

ST Bob Green(the young guy I picked up in my last league 1 year) has 3 goals.

They brought in a veteran attacking midfielder named Don Cowie who has 3 goals

And finally we get to names near and dear... Ed Upson and Zoltan Harsanyi both have 2 goals.


Looking over to the assists category, their veteran hire Don Cowie has 3.

Ed Upson, Zoltan Harsanyi, Danijel Subotic, Bob Green and another new AM Alan Gow have 2 assists each.


Ed Upson remains the highest rated player on the team, he's got a 6.95 rating. DC Vince Taylor has a 6.84, as badly as they are struggling that's as good as it gets.


Kevin Lynch is still starting for them at keeper, but obviously is in over his head here.


Its been a very rough year for Woking, we'll see how they hold up back in League 1 next year.


Woking's manager is David Dunn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dunn), he played with Blackburn through the 11/12 season in the game. He coached Bradford for 4 years before taking over at Woking.

[Radii]

-- Bryan Bennett resumes full training, just in time with Jordan Ford getting hurt. He won't be ready for our next match which is in just 3 days but it's good to have him back in practice.

January 20th, 2018

Ipswich(17-6-4, 2nd) @ Bolton(7-6-14, 20th)

We're even money favorites against struggling Bolton today. They're 11:5 to win. We're 5-2-5 against these guys lifetime, winning 2:0 at our place back in September.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Fryers/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Bruce
MC: Donnelly/Paulo
AMC: Mills
ST: Graham/Constantino

Bolton are led by Valetin Stocker with only 6 goals, they've really been struggling. I'm not happy with our lineup today but with our injuries and short rest but its the best we can do. Mills gets his first start at AMC today and Graham starts for Khan. Khan will come in if we need him but he's quite tired. Standard mindset on the road.

20': Bolton has 4 shots but all of them have been over. Not the best shots really.

32': We have a throwin in their end, McKerr takes the throw, receives a pass right back, and sends the ball forward to Paulo. He's 20 yards out a little off center to the right, he pulls up and fires a shot, the keeper isn't going to get there, and its in the right side of the net! 1-0

40': They build up on offense, we've got 6 guys in the box, but they put a cross in, Gudmundsson misses an interception and it leads to a clear look from inside 10 yards for them... easy, easy goal to tie it back up. 1-1

HALF: Most of the half are poor shots by both teams, then quick strikes from each of us to send us to the half 1:1. Gudmundsson, Constantino and Graham are all struggling out there, under 6.0. They shoot 6 times, we shoot 5, everything is really even.

57': After a throwin Donnelly shoots from 30 yards out, its a solid strike but its just off the crossbar.

73': They build up down the left, there's a long cross sent in, their attacker Baxter goes up for it, Donnelly is behind him and can't challenge for the header, its a solid header by Murphy and we fall behind. 1-2

73': Khan in for Graham, Bennett in for Paulo, Hughes in for Fryers. Lets see if we can get that goal back.

81': We control the ball for a long time but our spacing is bad and we just pass it around aimlessly, we pass it all the way back to Murphy in goal and try again, we get it ahead to Mills, he squeezes the ball through to Khan with a little space, he shoots, keeper pushes it behind. Corner is cleared pretty easily.

86': Hughes with a key tackle about 30 yards out to win the ball for us, we work it quickly up the pitch, Mills sends it out left for Donnelly, Donnelly puts it very deep into the area, almost to the 6 yard box.. but the keeper stands his ground, choosing not to rush out for a ball it seems like he could have easily collected. Constantino gets to it and puts it by the keeper for the tying goal! 2-2

92': Hughes with a yellow for a tackle about 35 yards out.

That'll do it. We'll take the draw!

Bolton 2 : 2 Ipswich

One of their midfielders is man of the match

Goals: Paulo (7.2), Constantino (6.9)
Assists: McKerr (7.1), Donnelly (7.1)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

ST Danny Graham only had a 6.3 rating when he was subbed out today. Gudmundsson recovered nicely after allowing that first goal to end up with a 6.7.

[Radii]

Something to think about going forward, especially as I continue to sit in 2nd place. I'd really kinda rather not promote to the EPL this year. I don't know if I could stomach actually tanking games to make sure I don't, but as Ipswich continues to hold second place as we hit the end of January I wonder if this could make the end of the season interesting.

I just took this job and the team is massively in debt and was over budget in a crippling fashion. Its great that we've done well and we have a lot of young exciting players, but I really just want to stabilize things this year and get an understanding of what management will expect after a full season of profit and finances being in control.


I guess the reason I mention this now is that in the last week of January I'm choosing to stand pat. I could try to go out and get another loaner or two to push us through this patch of injury problems and push us to the next level. Instead we're going to heal up and ride it out with the roster we've got. If I was pushing as hard as possible to promote I dunno if I'd make the same decision.

/shrug!

[Portiere]

Isn't promoting a great way to get out of debt though? Promote, don't spend much, and then bank the parachute payments.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Portiere

Isn't promoting a great way to get out of debt though? Promote, don't spend much, and then bank the parachute payments.

Yeah maybe I need to consider that. I'm really not entirely sure, wanting a bit more of a controlled rise is something I'd seen mentioned in the FM11 thread here and talked about with a buddy of mine. I'll have to figure it out in a couple months if I'm able to keep this run going through the rest of our injury issues.

[Radii]

January 27th, 2018

FA Cup Round 4

Man City(7th, PRM) @ Ipswich(2nd, Championship)

The 4th round was our goal in this tournament, and that's a good thing since we're not very likely to still be playing after today. We're 4:1 dogs to win, 5:2 to pull out a draw, with Man City 4:7 favorites at Portman Road for this cup match.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Fryers/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Bruce
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

Man City are led by Stevan Jovetic. He's 28, played with Florentina from the 07/08 season to 13/14, Man City paid $41 Million for his rights. He's having a killer year, 14 goals in 17 league matches. Carlos Tevez is 33 now, he's got 10 goals in 12 matches. Of course, neither of those guys are starting today. 25 y/o Alipio is their leading striker out there today. He's got 7 league goals as well and is solid. We've got Khan, Gordon and Bennett back in the lineup today. We'll defend today.

1': Alipio gets a good look from just inside the area, its a clear cut chance 26 seconds in, but not really well struck and saved by Murphy.

11': They're attacking non stop, a shot from 20 yards but just hit the crossbar.

22': We at least hold them off for a little while without any sort of highlight. They've got 5 shots, 2 on target so far. We just cleared out a corner.

33': Hey, we put a shot on target... its a free kick from 35 yards out aimed directly at the keeper, but its a shot on target!

39': Murphy with another great save! They get Alipio free in the area, again he shoots from 15 yards out, their second clear cut chance, and its really not well struck, pretty easy save by Murphy given where he took that shot from.

HALF: Man City controls 57% of the possession, they shoot 12 times, putting 6 on target. We shoot twice, one on target. We had a couple semi chances to counter, Constantino got a ball out ahead with just a defender or two nearby but he wasn't able to make a move on them, that's really all we've got. We're going to change to a counter-attacking strategy for the second half. We need to defend still but lets try a little harder to catch them ad create a quick strike.

60': Nigel de Jong picks up a yellow for a tackle in the midfield.

65': Paulo in for Bruce at DMC. Alex Bruce is more of a DC and he's tired.

68': Ah, it was bound to happen. On their 16th shot, Alipio launches a shot from 25 yards out and buries it perfectly into the left corner of the net. Murphy almost got to it, that was a perfectly placed shot. 0-1

72': We'll try to go on the attack. Goal differential doesn't matter here.

79': Fryers with a yellow for us.

81': Donnelly with a free kick, he shoots and earns us a corner. Gudmundsson receives the corner but puts a shot well off target.

83': Hey look, Neil Gordon goes down and is hurt, he's forced out of the game immediately. Mills is in.

96': In the final minute of injury time we're desperately trying to win the ball back and they make a couple very nice passes up ahead to get Carlos Tevez, who came on as a sub, a very easy goal. 0-2

We tried, but even after going on the attack we weren't really able to do anything threatening. We had a few more highlights but everything was just always cleared out easily.

Ipswich 0 : 2 Man City

Donnelly with a 7.2 today. No one really played poorly. Defender Andreas Beck has an assist and wins man of the match for them.


-- We draw 29,599 fans today. Its not quite a sellout, our stadium is listed as a 30,311 seater. But its still a solid boost, as we're averaging about 24,000 attendance so far this year.


Injury Update

Neil Gordon is out for, you guessed it, 5-6 weeks.


Troy Brown is almost back from his injury, leading to the possibility of more defensive minded formations with Walker, Coutts, Ford, and Gordon all injured. Mills is our only possible AMC, Bennett, Paulo and Donnelly our only possible MC's. Paulo and Bruce DMC's.

[Barkeep49]

I was coaching a team that I'd promoted up very quickly from League 2. We're scraping and fighting to stay in the EPL, but we're doing it going from a bank balance of -3 million to a positive balance of 15 million in January. I've kept a very tight handle on payroll and if we demote down I hope to have banked enough to be able to improve the team such that I can promote and stay. I really think if finances are your concern being promoted could be a really good way of clearing out that deficit and opening up the possibility for a larger payroll budget to make another run at the EPL or make a run at advancing with-in the EPL.

[Portiere]

Yeah, I would loan people in for cover and do what you can, b/c the extra funds are the best way to clear up the balance sheet--unless you go in hock for lots of money like your side did last time.

[britrock88]

89 hours without an update, and I'm going crazy. Something's wrong with me.

[Radii]

-- Troy Brown resumes full training. I'm a bit worried. His corner taking, free kick taking, long throws, technique, decisions and teamwork ratings are all down. Better than Marking/Tackling being down, etc. Hopefully that recovers. Some people made offers for Brown this month and he's unsettled by all the transfer speculation around him. He's not going anywhere but I can't seem to convince him of that.

January 30th, 2018

Exeter(12-2-14, 11th) @ Ipswich(17-7-4, 2nd)

We're huge 4:6 favorites today, Exeter are 7:2 dogs. We're 3-0-1 lifetime against Exeter, winning 3:0 on the road back in September.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Fryers/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Exeter are led by Sanchez Watt with 9 goals and Luke Daley with 6. We're tired, real tired. We attack today, lets get an early lead.

10': Mills with a steal in the midfield while Exeter try to set up an attack, he hits it forward to Constantino quickly, he's charging towards the area out right, draws the only two defenders back, he passes across to a wide open Khan who takes a step into the area and beats the keeper easily! 1-0

11': There's a charge down the right by Donnelly, he tries a cross, its blocked. Paulo picks it up about 25 yards out. He sidesteps a charging defender and shoots from there. Its a rocket that looks like its going wide right but it had an incredible bend on it and it bends into the right corner of the net!!! Incredible shot!!! 2-0

45': Exeter takes their second shot (they had a wild one early). This one is on target, turned over the goal by Murphy. We clear the corner, they push it back in and earn a second corner. This one is headed back for a third corner. Fourth one is headed over by them.

HALF: Two early goals then lots of boredom, sounds ok by me! We shoot 5 times, they shoot 3.

68': Troy Brown in for Gudmundsson, reserve Jack Hughes in for Kirkland at DL.

80': Danny Graham in for Matthew Khan.

84': They have it just past midfield, there's a long cross from the left to the right side of the field, then a long ball ahead into the area, their man Daley runs onto it, our defense is really really slack allowing that one, and Daley puts it into the net easily. Quick strike and very poor defending to allow it. 2-1

92': They have (hopefully) one last attack, a cross into the area, its headed around 3 times before we finally make the clearance.

That is it. Exeter only shot 2 times in the second half, a nice dull win after the early 2 goals.

Ipswich 2 : 1 Exeter

Man of the Match: Paulo (8.3)
Goals: Paulo, Khan (7.1)
Assists: Constantino (6.9). Paulo's goal is unassisted.
Notables: Kirkland (7.4), Gudmundsson (7.3)


Stoke is only able to manage a draw against Swansea today and that allows us to take over first place! We're tied with Huddersfield with 61 points, but we've got the goal differential edge. Stoke is 1 point back in 3rd, QPR 4 points back in 4th.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by britrock88

89 hours without an update, and I'm going crazy. Something's wrong with me.

Hah, yeah all my free time has been league of legends time the past few days it seems!

[Radii]

February Update

-- Its a fairly light month, much needed to give us time to heal up. We play on the 3rd, 10th, 13th, 17th, and 24th.

-- Paulo's spectacular bending shot in our last match was the 2nd best goal of the month in the Championship.

-- The board is delighted with my leadership (a first for the new team!). Our league play is the highlight, our league cup loss back in August is still the only thing they can find to complain about. We actually made money in January as well, turning a profit of $333,000.


February 3rd, 2018

Ipswich(18-7-4, 1st) @ Crystal Palace(10-7-12, 12th)

Crystal Palace are actually 6:4 favorites here today, we're 13:8 to get a win. They promoted up last year from League 1 and are playing quite well, a lock to stay up. We're 2-1-1 against them lifetime including a 1:0 win in September.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Gudmundsson
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

They aren't scoring a ton, 5 goals from Tommy Gray and Chris Brown, 4 goals from Chris Ojapah, a leading star last year in League 1. Our D-line looks a lot better today with Bruce and Brown back anchoring the defense. Standard mindset today.

2': We work the ball forward, Constantino hits Khan with a through ball, but they tackle it behind before he can shoot. Corner comes to nothing.

6': We counter after winning a ball in the midfield, there's a pass ahead ot Constantino, he is in a hole in the defense, gets into the area and its the first shot of the match, a clear cut chance, but he sends it right at the keeper.

13': We have it in their end, as the highlight starts Donnelly is about 25 yards out, Bennett makes a run to the area, Donnelly with a through ball, he doesn't control it well and the keeper is able to poke it away, but he can't control it. The ball falls closest to Constantino who sends it into the net! 1-0

25': Constantino is bumped hard and goes down hurt. His fitness tanks down under 60% and he spends some time on the sideline getting treatment... he can stay in and no injury symbol.. presumably ok.

HALF: We see one long shot go wide from Crystal Palace the rest of the half. We shoot 9 times, putting 4 on target, tons of offensive highlights for us in the first 20 minutes. They shoot twice, neither on target. Passing, Tackling, Heading stats are all close, but we've got the goal.

56': Yellow for Palace's Jeff Hughes, I thought it coulda been a red, preventing Bennett from an open run into the area after a great pass from Constantino. The free kick is blocked by the wall.

63': Absolutely beautiful individual play by Matthew Khan. He receives a pass from Paulo 25 yards out, he cuts to the right, jukes a defender, a second man runs with him as he cuts into the area but Khan gets just enough space to shoot and he strikes it near post by the keeper! 2-0

70': Fryers in for Paulo, Bruce up to DMC, Fryers DC. Hughes in for Khan and we go to 5 defenders. Danny Graham in for Constantino up front.

75': We'll defend the rest of the way.

83': they're attacking hard, Murphy makes a couple nice saves, tipping a shot from 20 yards just wide and going out to catch the ball on their corner.

They shoot 5 times in the last 10 minutes, Murphy makes 2 solid saves and we put this one away nicely.

Crystal Palace 0 : 2 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Bryan Bennett (7.9)
Goals: Constantino (7.3), Khan (7.5)
Assists: Bennett, Paulo (6.9)
Notables: Murphy (7.6), Gudmundsson (7.4), Kirkland (7.4), Brown (7.3), Donnelly (7.0)

[Radii]

-- Taking over 1st is good for business, a report comes out that our next match vs Middlesborough may be a sellout!

February 10th, 2018

Middlesborough(8-7-15, 19th) @ Ipswich(19-7-4, 1st)

We won 2-0 back in September, 6-2-7 lifetime against them. We're big 4:6 favorites today, they're 7:2 dogs.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Gudmundsson
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Middlesborough's Scott McDonald leads them with 14 goals. Daniel Melero has 8 goals. Constantino is at 21, Khan at 12 by comparison. Same lineup for us, its the strongest lineup we can field given our injury issues. We attack today.

9': They get a man behind our defense briefly on a long ball, not exactly sure how, but Murphy rushes out and Brown gets back pretty well and forces a tough shot that Murphy saves.

19': We give up a corner, we have 73% of the possession but the few highlights are of Middlesborough attacking. We haven't managed a shot yet, they have 2.

22': We win the ball in the defense, there's a ball ahead to the midfield to Khan, he plays a beauty of a ball to Constantino who controls it perfectly 20 yards out, one step into the area and he puts it by the keeper!! Just a perfect pass and perfect control, great to watch. 1-0

25': Middlesborough midfielder Bosingwa with a yellow.

38': Kirkland is tackled hard and has to come off briefly. He'll be ok though.

HALF: We have 2 shots, Middlesborough has 4, a pretty boring half minus the one moment of brilliance by Khan and Constantino. We've got a 52/48 possession edge, all stats are fairly similar. Gordon Donnelly is struggling with a 5.9 rating out there today.

50': Gudmundsson with a yellow.

60': Bruce with a yellow. We're trying to attack more but there are 9 men in the penalty box whenever we get forward.

69': We lose the ball attacking and they send a long ball forward. Bruce/Brown are caught napping, their scorer McDonald is behind the defense with the ball. Its a clear cut chance, Murphy comes out to try to cut off the angle, the shot comes in... Murphy dives and tips the ball wide!! They totally had a goal there. We clear the corner. Whew.

76': McKerr in for Kirkland. Gudmundsson to DL, McKerr DR.

80': I think we just sealed the win. I missed an early yellow on midfielder Elliot Omozusi for Middlesborough. We have a throwin here and Omozusi tries to win the ball but comes in a bit hard on a tackle, he's given his second yellow and is sent off!!

83': We're attacking, they're trying to clear the ball out after a cross, and Bryan Bennett goes down challenging for teh ball... he can stay in but he's hurt.

90': McKerr commits a foul about 25 yards out. They send it into the area on the free kick, we head it behind. The corner comes in and they get a head to it but send it high.

That was it, one great play gets us the win.

Ipswich 1 : 0 Middlesborough

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (8.0)
Goal: Constantino (6.8)
Assist: Khan
Notables: Murphy (7.3), Gudmundsson (7.1), Kirkland (7.4), Brown (7.0), Bruce (7.2)



Injury Update

Bryan Bennett has a bruised rib and is going to miss about a week. We play two more matches in the next 7 days. He'll miss one for sure, maybe both.


Training Updates

During a staff meeting we learn that DL Stuart Kirkland has made some improvements in his game recently, Off the Ball (7) and Strength (11) are showing as having recently gone up.

Constantino has improved in some key areas... Finishing (13), Heading (13), Bravery (11), Composure (9), Work Rate (11). Hooray!

[Radii]

-- We had near capacity crowd against Middlesborough as expected last match, 29,925 fans in the stands!

February 13th, 2018

Ipswich(20-7-4, 1st) @ Stoke(19-7-5, 3rd)

HUGE match right here. We're still tied with Huddersfield for first and Stoke is only 3 points behind. We dont' have a good history against these guys, 1-1-3 and a 1:2 defeat at our house back in September. In that one Bennett gave us a 1:0 lead 27 minutes in, they tied it just before the half and won it in the 87th minute. Constantino still leads the league in goals with 22, but Stoke's Adrian has 20 for 2nd, and Jay Simpson has 17 and is in 5th. Adrian is one of the favorites to win player of the year in the league. Stoke are 5:4 favorites at their place today, we're 7:4.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Bruce
MC: Donnelly/Paulo
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Paulo at MC in Bennett's spot today, Bruce DMC, Gudmundsson DC, McKerr DR to cover the holes filled as we move guys around. We're getting close to having more depth, Walker, Berthet, Lewis and Bennett all may be back on the pitch within the next 2 weeks, but for this critical match, we're super super thin.

Looking at the milestones going into the match, their keeper hasn't allowed a goal in 180 minutes. Our Brian Murphy hasn't conceded one in 186 minutes. Constantino and Khan are both making their 150th league appearance in England today.

We'll try to defend here.

3': They build up and begin to attack, passing the ball around and setting up their offense, but we're able ot make an interception. A pass is made ahead to Constantino, but he has the ball tackled away. A stroke up luck for us, the ball falls right to Donnelly and the defender hasn't recovered yet. Donnelly sends it up ahead and Constantino, just onside, breaks for it, he's faster than everyone in Stoke's defense, he runs onto the ball, the keeper rushes out but Constantino calmly buries it as if the keeper wasn't even there!!! 1-0

12': They build up on offense quickly after winning the ball, our defense is set but they simply beat it. There's a through ball into the left side of the area for midfielder Bainbridge, he flat out beats McKerr, and I have to think Berthet would have put up a better defense there. Easy goal once Bainbridge got behind McKerr to receive the pass. 1-1

21': Paulo makes a bad pass in our end to turn the ball over, we end up allowing a shot, well defended, that hits the bar and goes over. Almost a critical turnover there.

32': We have a throwin on offense, Paulo passes to Mills who has some space 20 yards out, he strikes it, but puts it over the goal.

41': we see a couple speculative strikes from Stoke, nothing scary or anything, but worth noting that they're up to 9 shots now.

HALF: We're tied at the half and kinda feel like we're just hoping ot hang on to this tie on the road today. McKerr has a 6.1 and Brown a 5.7 out there today, we're struggling a bit. They've shot 10 times, putting 3 on target. We have 4 shots, just 1 on target. Our tackling is unbelievably bad, 37%. I don't think I've ever seen tackling that poor in the statline ever. We've got to improve.

57': Kirkland goes down injured... injury symbol and all, Im gonna guess 5 weeks!

71': No highlights at all until now, they attack, we head out a clearance and try to counter. Constantino makes a nice run down the left side, into the area, he spots Donnelly coming in down the middle, passes, Donnelly fires... saved by the keeper. That was a really good chance.

77': Zeki Fryers is in at DL for Kirkland.

79': We allow a corner after blocking a long shot. They've only shot 3 times this half. Very very few highlights here. We clear the corner easily.

84': We allow another corner after they have a throwin deep in our end, Fryers tackles the ball behind. Its taken to the near man Simpson, he shoots, deflects off a defender... and goes inches wide. Murphy couldn't react to that deflection in time, we got very lucky it went wide. We win the ball on the next corner and take over possession.

89': We work the ball around the midfield, Donnelly receives a pass and puts an inch perfect pass forward into the area, Khan runs onto it, its our second clear cut chance, he's got a beautiful look here... and can't score. UGH! Saved by the keeper.

92': They get the ball into the area, the highlight opened quickly and I missed how... backup striker Browne is there, its a clear cut chance for them... Murphy with a reflex save!! the ball rebounds right back to him, he can't miss twice in a row can he? Murphy again!!!! SAVED!!!!

That was some seriously poor shooting by their man but some clutch play by Murphy to make back to back saves of two clear cut chances. That seals the tie for us!

Stoke 1 : 1 Ipswich

In the end both teams missed some very good looks, but on the road against a top team we'll take the tie and be happy about it! They have a midfielder pick up man of the match.

Goal: Constantino (6.9)
Assist: Donnelly (7.7)
Notables: Kirkland (7.1)

Our defense was not at its best today. Brown 6.5, Gudmundsson 6.4.



We fall to second with the tie as Huddersfield continue their winning ways.


32 matches in, 13 to go, here's how the standings look:


1. Huddersfield - 70 pts
2. Ipswich - 68 pts
--------------------------
3. Stoke - 65 pts
4. Hull - 63 pts
5. Watford - 62 pts
6. QPR - 60 pts
--------------------
7. Burnley - 59 pts
8. Leicester - 54 pts
9. Cardiff - 52 pts


We still have Hull, QPR and Huddersfield on the schedule.


-- Kirkland is not injured.

-- We play arch-rival Norwich in 4 days. Injuries and fatigue be damned, beat Norwich!

[Radii]

We don't get a lot of defensive highlights worth recording. Here are the two saves by Brian Murphy to secure us the tie vs Stoke.

[Radii]

-- Rob Lewis has returned to full training. That's our #3 striker. Glad to see it.

-- Another sellout is expected for our home match against our rivals. We're averaging a great 25,336 fans this season. We expect over 30,000 for the next one.

-- Brian Bennett is available today as well. He'll likely replace Paulo in the second half.

February 17th, 2018

Norwich(9-10-13, 16th) @ Ipswich(20-8-4, 2nd)

We're massive 1:2 favorites today at home. We're 3-2-0 over the course of this dynasty, not much of a rivalry at the moment! We won 2:1 at their place back in October.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Bruce
MC: Donnelly/Paulo
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Norwich's Danny Hoesen leads them with 14 goals. No one else has more than 5. We make no lineup changes. Our midfield is very tired but we just have zero depth there. Bennett cannot play a full game. I could make changes in the defense but no point there. We attack today.

6': The first highlight is ours, we earn a corner but they clear it easily. We push it back forward and get a free kick from 35 yards out. They clear that too.

10': We push ahead again, Constantino has it, passes to Mills and takes off, Mills plays it right back to Constantino who scooted by his defender at the perfect moment. He attacks the keeper and puts it into the back of the net!!!! 1-0

22': We control the ball in their end again, working it around the left side when Kirkland finds Donnelly in the area for our second clear cut chance of the match, Donnelly found space near the 6 yard area... but puts a shot wide, ugh!

31': They're attacking but we win a header on a cross to clear out of the area. We quickly play a long ball ahead to Khan. Khan has it tackled away but Mills is there, he's 30 yards out or so and immediately puts it into the area for constantino who is once again behind the defensive line when he runs onto the ball. He strikes it and easily beats the keeper for his second goal! 2-0

40': We give up a corner... head it behind, corner #2, this one they get to but send a shot well wide.

47': They have a free kick from 35 yards out, they try a shot but its deflected by a defender and behind for a corner. We clear that out of the area, they recover it but send a shot miles high.

As the half ends Constantino goes down hurt... injury symbol, some fitness loss, I'm always really worried about injuries to these goal scorers. We'll see after the match.

HALF: Each team ends up with 5 shots, though 3 of norwich's are very poor off target efforts in the final few minutes of the half. They have a 56/44 possession edge and are winning the battle in the air, but they can't seem to build up much on the attack. Our average team rating is 7.09 right now, theirs is 6.30. Rob Lewis comes in for the injured Constantino at the half. I hate to deny him a chance for a hat trick against a rival but I'm worried about his injury, real worried.

51': They have a throwin in our end, its taken and the ball is immediately crossed into the area. They have a man go up against Michael McKerr for a header... their man goes down... foul on McKerr, we give them a penalty. They bury it. 2-1

57': After working the ball around the midfield for a good bit we find an opening. Donnelly passes ahead to Khan, he puts it into the area, Lewis runs onto it perfectly and strikes it.... miles wide. Ugly, truly ugly.

64': After a free kick the ball is sent to Khan 20 yards out. He turns and fires before anyone can close on him, its a rocket of a shot, but just inches wide.

66': They get forward after their goal kick, a ball goes into the area, they get their 3rd clear cut chance of the match... Murphy with the save!! It deflects back into play but we clear.

73': Bennett is in for Paulo who is about to fall over from exhaustion.

75': Yellow for midfielder Craig Gerrard.

78': Yellow for attacker Mort trying to win a ball to start a counterattack.

79': Troy Brown with a yellow about 35 yards out, this is getting a bit chippy.

82': McKerr with a yellow for a tackle in the midfield.

87': Yellow for defender Hogg for Norwich.

91': Khan goes down trying to make a tackle and he's hurt, no injury notice though, just a little knock. We end up giving up a corner soon after, but clear it out ok.

The whistle finally blows, 2 full minutes more time given than was initially called for! We sweep our arch rival!

Ipswich 2 : 1 Norwich

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.7)
Goals: Constantino 2
Assists: Mills 2 (7.7)
Notables: McKerr (7.0), Kirkland (7.4)


Portman Road Capacity: 30,311
Today's Attendance: 30,311

W00t!!


Injury Update

Constantino is out for 2 weeks with a thigh strain. He'll miss a home match vs Leeds and possibly a road match vs Hull. That's a biggie.

[Radii]

New Ipswich Record

-- Constantino's 27 goals for Ipswich is a new team record. Jon Stead had the record previously with 26 goals in 2013.


-- MC Josh Walker resumes full training. He's a backup but we've had less than zero midfield depth for awhile now due to injury. Walker will help a ton.

-- DR Sylvain Berthet resumes full training. That's huge for us, he's a big upgrade over McKerr in the defense.

-- We're hosting Leeds in our next match and we're expecting to hit another near capacity crowd of over 29,000.

February 24th, 2018

Leeds(10-9-14, 14th) @ Ipswich(20-8-4, 2nd)

We're 1:2 favorites again here today, Leeds 9:2 to get a win today. We're 3-4-6 lifetime against these guys, tying 1:1 back in early October.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Gudmundsson
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Lewis

Steve Carroll leads Leeds with 18 goals this year, that's currently tied for 4th in the Championship. Rob Lewis starts for the injured Constantino. Bennett is back starting at MC. Gudmundsson starts at DR, Berthet isn't quite ready to start yet. The big question today clearly will be to see if we can score without Constantino out there. We'll attack today.

10': Each team has two off target shots early.

26': Lots of highlights, this seems like a very wide open and fun game but from a reporting perspective not so much. Lots of pretty buildup leading to crappy shots.

41': Leeds build up down the left side, there's a ball into the area from about 35 yards out all the way at the left sideline, Carroll is so fast, he sprints by Gudmundsson and is first to it, shooting to the far post and beating Murphy before we have a chance to react. 0-1

HALF: Each team has 6 shots but the only one that was even halfway decent was the goal. A couple were on target but from long range and very weak stuff. 4 of our 6 shots are from long range here so far. Troy Brown is getting killed in the air and has a 5.3 rating so far (winning only 2 of 12 headers), Khan has a 5.9 up front as well, perhaps with some improvements from them we can get this one back.

46': We earn a corner right out of the gate, attacking quickly, Mills shoots from 20 yards out and its blocked behind for the corner, but its cleared easily.

58': We push the ball forward, getting a number of men into the area, Donnelly receives a pass out left and gets very deep, but they intercept when he tries to center it for our attackers.

62': They get a really good look after a cross, Murphy has to make a reflex save. On the corner they send it to the far end of the 6 yard box... a header.. off the crossbar and over. Whew.

73': Rob Lewis is tired... Walker comes in for him. Mills moves up to forward and Walker drops to MC, leaving us without an AMC, 4-1-3-2.

86': Fryers in for Paulo. He moves back to DC and Bruce is up to DMC.

We just can't generate any sort of attack today. Embarrassing to see how much we struggled without Constantino today.

Ipswich 0 : 1 Leeds

Notables: Gudmundsson (7.2), Paulo (7.0), Donnelly (7.2)

We end up with 13 shots but only 3 on target and 8 from long range, just a massive struggle.

[Radii]

-- Paul Coutts resumes full training. We're getting there!

March Update

-- We play on the 3rd, 7th, 17th, 20th, 24th and 27th. Our next three are all against playoff contenders in Hull, Leicester, and QPR.

-- Our assistant lets me know that DL Jack Hughes has trained well over the last month. I'm glad to see that a small stint on the senior team at age 17 hasn't scared him or hurt him. With Berthet back to full training Hughes is back to the U-18 team where he belongs.

-- The board is very pleased with my leadership. That's down from delighted last month, we fell out of the top two with our last loss so maybe they're just that picky as to what constitutes success at this level. We only lost $113k last month, not bad at all.

-- Thanks mainly to the salary cutting measures we've been forced to take, we're making a profit of $9.8 million at this point in the season after the team had a loss of $7.6 million last year. We'll lose a bit more along the way but its a huge turnaround. There's no way to pay loans back early but hopefully this'll allow more spending in future seasons.


March 3rd, 2018

Ipswich(20-8-5, 3rd) @ Hull(20-6-8, 5th)

We're 5-7-3 lifetime against Hull including a 2:0 win back in September. Today though they're 5:4 favorites at home, we're 7:4 to get a win.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Lewis

Hull's Federico Cacciapuoti has 8 goals and Dalibor Stevanovic has 7 to lead them. Nothing close to what we've got.

For Ipswich, Coutts and Walker are available off the bench and Sylvain Berthet is making his first start in a good long while after his injury. Defensive mindset on the road against a playoff team today.

2': They start with the ball but we take it away while they are trying to start up their offense. Khan makes a long run down the left and gets into the area before they tackle it behind for a corner. We earn two corners before they clear.

12': Lewis receives a pass about 20 yards out, makes a nice move to get an open look at the edge of teh penalty area, but his shot is way wide.

15': They've got it, going down the right, their man cuts towards the middle and sends a cross to the other side of the area, there's a header near post... Murphy dives, can't get to it ,but the ball hits the crossbar. It bounces almost straight down and back into play, so close to a goal, we clear it.

24': They quickly build up on offense, there's a through ball from about 30 yards out into the area, their man Adrian runs onto it, beating Berthet to the ball and scoring, Murphy had no shot. 0-1

28': We look to attack quickly after winning a ball in midfield, Donnelly to Bennett, Bennett is 30 yards out running towards the area, they have men back but the defense isn't set at all, 4 different guys rush at Bennett, leaving Khan wide open a few yards to the right... Bennett finds him, Khan calmly moves into position and beats the keeper to tie it back up! 1-1

40': We're passing the ball around on the offensive end, Paulo to Bennet and Bennett plays a beautiful ball 20 yards ahead with his first touch, Rob Lewis runs onto it right at the penalty spot, the keeper rushes out but Lewis finds an opening and puts it under the keeper and into the net! 2-1 Perfect pass from Bennett.

HALF: A very exciting half with 3 goals. Bennett is clearly the star so far for us, creating both goals in impressive fashion. Hull actually have 9 shots, but just 3 on target. We've got 5 shots, also 3 on target. We've got a 54/46 possession edge. Other numbers are relatively close though they have won 92% of their tackles, a massive percentage... we're at 78% which is good too.

57': They earn a corner after a long run down the right, we block a cross. Kirkland makes a great tackle to get it out of the area after they send it in.

59': They try to build up down the right side, Kirkland makes a good tackle, but the ball falls to another Hull player, he's way out right about 35 yards away, he sends a beautiful cross in from there, their man Galias gets his head to it and is able to beat Murphy... Berthet takes the blame for not winning a header there, he's having a rough first game back. 2-2

74': We control the ball near midfield, they're aggressively going after the ball but we make some nice passes to keep control. Mills has it 35 yards out and sends it ahead, Khan is... barely onsides, if at all, but he runs onto it 20 yards from the goal, takes a few more steps into the area and calmly beats the keeper!! 3-2

74': Coutts in for Lewis. Coutts at AMC, Mills ST. Gudmundsson in for Berthet.

83': They look to attack quickly, they've got a man 40 yards out sending a ball into the area, one of their strikers gets to it and looks sure to score, but his first touch isn't perfect and Bruce is there to tackle it away. Its a corner. The corner is taken to the close man, he shoots immediately, we block the shot but the ball falls to a trailer standing about 20 yards from goal. He shoots immediately from there and Murphy hasn't positioned himself properly yet, its into the right side of the net... 3-3

89': They have a corner, we clear it easily and its cleared all the way to midfield, Khan wins the ball and sprints down the right side... before he can try to cross in for Mills, he's tackled, its a foul on their defender.. but we cant do anything with the free kick.

89': Fryers in for Coutts, we go to 5 DC's.

That'll do it.

Hull 3 : 3 Ipswich

Very exciting game, its too bad we couldn't grab a win here especially when we had the lead more than once, but, we have to be happy with a tie on the road vs a playoff team.

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (8.8)
Goals: Khan 2, Lewis (6.8)
Assists: Bennett 2 (8.2), Mills (6.8)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

Murphy ends up with our lowest rating today at 6.1. Berthet ended up with a 6.8, recovering a bit after taking the blame for allowing one of the goals.


-- Stoke lose to Cardiff today and our point moves us back up to 2nd in the league. With 11 matches to go only 8 points separates first (Huddersfield with 73 points) and 7th (Burnley with 65). Remember, top two auto promote to the EPL, 3rd-6th make the playoffs.


-- Neil Gordon and Constantino both resume full training. Loaner MC Jordan Ford will be back to full training before our next match and we will be back to full strength!

[Tellistto]

Just in time for the home stretch, too! Go team!

Tell

[Radii]

-- Man U beats Man City in the finals of the League Cup. That's their first League Cup win since 2013.

-- Jordan Ford resumes full training.

March 7th, 2018

Ipswich(20-9-5, 2nd) @ Leicester(15-13-7, 8th)

Leicester are very slim 6:4 favorites today, we're 13:8 to get a win here, 2:1 to draw. We tied them 1-1 back in October and are 4-9-3 lifetime against them, draws are basically how this series has gone. They're 9 points out of the playoffs, they need wins.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Walker
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Gary Madine leads them with 15 goals, Kike Sola has 10, Paul Gallagher 8. Bennett and Gudmundsson are away on international duty ( I missed that notice). Walker will start at MC today. We're defending here today.

12': Bruce goes for a tackle and misses, allowing striker Kike Sola into the area, he's got the first shot of the match, a clear cut chance, but Murphy is able to get down and make the save. They get a corner that we clear easily.

16': We win a ball in midfield and there's a counter, Khan with a run deep down the left side, there's a lot of guys from both sides in the area, a couple go up for the header and no one gets it, the ball falls to Walker in the area, he shoots, but its saved by the keeper.

34': We have a throwin in their end, its taken short and passed to Mills who is 20 yards out, he shoots from there, its a solid shot, but just inches over.

38': Donnelly with a foul about 25 yards out. We clear out the free kick easily.

HALF: Couple decent chances for each team, they shoot 6 times, putting 3 on target, we shoot 3 times, just 1 on target. We've got a big 60/40 possession edge. We're getting destroyed in the air, they win 78% of their headers, we win 28% of ours so far. Each team has an average rating of ~6.5 so far, a very average game.

48': Khan has the ball out left, he weaves through two defenders to get a shot, its saved by the keeper, a really nice move though.

50': Constantino makes a run into the area to earn us a corner but its cleared easily.

54': They make a run down the left, drawing two defenders out, we've got a bunch of guys in the area though, they get it to Midfielder Woeseleski in the left side of the area, he fires a shot... it deflects off a defender and into the net... ugggh, good bit of luck there. 0-1

59': Jordan Ford comes on for Walker, Neil Gordon is on for Mills at AMC. We'll try to attack to get this goal back.

80': 20 minutes fly by... We earn a corner as a shot is blocked out, corner is cleared.

83': Constantino picked up a knock and his fitness is waaaaay down (not hurt though). I bring Rob Lewis in for him to try to get a last minute goal.

88': Neil Gordon should have tied it up... we win a ball in the midfield, Khan down the left, a pass into the area for Gordon and he's 10 yards out unmarked... except he doesn't control the ball at all, this was a low pass on the ground from just a few yards away, that had to be a goal, awful.

91': Kirkland with a yellow. 4 minutes of added time here.

94': We pass the ball through the area, there's a solid 15+ men in the box, it goes out right to Berthet, he pulls it back, passes to Paulo who is 25 yards away. Paulo strikes it, maybe on a volley, and its a rocket of a shot that somehow isn't blocked by anyone crowding the penalty area and it's by the keeper, holy crap!!!! Unbelievable goal for Paulo!!! 1-1

That was at 93:45. That was very likely the last shot we would have gotten.

Leicester 1 : 1 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Sylvain Berthet (7.8)
Goals: Paulo (7.3)
Assist: Berthet

No one else puts up a rating over 7. Alex Bruce is 0 for 11 in the air today and has a 5.3 rating.

We temporarily move into first today. This match was rescheduled for some reason though, the rest of the league is playing 3 days later on the 10th. We've got over a week off now, playing again on the 17th.

[Radii]

A couple days later the rest of the league plays. Huddersfield and Stoke both win and we fall back to 3rd.

With 10 matches left here's how things look:

1. Huddersfield - 76 pts
2. Stoke - 74 pts
------------------------
3. Ipswich - 73 pts
4. QPR - 72 pts
5. Watford - 71 pts
6. Hull - 68 pts
7. Burnley - 65 pts

[Radii]

-- Parma in Serie B fire their coach and I'm expected to be their top target. I release a statement saying I have no interest in the job.

-- Danny Graham is hurt in training and will miss a month. With Rob Lewis and Constantino and Khan we should be just fine.

-- We play QPR on the 17th, a sellout is expected for this hugely important match.

March 17th, 2018

QPR(22-6-8, 4th) @ Ipswich(20-10-5, 3rd)

QPR are 5:4 favorites today, we're 7:4. We're 3-4-2 lifetime against these guys with a nice 2:0 win back in October at their place. 5 points separate 1st and 5th, we're 3rd, QPR 4th. With 10 games to go in the season this is obviously huge. We need 3 points at home.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Bruce/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

QPR's Colin Meade has 22 goals, Javier Arizmendi has 18 goals. That's a comparable 1-2 punch to Constantino(25 gls) and Khan (14). We're back to our full starting lineup today for the first time in months. Gordon AMC, Bennett MC to go with the rest of the squad. We're attacking at home today.

2': They shoot first, a free kick from 20 yards out that's blasted miles high.

15': Yellow for midfielder Ziljer way out at midfield. We take the free kick quickly, Kirkland to Gordon who immediately sends it into the area, Constantino catches them by surprise and is the first to the ball, he beats the keeper and we're on the board with our first shot! 1-0

18': Yellow for donnelly.

23': We get two corners before they clear and try to counter, Kirkland commits a foul about 30 yards out, way wide right... they cross the free kick into the area but the header is over the bar.

37': Their forward Meade turns the ball over in the midfield, Bennett gets it forward quickly, Constantino has it 25 yards out, passes ahead to Neil Gordon at the edge of the penalty area. Gordon blasts a shot, its in the right side of the net by the keeper!!! 2-0

39': We're trying to attack again, they clear a ball out but we send it back forward, Gordon hits Constantino who got a step on his defender, he's in the area, its a clear cut chance... and sent wide. Ohhh we should have scored there, big time.

HALF: We're completely in control here. We've got 10 shots, 3 on target, 2 clear cut chances and really could have 3 or 4 goals here. They only shoot 3 times, one on target. We'll try to keep the pressure on for now at least.

50': Gordon Donnelly!!!! They have a corner, its sent in, there's a header from one side of the area to the other, another header... and another, Murphy gets stuck out of position and they head it towards the net, and Gordon donnelly gets up and heads it off the line!! Whew.

67': They've gotten a couple long shots and that's it so far. They earn a corner here but there's another header over.

71': They've got a throwin deep in our end, a cross goes into the area, a header, Murphy can't stop it... but it hits the crossbar and we clear it away.

77': Paulo with a yellow.

82': Murphy with two brilliant saves here. One they're attacking and we try to clear but they recover and blast a shot, it looks nearly perfectly aimed for the far post, but Murphy makes a dive, gets a fingertip to the ball and it goes just barely wide. The next highlight is a goal kick of theirs. They win a header just outside the penalty area, head it from one forward to the other, and there's another shot, reflex save by Murphy, whew!

89': They finally break through, a lot of buildup, a ball into the area from 30 yards out or so and one of their backup forwards gets to it and beats Murphy near post. 2-1

They keep the pressure on for the 3 minutes of added time but we do a good job keeping them at bay, there's one last minute long shot that Murphy saves easily.

Ipswich 2 : 1 QPR

I usually do "recommend" for the pep talks and the recommended pep talk to day is "Sensational!" yeah, it is. This is a huge, huge win.

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.2)
Goals: Constantino, Gordon (7.8)
Assists: Constantino, Gordon
Notables: Murphy (8.1), Kirkland (7.1), Bennett (7.2)

Murphy made some brilliant saves today, they put a ton of pressure on us in the second half trying to get back into the match and Murphy was there time after time.



Stoke ties today and that allows us to push back into 2nd place. With 9 matches to go:

1. Huddersfield - 79 pts
2. Ipswich - 76 pts
--------------------------
3. Stoke - 75 pts
4. Watford - 74 pts
5. QPR - 72 pts
6. Hull - 71 pts
--------------------
7. Burnley - 68 pts

8th place is 59 points.

[Radii]

-- Neil Gordon is named in the Championship team of the week this week.

March 20th, 2018

Ipswich(22-10-5, 2nd) @ Scunthorpe(11-8-18, 17th)

We're even money favorites on the road today going on quite short rest. One of the rare times I note the referee, 45 yellows and 3 reds given out during 14 games this year. We crushed these guys 4:1 back in November but have a 3-4-5 losing record lifetime against them.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Brown/Gudmundsson/Berthet
DMC: Coutts
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Scunthorpe are led by 18 goals from Jamie Proctor. We have Gudmundsson in for Bruce, Coutts in for Paulo and Mills in for Gordon, its nice to be able to make solid subs like that again to rest guys! They run a 3-4-3, one of their forwards is Jon Stead, he left Ipswich for them in January. He has over 100 goals in 9 seasons for ipswich, so I'm sure he'll be up for this one. Standard mindset on the road.

11': Mills with a free kick near midfield, he passes ahead to Donnelly, ahead to Constantino, he's in between two defenders, shoots, and puts it way high.

17': After a throwin we get the ball to Donnelly who sends it into the area, Constantino scoots behind the defense, called onsides though it looks really really close, he's got tons of space once he gets to the ball and puts it into the net! 1-0

27': After some buildup Mills sends it into the area from about 30 yards out, Constantion is there... but he's clearly offsides. He scores, the other team bitches and finally the flag is noticed. He was miles offside.

31': Berthet earns us a corner with a nice run down the right side, including an impressive juke to get by a tackle. First corner is headed behind. Second is cleared pretty easily. We recover at midfield and buildup again but they are able to make an interception.

40': We win a ball in the midfield and set up our offense. Berthet has it wide right, sends it into the middle for Mills, Mills sends it forward into the area, Constantino sprints by the defense and you can see this one coming like its in slow motion. the keeper is frozen and doesn't rush out for it, the defense is helpless, Constantino walks up to it about 8 yards from the goal and strikes it by the keeper, his 30th goal of the year! 2-0

48': Lots of added time this half. Defender Parrett with a yellow near the box, they clear out the free kick though.

HALF: Solid half. We've got 10 shots, they have 1. We're in complete control. We've won 100% of our tackles so far, neato.

50': We control it in our own end, Berthet with a long pass back to Murphy, Murphy sends it back ahead to start the offense back up... Berthet with a long ball down the right, and Constantion just outruns the defense. They're still back but he's behind them and can do whatever he wants. He cuts into the area, sees Steve Mills wide open at the penalty spot, makes a perfect pass to him and Mills finishes well! 3-0

50': Jordan Ford in for Donnelly who picked up a bit of a knock and is at lower fitness than the rest. We play again in less than a week so lets get him rested.

62': I didn't see what happened but constantino has picked up an injury. He can stay in but has the injury symbol over his head so we'll be holding our breath postgame.

65': No need to take any chances. Fryers in for Constantino. Fryers moves into the defense, Mills up to forward so we go 5-1-2-2 with no AMC.

85': They get one back on a beautiful pass and volley, attacker Lita got free in the area, sent a strong pass across the 6 yard box that 2 defenders just didn't have time to react to, Proctor was there and volleyed it into the net. 3-1


Scunthorpe 1 : 3 Ipswich

They only shoot 6 times all match as we get an easy 3 points.

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.1)
Goals: Constantino 2, Mills (7.6)
Assists: Donnelly (7.6), Mills, Constantino
Notables: Berthet (7.2), Kirkland (7.4), Brown (7.3), Khan (7.0)

-- No long term injury for constantino, hooray.


Huddersfield lose and we've got a pretty big goal differential advantage on them so we bump back up to first with 8 to go:

1. Ipswich - 79 pts
2. Huddersfield - 79 pts
----------------------------
3. Stoke - 78 pts
4. Watford - 78 pts
5. Hull - 77 pts
6. QPR - 72 pts
--------------------------
7. Burnley - 71 pts


Just 2 points separate 1st and 5th. Stoke and Watford have a very slim goal differential edge over us (both of them are +38, we're +36). Huddersfield (+23) and Hull (+19) are well behind.


We travel to #23 Portsmouth next before a huge, huge match hosting #2 Huddersfield.

[Radii]

-- Gordon Donnelly picks up his 13th assist in our last match. Apparently that's a team record for a season, grats to him, but really, 13? Ok!

-- Constantino earns his 10th man of the match award last match, that's also a new Ipswich record.

March 24th, 2018

Ipswich(23-10-5, 1st) @ Portsmouth(6-8-24, 23rd)

We're only 6:4 favorites on the road here despite playing the next to worst team in the leauge. We beat them 5:2 back at the end of November and have a 5-3-3 series lead.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Gudmundsson/McKerr
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Ford
AMC: Gordon
ST: Lewis/Constantino

Portsmouth only have 31 goals all year, Dave Nugent has 5 to lead them, a couple others have 3. I'm hoping we have a big edge here today, I make a lot of changes to keep some key players fresh for our clash with Huddersfield in a few days. Bruce and Gudmundsson are the DC's today, Troy Brown gets a rest. McKerr at DR, Paulo DMC, Jordan Ford starts for Bennett, and Rob Lewis in for Khan.

Standard mindset on the road.

9': We get 3 early shots, 2 blocked, one off target, during one offensive possession but nothing close.

26': McKerr with a long ball down the right for Constantino, he gets into the area, tries a shot that's blocked and earns us a corner, but they clear it out easily.

34': We have a throwin deep in their end and we're just struggling to get anything good going. There's a couple crosses, another shot off target.

40': We try to build up on offense, its not the prettiest thing in the world, you can see the lack of chemistry with this group, Ford eventually finds rob Lewis who fires a shot from 18 yards out, its parried away, Donnelly is first to the rebound and he's able to put one by the keeper!! Its felt like we've been in complete control but just unable to generate good looks, we finally break through here. 1-0

HALF: We have a massive 63/37 possession edge, 8 shots to their 1. We do end up with 3 on target, but 4 of ours are from long range and 3 blocked. It seems like we're in great shape here but I'd really like a second goal to be safe.

57': Constantino with a brilliant run, we clear a ball out of the defense, he gets it near the midfield, beats two defenders, makes a full run into the area, shoots... but the keeper turns it behind. The corner comes in to Gudmundsson, he goes down, foul... its a penalty!!! Neil Gordon takes the penalty and buries it. 2-0

68': Long ball to Rob Lewis who is waaaaaaaay behind the defense. I think this started with a turnover while they try to build up the offense... Lewis easily gets into the area, the keeper comes out a bit, Lewis shoots... saved, dang.

74': We win a ball in the midfield, Paulo quickly gets it to Gordon, he sends it to Jordan Ford, Ford into the area, the defense is out of position and Ford takes advantage, he buries it by the keeper!!! 3-0

84': Fryers in for Kirkland, Mills in for Constantino, Walker in for Donnelly, all 3 for a little rest.

Easy win, woohoo!

Portsmouth 0 : 3 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Steinbor Gudmundsson (8.2)
Goals: Ford (7.7), Donnelly (7.8), Gordon (7.5)
Assists: Gudmundsson, Gordon, Lewis (7.6)
Notables: Murphy (7.2), McKerr (7.5), Kirkland (7.9)


Huddersfield with a tie today and they fall a spot to 3rd. Stoke gets the win.

Seven to go:

1. Ipswich - 82 pts
2. Stoke - 81 pts
--------------------------
3. Huddersfield - 80 pts
4. Watford - 77 pts
5. QPR - 75 pts
6. Hull - 75 pts
-------------------
7. Burnley - 74 pts


We host Huddersfield on the 27th.

[Radii]

-- DR Michael McKerr is named to the Championship team of the week this week. Happy to see his name called given a rare starting chance.

-- We're expecting to sell out this key clash with Huddersfield.

March 27th, 2018

Huddersfield(3rd) @ Ipswich(24-10-5, 1st)

We're pretty big favorites today, we're 4:6 to get a win today, Huddersfield are 7:2. We lost to them 2:1 at their house, lets get revenge at Portman Road today! We're 6-2-4 lifetime.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Their scoring is balanced, Jonathan Hughes has 12 goals, Sam Collins 11, Lee Novak 11. We've got our first team back out there for the most part. Mills is more rested than Gordon, I'll go with Mills at AMC today. We're attacking at home.

9': We join a highlight with the offense already set, Donnelly receives a pass 40 yards out, he makes a long run, jukes a defender and waits for just the right moment to punch the ball into the area, Constantino is right there, first to it and he beats the keeper with relative ease! Donnelly with a great effort here. 1-0

25': Mills tries a shot from 20 yards out, blocked and we get a corner. the first is sent back for a second, the second is cleared out. Not a lot of highlights here, Huddersfield has yet to take a shot.

31': They slowly build up the offense, passing it around the right side nicely, there's a pass ahead to Striker Novac, Bruce is there but he just runs with the forward, trying to steer him out wide I guess. Maybe he tried to tackle and miss? Maybe he's just old and slow, I'm not entirely sure, but Novak is able to run into the area and drive a shot under Murphy and into the net. Bruce takes the blame for the goal. 1-1

HALF: The half flies by after that goal. Bruce has a 5.6 rating for the goal we allowed and will hopefully recover nicely. We have an incredible 67/33 possession edge but haven't done enough with it yet. We have 5 shots, 2 on target. Their goal is the only shot they get all half. We'll hope to dominate the second half possession as well and have it pay off in another goal or two.

51': We clear the ball out of the defense, Kirkland sends it super long out right (cross field, Kirkland is DL etc). Constantino is of course the first to it, he runs towards the area as our offense has caught up, constantino crosses, Khan with the header... the keeper deflects it and it hits the left post, so close!

68': We've only allowed one more shot but we haven't quite managed the goal we need to take the lead.

76': constantino with a weak header after an attacking move, we're getting shots, they're not, we're controlling possession, but just can't get it.

That's it, the last 15+ minutes fly by and we just can't get the winning goal.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Huddersfield

We shoot 13 times and control 61% of the possession but they do just enough to keep it out of the net. We had 3 clear cut chances, a couple really strong shots that should have scored and didn't. They only shoot twice, a real dominating performance minus the whole winning the game thing.

Man of the Match: Constantino (7.3)
Goal: Constantino
Assist: Donnelly (7.2)
Notables: Khan (7.1)


Stoke loses today so that creates a really fun top 4 with only 6 matches to go:

1. Ipswich - 83 pts
2. Stoke - 81 pts
--------------------------
3. Huddersfield - 81 pts
4. Watford - 80 pts
5. Hull - 78 pts
6. Burnley - 77 pts
-------------------
7. QPR - 75 pts


QPR has one less match than everyone else so seeing them in 7th is slightly deceptive. The end of this season is set up to be crazy exciting!

[Radii]

Injury Update

-- Bryan Bennett hurts his wrist in the weight room and is going to miss 9-12 days. Hopefully just one match, possibly two though. Jordan Ford will get some time in his spot at MC

Contract Updates

-- MC Josh Walker's contract is expiring. He's played 20 matches, 18 off the bench, with a 6.67 rating. He makes $16.5k/wk and is 29. I don't think I'll re-sign him.

-- DRC Michael McKerr is expiring as well, his contract at least. McKerr makes $10,500/wk now and will take $7500/wk plus some bonus money for an extra year. He's a better player than Walker and that's a fine rate for a backup who can cover 3/4 of the back line when needed. I go ahead and make the offer.

April Update

-- We play on the 2nd, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. A pretty light schedule. Only one of the 5 matches is against a team in the top 10. We did a great job last month playing against 4 playoff contenders and have a great shot to win the league.

-- We get a notice that Stuart Kirkland has trained well, he's really improving a lot this year and has been a key player in the defense at only 18 years old. His Marking(10), Penalty Taking(9), Creativity(12), Positioning(11), Acceleration(15), and Stamina(15) all have gone up recently.

-- I am third in manager of the month voting behind Watford and Burnley's managers.

-- The board is delighted with my leadership. Our league performance is the highlight, our league cup loss back in September is still the only thing worth bitching about for them. We lose $773k last month. We've still made a profit of $8.7M this year, but we're falling back into the red as far as cash, down to a -$1.5M bank balance(they must love that).


April 2nd, 2018

Burnley(23-8-9, 6th) @ Ipswich(24-11-5, 1st)

We're 5:4 favorites at Portman Road today, Burnley are 7:4 to get a win. We tied 2:2 at their place and have actually never beaten them, 0-2-3 lifetime.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Ford
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

Two strong strikers for Burnley, Franco di Santo has 21 goals, Bogdan Stancu has 17. Jordan Ford starts at MC with Bennett hurt, and Gordon is back in at AMC. We're attacking at home today.

5': three very short highlights early... they shoot from 20 yards out 45 seconds in, easy save. They have a header off a free kick that's way high. Berthet shoots on a free kick from 25 yards out, wide.

10': We have a throwin in their end. Its thrown to Gordon, he passes to Paulo who is 20 yards out and a good deal right. Paulo strikes it and its one of his heavily bending shots that only he seems to be able to do for us... it bends hard from right to left and is just inside the right post, goal!!!!! 1-0 Paulo doesn't have many goals for us this year but he has had 2 or 3 "holy crap I didn't know he had that in him!!" type of shots.

22': They have it out near midfield, a long low pass goes ahead, it seems like its going to be picked up by one man but he lets it go through to di Santo who has a clear cut chance for them, Murphy is there and turns it behind... good save by Murphy but that could have been placed better too.

34': they earn a corner, its taken to the far end of the 6 yard box, Chapman is there, he wins the header over Donnelly and its a strong header that beats Murphy. 1-1

HALF: Its a very active half, each team shoots 8 times, but it feels like Burnley is getting the better of it today by a bit. They've actually got 3 clear cut chances and 5 on target shots. We've only got 2 on target and 5 of our shots are from long range. We're only winning 37% of our headers, they're at 76% there. We'll try to do better in the 2nd half.

47': I tell the guys to try a bit harder to get the ball into the area for better shots. Too many long range shots in that half.

62': Long time without a highlight here. We earn a corner and take a crappy wild shot that goes way wide.

64': They have a long run down the right, a cross into the area, there's a header, saved by Murphy but he couldn't hold it. It falls to di Santo who has their 4th clear cut chance.. and its wide. Whew.

76': Donnelly with a yellow.

81': Mills in for Gordon, Coutts in for Ford, just to try something new.

90': We try a cross in that they clear out, we send it back forward and Coutts has a look from 20 yards out, but he sends it miles high.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Burnley

We'll have to settle for the tie here. We should do better at home, but really they outplayed us today and I'll take this one.

Man of the Match: Paulo (8.3)
Goal: Paulo
Assist: Gordon (6.8)
Notable: Murphy (7.1), Brown (7.1)

We allowed 5 clear cut chances today and came away with a tie. Very, very lucky for us.

Huddersfield are still within 3 points of first but they tie and fall one more spot. Just 5 matches to go, check out how insanely close this race is:

1. Ipswich - 84 pts (+39 GD)
2. Stoke - 84 pts (+38)
------------------------------
3. Watford - 83 pts (+42)
4. Huddersfield - 82 pts (+23)
5. QPR - 78 pts (+36 - 1 less match played)
6. Burnley - 78 pts (+22)
---------------------------
7. Hull - 78 pts (+20)


with 5 to play 7 points separates first and 7th. 2 points separates 1st and 4th!! We're tied for first and if the season ended now we'd win on goal differential, by just 1 goal.

[Radii]

April 7th, 2018

Ipswich(25-11-5, 1st) @ Sheffield Wednesday(15-13-13, 11th)

We're actually underdogs here, 6:4 for them, 13:8 for us, basically even. We're 7-1-5 lifetime against these guys and beat them 2:0 at our place back in November.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Ford
AMC: Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

James Lawrie leads them with 12 goals only. That's a name that we recognize as he was a top scorer when we were in League 2 for Port Vale. He left them for Sheffield Wednesday and has scored double digit goals in his first three years. We make no changes to our lineup today, we've got a week off after this, tough it out starters! We're going to defend today.

20': Most of the early highlights go their way but nothing really dangerous yet. They have 3 shots, we have 1.

39': Right, of course this is how someone's gonna score. We clear a corner out, they recover and pass it back forward. We've got 8 men in the box, and there's a shot from 20 yards out... its headed for the left side of the net, but it deflects off one of our defenders and hits the right side of the net. Fluke goal right there. 0-1

HALF: We've got to come out of our shell here. This isn't working at all. They end up with 10 shots but 6 are from long range and many weren't even shown in highlights. We've got 3, just one on target. They're dominating possession and seem to be in complete control here. Screw it, straight to attacking this half.

65': We've had a couple more attacking highlights this half but they're crowding their end pretty heavily and we're having a hard time finding a shot.

74': Coutts in for Paulo, Walker in for Ford, Mills in for Gordon, changing up our midfield to try to get something going.

87': We almost get it back in the same way. We're trying to find a hole in their defense and Coutts tries a shot from 20 yards out, it deflects off a defender and ends up just wide.

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Lets just move on to the next on, damn.

Sheffield Wednesday 1 : 0 Ipswich

Kirkland puts up a 7.4, but Murphy has a 5.7 and Gordon a 5.6. There just wasn't much to say about this one. They got a bit of a freak goal and dig in and we can't find a way to tie it back up.


We catch a break today as Hull beats Stoke and Huddersfield beats Watford. That lets us hang on to 2nd. Huddersfield does move up to 1st though. Just 4 to go:

1. Huddersfield - 85 pts
2. Ipswich - 84 pts
------------------------------
3. Stoke - 84 pts
4. Watford - 83 pts
5. QPR - 81 pts (1 less match played)
6. Burnley - 81 pts
---------------------------
7. Hull - 81 pts

Well this is just ridiculous. There's 4 points between 1st and 7th. QPR has 1 less match played, if they win their extra match they could move into 2nd.

[Radii]

-- QPR plays Bolton on the 11th, their 'make up game' and another stroke of luck for us, Bolton crushes QPR 3-0 and everything in the standings remains the same.

-- All of the contenders are playing lower ranked teams today. Hull, QPR and Huddersfield are on the road, Stoke/Watford/Ipswich at home.

April 14th, 2018

Fulham(19th) @ Ipswich(25-11-6, 2nd)

We're even money favorites to win today at home. Fulham are 11:5 dogs. We're 4-2-5 lifetime against them and tied them 3:3 back in December.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Fulham's Chris Makiese leads them with 14 goals. Bennett is healthy again and back in the lineup. Mills starts for Neil Gordon in response to the super crappy game he had against Sheffield Wed. We're attacking from the outset today.

17': A couple attacking moves for us but we've put 4 shots off target so far, a couple way way over.

27': We put our first shot on target, but its a 25 yard effort from Mills that the keeper easily scoops up.

45': They move down the right side and get a cross into the area, a header from fairly close range... but right at Murphy.

HALF: Pretty boring half. We have 9 shots, they have 4. We've only put one on target, they have 2 on target. We'll keep the pressure on and hope to break through.

46': They start with the ball, but Kirkland makes a key tackle very early in their buildup, he sends it forward to Khan, Khan plays a quick give and go with Constantino, Khan receives the ball back, gets into the area and beats the keeper! 1-0

58': Donnelly picks up a yellow for a tackle in midfield.

59': Tommy Jylha for Fulham picks up a yellow.

60': We earn a corner, its taken to the near man in Alex Bruce, he finds a shot, their keeper has to dive but is able to make the save, so close.

70': We have a throwin in their end, Donnelly passes to Khan, back to Donnelly, he shoots, its off the keeper, off the post and back into play... Bryan Bennett is there for the rebound and puts it in!! 2-0

80': Ford and Coutts in for Bennett and Donnelly.

92': Troy Brown picks up a yellow, giving them a free kick about 25 yards out. They kick it off the wall and out for a corner. We clear the corner, but they send it back in and earn corner #2. We really care about goal differential here, so we're really happy to get this one out.

That'll do it!

Ipswich 2 : 0 Fulham

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (8.3)
Goals: Khan, Bennett (7.5)
Assists: Donnelly (7.5), Constantino (7.0)
Notables: Berthet (7.1), Kirkland (7.7), Bruce (7.1)


Cardiff beats Huddersfield, Norwich beats Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday beats Watford. Damn!! QPR and Burnley win.

1. Ipswich - 87 pts
2. Huddersfield - 85 pts
------------------------------
3. QPR - 84
4. Stoke - 84 pts
5. Burnley - 81 pts
6. Watford - 83 pts
---------------------------
7. Hull - 81 pts


3 matches to go, still only 6 points between first and 7th, but that win puts us in a much stronger position, obviously.

[Radii]

-- #5 Burnley hosts #15 Exeter
-- #20 Fulham hosts #6 Watford
-- #2 Huddersfield hosts #23 Woking
-- #8 Leicester hosts #4 stoke
-- #9 Plymouth hosts #7 Hull
-- #3 QPR hosts #22 Middlesborough

and us:

-- #19 Swansea hosts #1 Ipswich

All 7 teams listed here could finish anywhere between first and seventh still.

April 21st, 2018

Ipswich(26-11-6, 1st) @ Swansea(11-11-21, 19th)

We're even money to win on the road here. We're an even 5-5-5 against them in our history. We beat them 2:0 at our place back in December.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Swansea's Aaron Spear has 15 goals, Tope Obadeyi has 14 goals. Spear is listed as their most dangerous threat. We run the same lineup today that we ran last week against Fulham last week. We're attacking on the road.

11': Constantino receives an outlet pass near midfield on the right side, he controls it well and is off to the races... he beats everyone down field but they catch up as he cuts into the area, Constantino dodges one defender, then another, he's got a clear cut chance... and the keeper saves it. That would have been the highlight of the year had he finished it off. Damn!

31': There's a bit of a battle for the ball as Swansea try to buildup an attack, Donnelly wins it for good for us, a quick pass to Khan, long ball ahead, Constantino runs by the entire defense to get to it first, into the area, easy, easy finish. 1-0

37': We build up again on offense, a couple passes around the right side of the pitch, Bennett centers it to Donnelly, he puts a through ball into the area, Steve Mills breaks to it first and he's learning from Constantino, a perfect poachers strike and goal! 2-0

HALF: We end up with 10 shots, we had a quick flurry of highlights around the 20 minute mark but nothing worth reporting. They only shoot once. It feels like we have this well in hand but we will keep the pressure on here.

69': Bennett with a yellow. They don't have a shot this half yet.

72': They try a counter attack and get a shot but its from 25 yards out and wide. That's two!

76': They look to get forward again, midfielder Rangel beats Kirkland pretty badly, he gets down the right side, passes into the area, there's a shot... saved by Murphy, rebound to their star Spear... and put into the net before Murphy can recover. 2-1

We hold them off easily to finish off an incredibly boring second half.

Swansea 1 : 2 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Steve Mills (8.0)
Goals: Mills, Constantino (7.5)
Assists: Khan (7.5), Donnelly (7.6)
Notables: Berthet (7.0), Kirkland (7.1)


Results:

#5 Burnley 1:0 #15 Exeter
#20 Fulham 2:1 #6 Watford
#2 Huddersfield 1:0 #23 Woking
#8 Leicester 0:1 #4 stoke
#9 Plymouth 4:1 #7 Hull
#3 QPR 3:0 #22 Middlesborough

Two to go... the Hull and Watford losses Clinch a playoff birth for Ipswich !!!!!!!!!!!


1. Ipswich - 90 pts
2. Huddersfield - 88 pts
------------------------------
3. QPR - 87 pts
4. Stoke - 87 pts
5. Burnley - 87 pts
6. Watford - 83 pts
---------------------------
7. Hull - 81 pts


Playoffs clinched!!!

[Radii]

I get a really really sad sight in my e-mail after the match... Woking have "clinched" their demotion back to league one, and it looks like they're trying to sell off a few of their players. We get messages that Woking are offering Kevin Lynch, Abu Ogogo, and Ed Upson out to the rest of the league and are trying to sell all three. Ouch

[Radii]

April 28th, 2018

Charlton(13-8-23, 17th) @ Ipswich(27-11-6, 1st)

We're massive, massive home favorites today, 1:2 to their 9:2. We beat them 2-1 at their place earlier in the year and have an incredible 9-0-2 record against them lifetime.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

I consider putting Neil Gordon back in the lineup but why change what's working just fine right now. We'll attack today again.

8': Very very quick strike for us, Donnelly at midfield, he sends a ball into the area on one bounce, Constantino just beats the defense to it and scores easily. This was after winning a ball in our defensive end, a very quick score for us. 1-0

10': Another counter, this one ahead to Khan, he's out left, cutting inside, there's a man near him, he could shoot or pass to Constantino who might have a better look... but he shoots, keeper has to dive and makes the save. Corner is cleared, we push it back in but take a long shot that's saved.

23': We get a free kick outside the area a little left of center. Berthet takes it and fires a shot, the keeper has to tip it behind, it was a great looking shot. We shoot off the corner but its blocked and cleared.

26': Bennett makes an interception in the midfield as they try to start an attack, Bennett turns and starts the offense quickly, passing ahead to Mills, there are 3 or 4 defenders closely guarding Mills and Constantino, but Mills is able to get a pass through, Constantino is able to control the ball and score... one of their men takes the blame for missing an interception. 2-0

31': We have a corner, taken, a man goes down, penalty!! Constantino takes the PK and he's got a 31st minute hat trick. 3-0

37': We build up down the right side, a couple nice passes get Constantino the ball deep down the right side, he passes back to Berthet, Berthet centers to Donnelly. Donnelly has it 20 yards out, he turns and fires from there, and he beats the keeper, directly into the left half of the net!!! 4-0

HALF: Well this is nice.

60': Another penalty.. we have a corner, send it to the far end of the 6 yard box, our man goes down and a PK is given. Khan takes this one and gets on the board. 5-0

78': They get one back, a move down the right, cross in, we've got 3 guys in the area, they have one of their forwards there, but he wins the header and beats Murphy. That really looked like we weren't trying anymore. Hard to blame the guys.

Easy enough.

Ipswich 5 : 1 Charlton

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.5)
Goals: Constantino 3, Donnelly (9.1), Khan (8.8)
Assists: Berthet (7.7), Brown (7.5), Donnelly, Mills (7.2), Khan
Notables: Kirkland (7.7), Bruce (7.2), Bennett (7.3)


We effectively clinch promotion by winning so big today. Stoke or Burnley can tie us in points but we are now +8 in goal differential on Stoke and +14 over Burnley.

Huddersfield wins and has second in their grasp if they can win their last match.

1. Ipswich - 93 pts
2. Huddersfield - 91 pts
------------------------------
3. Stoke - 90 pts
4. Burnley - 90 pts
5. QPR - 87 pts
6. Watford - 84 pts

Hull have 81 points so Watford haven't officially clinched either but they are +20 in goal differential.

So effectively Ipswich have clinched promotion to the Premier League. We haven't won the league yet, Huddersfield could still do that if we lose. Huddersfield hasn't clinched promotion yet, Stoke or Burnley both could get that.

[Radii]

-- Stuart Kirkland, Troy Brown, Gordon Donnelly, and Constantino all make the Championship team of the week this week.

Training Update

-- Constantino is reported to have trained well in "shooting" this past month, I don't see any ratings bumps but yeah, awesome!

May Update

-- Just one game left, at Gillingham.

-- The board is delighted with me. Same reasons as always. We lost $600,000 last month, taking our balance down to $2 Million in the red.


May 6th, 2018

Ipswich(28-11-6, 1st) @ Gillingham(21st)

Gillingham promoted up from League 1 last year and have barely avoided relegation. They've got nothing to play for today as a result, though I guess with a win and 5 other teams losing they could finish as high as 17th since there's tons of teams between 45-47 points. Still, we're just 5:4 favorites today, they are 7:4 dogs to win at their place. We beat them 1-0 back in December and are 2-0-0 lifetime against them (with a win back in 2011 in the League Cup).

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Bruce/Brown/Berthet
DMC: Paulo
MC: Donnelly/Bennett
AMC: Mills
ST: Khan/Constantino

Simeon Jackson leads them with 15 goals, Kelvin Etuhu has 14 goals. Simeon Jackson was a dominant performer in League 1 last year, I believe he finished 3rd in goals behind Constantino and a striker from Crystal Palace. No changes for us going into the last match. Standard mindset today.

10': Kirkland has it going down the left side, a cross into the area, Constantino wins a header, but its over, its actually considered a clear cut chance and that surprises me a bit.

15': They take their first shot, its blocked and goes back for a corner. We clear the initial corner back out wide, they send it back in, a shot goes off... Murphy saves it but can't hold and it goes back for corner #2. Headed back for Corner #3. This one is cleared... they send it back in... cleared again, they send it back in yet again... and head it out of bounds. Whew.

21': WTF! Constantino with a run down the right... he tries a cross, one of their defenders blocks it, defender Leary picks up the ball, but he's facing the goal, maybe 4 yards out or so? And he just doesn't control it well at all, so awful for them... he basically runs the ball into his own net.. own goal! 1-0

34': Two quick highlights for us, both show crosses coming in from the right, headers by Mills and Khan... both just over.

36': We win one in their end, Donnelly sends it deep down the right side, Constantino gets to it and its basically a 2v2 situation. Both defenders converge on Constantino, he calmly sends a pass across the penalty area to Khan who passes it into the net. Very easy goal, a great ball by Donnelly into open space and Constantino's speed create that one. 2-0

HALF: The own goal is one of the stranger things we've seen, the second goal was very nice for us. We've got 4 shots, 1 on target, they've got 5, one on target. The stats are fairly even but thanks to the own goal we're completely in control.

48': We kick off and pass it back all the way to the keeper. He sends it up ahead, a couple passes later, Bennett has it just on our end of the field, he sends a low ball forward, Constantino gets to it 40 yards from the goal... he just takes off, outruns everyone, gets into the area and scores. Its crazy how easy he can do that, wonder how he'll hold up at the next level! 3-0

63': Bennett does the exact same thing again... slightly on our end of the field, he sends it ahead, Matthew Khan runs onto this one, sends it further forward and sprints to the ball, he's got it alone in the area, blasts a shot full power and the keeper has no chance. 4-0

We basically kill off the rest of the clock, a couple long balls that didn't come to anything. That'll do it, we secure a championship, the 3rd one in a row for me!!!!

Gillingham 0 : 4 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Bryan Bennett (9.0)
Goals: Khan 2 (8.8), Constantino (9.0)
Assists: Bennett 2, Constantino
Notables: Berthet (7.8), Kirkland (8.2), Brown (7.6), Bruce (7.7), Paulo (7.2), Donnelly (7.5), Mills (7.2)



Huddersfield get their win as well and clinch promotion. Ipswich have won the Coca-Cola Championship.

Stoke, Burnley, Watford and QPR will fight it out in the playoffs for the last promotion spot.

Middlesborough, Woking and Portsmouth demote back to League 1.


-- Ipswich's Board gives me an additional transfer budget of $6.75 Million. I have no idea what I'd do with this right now. I'm assuming that we won't be able to loan in EPL guys to compete against EPL teams next year. Should I try to sign Bryan Bennett full time? Gudmundsson? Mills? Paulo and Ford I don't think would hold up at the next level just yet. Probably not, I have a core of young players that I like but probably if I do anything I should try to bring in some veterans. But the smart thing to do would be to just make a huge profit and see if we can claw and scratch and stay up next year.

Fun decisions to come!

[Qwikshot]

Congrats!

[Simbo Klice]

Now we get to find out if Constantino is a legend in the making or if the size of the pond made him seem bigger than he was. Best of luck in the Premier League, Radii!

[BYU 14]

Nice work, good luck in the EPL!

[Alf]

Hurray !

[chesapeake]

Congratulations, again. 3 championships in 3 years is a great accomplishment.

[Izulde]

Incredible season and way to go to your boys for grinding it out in crunch time!

[bbgunn]

Congrats!

[Radii]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone Time to start pushing through postseason stuff.

[Radii]

Goalkeepers

Name	Age	$/Wk	GM	GA	SO	MoM	Yel	Red	Avg
Brian Murphy	35	$24,000	46	42	16	0	0	0	6.82
Dominic Johnson	19	$775	0	0	0	0	0	0	--
Chris Mason	18	$90	0	0	0	0	0	0	--

**GA = Goals Allowed | SO = Shutouts


Mason seems like he could hopefully be "the" star of the future for us. Whether Murphy can hang on long enough for Mason to be ready will be a key story the next season or two.


Defenders

Name	Age	$/Wk	Apps	GL	AST	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Avg
Stuart Kirkland	18	$4800	41(2)	0	3	2	1	0	2.83	75%	7.25
Michael McKerr	28	$7500	10(4)	0	2	0	2	0	4.28	73%	7.02
Sylvain Berthet	24	$29000	37(1)	0	4	1	2	0	4.20	74%	7.01
Steinbor Gudmundsson	21	LOAN	29(6)	0	5	1	2	0	2.54	72%	6.95
Zeki Fryers	25	$16750	6(13)	1	0	0	2	0	3.12	76%	6.88
Alex Bruce	33	$8500	45(1)	1	2	0	4	0	1.87	80%	6.86
Troy Brown	27	$15500	39(3)	0	1	0	2	0	2.03	77%	6.80
Jack Hughes	17	$450	0(5)	0	0	0	1	0	2.62	74%	6.63

**GL = Goals | TCK = Tackles/game


I really like our defense from top to bottom. I'd be interested in getting Gudmundsson back.