Josh Morton on Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich Town

Pre-match thoughts

I travelled to Villa Park and back on the club coach for the game, but rail works again caused problems. Unlike me, many of the supporters travelling up had attended Town’s last game, the 4-1 FA Cup win at Coventry, and were excited to watch their team play again.

An older chap, wearing the delightful 1992-94 home shirt, said “I can’t wait to watch ‘Ensisco’ play, he’s such a talent!”

I heard Julio Enciso’s name pronounced in many different ways on the day. 

I got chatting with a rather excitable man in a bobble hat, who recalled the last time he had visited Villa Park: “I was there in 75’ for the West Ham game when they used to do the FA Cup semi-finals at neutral grounds around the country. We drew 0-0, so I hope today is a bit more exciting”, he said.

It was a rainy and grim morning as the coach set off at around 9:30, and there was no change in the weather as we arrived outside the stadium around three hours later. I chose to get out of the rain and into the stadium as soon as I stepped off the coach.

Away fans at Villa Park are seated in the Doug Ellis stand, spread across the bottom and top tiers on the left side of the stand. The concourse was tight and packed full of Town supporters, so I opted not to go for my usual pre-match pint, and I’m glad I made that decision, as I heard some fans near me complaining that there would be no alcohol served in the top tier kiosks.

“I just think it’s a bit of a joke”, a lady with a thick Suffolk accent muttered to her friend.

I was pleased with where I was sat as I had a brilliant view of the whole pitch in the bottom row of the upper tier. 

Town last travelled to Villa Park in 2019 when Ipswich were relegated to League One. I was in the away end that day and neither clubs' situations could be any more different now.

Villa, who won 2-1 on that occasion, were desperately trying to claw their way out of the Championship, a goal which they achieved at the end of that campaign as they won the playoffs and gained promotion back to the top flight where they have remained since.

Aston Villa are now a stable top-half Premier League side, with manager Unai Emery guiding them to a fourth-place finish last season, the Villans qualifying for the Champions League. The West Midlands outfit have made Villa Park a fortress this season, with wins against the likes of Man City, Celtic, and Bayern Munich all coming at home, so this game would be a difficult task for Keiran McKenna’s men.

The Blues gaffer made four changes to the team that started in the recent league defeat at Portman Road against Southampton, with two players making their first league starts for Ipswich, Alex Palmer and Conor Townsend, replacing Aro Muric and the injured Leif Davis.

Kalvin Phillips was selected in place of skipper Sam Morsy in midfield, who had also picked up a knock, with Ben Johnson ahead of Nathan Broadhead for the game.

For Aston Villa, striker Ollie Watkins was a surprise inclusion after he was replaced at halftime due to an injury in their 2-0 defeat to Wolves two weeks prior. As I looked at their lineup, I’ll admit to feeling a bit gutted as I saw he was fit to start.

The players walked onto the pitch as the Ozzy Osbourne hit ‘Crazy Train’ blared through the speakers in the stadium. The musician, a local hero and Villa fan, recently announced the ‘last ever’ gig for his band Black Sabbath would take place at Villa Park in July.

Soon after the game kicked off, it would be the Blues who came close to taking the lead. A bit of pinball in a congested box resulted in Villa’s Boubacar Kamara swinging his boot towards the ball in an attempt to clear it away from danger, but accidentally forcing Martinez in the Villa goal into action.

Early injuries strike

Both teams were forced into early changes as with seventeen minutes on the clock, both Kamara and Enciso were down with injuries.

On for Kamara was ex-blue Tyrone Mings, who received a warm reception from both sets of supporters in the stadium; it shocks me that it's been almost ten years since Mings played for Town.

Enciso attempted to walk off his injury but could not continue, looking emotional as he left the pitch. Jack Clarke took his place.

A few half chances came and went for the hosts, who started to gain a foothold in the match, Axel Tuanzebe shown a yellow card for what looked to me to be a clean tackle on Morgan Rogers.

The Tractor Boys would have the next real chance in the game as a move started by Palmer in the Ipswich net led to Liam Delap finding space on the left, the striker seeing an effort blocked by Mings.

Only a short time following his rather unfortunate first booking, on 40 minutes, Tuanzebe was sent off for Ipswich against his former club. A fast exchange of passes from the hosts saw Jacob Ramsey glide past the Congolese defender, who reacted instinctively, fouling the winger and leaving the referee no choice but to show him a second yellow card.

The Villa diehards in the Holte end mockingly sang their old song for Tuanzebe, which the Blues supporters adopted as he walked down the tunnel, and a difficult task had become even tougher for McKenna’s men.

Tactical changes

Town held on until halftime despite more half chances and a flurry of corners for the hosts. Reacting to the sending-off, McKenna substituted Jack Clarke, who had only been brought on himself seventeen minutes into the first period, with defender Luke Woolfenden coming on in his place.

Emery introduced the recent on-loan addition and household name, Marcus Rashford, in place of Jacob Ramsey. Rashford has fallen out of favour at parent club Manchester United, with a loan to Villa seen as the right option for the former England star, who had already scored against Ipswich this season in United’s 1-1 draw at Portman Road in November.

Left-back Lucas Digne was also swapped for a more attacking option, Ian Maatsen, as Villa looked to use their 1-man advantage. The home side started the second half where they had left off, forcing the issue in search of an opening goal, with Rashford cutting in off the left and forcing a smart stop from Palmer.

As the Villans continued to press, defender Jacob Greaves was booked for a tactical foul on Andres Garcia, and it looked like a goal could be imminent for the hosts.

Surprise scorers

Despite all of the odds being stacked against them and the pressure being applied by Villa at the start of the half, to my surprise and the surprise of everyone in the stadium, Ipswich would take the lead in the 56th minute.

A brilliant ball from Ben Johnson found Omari Hutchinson in space on the right. The winger beat Maatsen for pace and cut a low ball into the box for Liam Delap, who slipped between two defenders and glanced an effort into the bottom left corner.

The away end exploded into a frenzy as the striker slid towards them in celebration after netting his tenth goal of the season. I was stunned. The man next to me lost his glasses. One nil, Ipswich!

The visiting faithful serenaded Delap as the game restarted, with more urgency evident in Villa’s play following the Town goal.

Former Real Madrid star Marco Asensio was brought on by Emery in the hope that he could conjure something for the hosts in place of Donyell Malen. Maatsen forced another save from Palmer. Soon after, a desperate challenge from Kalvin Phillips saw the midfielder receive a booking and Villa a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the penalty area.

Up stepped Marcus Rashford, who curled his effort over the wall and off the inside of the post. Unfortunately for Ipswich, the ball fell to Watkins in the box, the striker making no mistake and levelling for Villa in the 68th minute. I was right to be afraid when I saw his name in the starting lineup and Rashford had again been a thorn in Ipswich’s side.

Hanging on

The scenes in the away end after the goal had turned into silence as the home supporters celebrated, then roared the home side on to find a winner.

Palmer was called into action as substitute Asensio’s brilliant cross found the head of Morgan Rogers, the Ipswich keeper diving across to make a smart stop. Asensio would then be involved again as he was cleverly teed up inside the box by Youri Tielemens, but the Spaniard blazed over. 

The lively Asensio would force another excellent save from Palmer to his right as he pushed away a powerful shot from close range, the supporters around me singing loudly in support of their team, who were so close to securing a point.

McKenna replaced Ipswich goalscorer Delap with George Hirst, and Jens Cajuste also made way for Massimo Luongo with another 10 minutes left on the clock. 

The Ipswich defence did excellently to block efforts from Watkins, Asensio, and Rashford, and it looked like Town were home and dry, but the hosts would get close one final time, as in the 93rd minute, Alex Palmer made one of the best saves I’ve seen live.

Rashford cut the ball into the box from the left, and several deflections caused the ball to loop towards the goal with Palmer out of position, but the on-fire keeper somehow managed to palm it past his post and out for a final corner for the home side.

Jack Taylor replaced Hutchinson, and the winger was booked for wasting time while leaving the pitch; the corner came to nothing, and the referee blew the final whistle. McKenna’s men had escaped with a point, and the away fans cheered in relief, the game finishing 1-1. 

After the final whistle, a delighted away end began to tease the hurriedly departing home supporters with a cheeky chant about the surrounding areas: “You have to live here, we get to go home”. The players came over to the visiting supporters to celebrate the result, and shot-stopper Palmer was shown plenty of appreciation, with fans belting his name to the tune of ‘The Conga Song’ by Black Lace.

Post-match reflections

Ipswich did well to get away from Villa Park with a point, with some excellent displays in the team. Still, they wouldn’t have gotten away with the draw if not for goalkeeper Alex Palmer; his excellent goalkeeping making him the hero against the Villans.

The Town fans in the away end pushed the players on to get the draw over the line, out-singing an unexpectedly quiet home crowd.

The Blues climb to 18th in the Premier League standings and return to action in a week as they face struggling Tottenham Hotspur at Portman Road, a real opportunity to secure a vital win.

Player ratings: Palmer 9 (MOTM), Tuanzebe 4, O Shea 7, Greaves 7, Townsend 7, Phillips 7, Cajuste 7, Johnson 6, Hutchinson 7, Enciso n/a, Delap 8.