The West Stand Senior on Ipswich vs Bristol Rovers

Pre-match thoughts

League One side Bristol Rovers appointed former Brighton & Hove Albion defender Inigo Calderon as their boss in place of Matt Taylor in December 2024 to help save them from slipping further down the table. A new broom. They currently sit in 20th position.

Fans of the league one side are called ‘The Gas’, or the ‘Gasheads’, because of the smell that emanated from the gas works near their former home ground, the Eastville Stadium. Similarly to the origin of Town’s nickname, it was originally used as a derogatory term coined by local rivals Bristol City. Rover’s fans now embrace their name as a badge of honour, just as we are proud to be the ‘Tractor Boys’. However, slightly confusingly, their team is called The Pirates. I know which I’d choose.

Bristol have only beaten Town once in 13 games in all competitions, not exactly a great record. But Town have only won two out of their last 14 FA Cup home games.

Scott on the train predicted Town 2 – 0 Bristol Rovers. Shush, did somebody mention Maidstone?

Queuing at the ground, I debated the benefits of the heated gilet with Kev and Steve, but wives apparently won’t wear them. I felt smug about mine and my heated beany on a day like today – both were presents from my caring son who doesn’t want me to ‘cark’ it just yet, apparently. His words.

First half

The team sheet read very much like a second team outing apart from a few exceptions, but there was strong backup on the bench, if needed, in Broadhead, Hirst and DeLap.

Town dominated the play in this half and were soon in the lead on 18 minutes with a confident and competent volley of a shot from Kalvin Phillips, perfectly placed.

Six minutes later a deflected ‘shot come pass’ from Alhamedi was tapped into the net by Jack Clarke.

It's great to see these first goals for Town by these two players who have not always had full-match minutes of play before.

In the thirty-seventh minute, Taylor appeared to be offside when he hesitated, looked around, and then scored the third goal for Town. No VAR in this cup game!

Halftime: Town 3-0 The Gas.

Halftime

Lots of ‘brand new’ supporters at today’s match – more than 200 I think I heard someone say, all part of an estimable drive to encourage young fans to the club. Sitting in front of me was Codey aged ten and next to me was Freddie aged three and a half, both of them attending their first match ever. A great game to choose (so far).

Second half

In the 51st minute, Romaine Sawyers awarded us a penalty for handball in the area. I felt sad for Ali Alhamadi – I so wanted him to score ‘that’ goal playing for a Premier League team, as the first Iraqi to do so. I think the crowd would have gone crazy for him, too.

It was his moment. He stepped up to the ball, fired…and missed.

The pressure of 27k fans all holding their breath was maybe too much. Now, only the stuff of nightmares for him.

We had several more chances – two good passes right across the goal with four players ready to pounce, none of whom quite managed to connect. Hirst also nearly added to the score, looking strong and playing well on his welcome return from injury as a sub today. He has been missed.

There were a few presses from our opponents, who seemed to inject a little more pace into this half but who offered no real threat. There was an opening for Rovers when Muric passed straight to one of their players, who was fortunately stopped by him in the consequent follow-up goal attempt.

It seemed strange to think we were playing teams at this level only two years ago. This was a show of how far we progressed, then and now.

Cieran Slicker came on in the 81st minute, but as a measure of play, I think he only touched the ball once.

Final score Ipswich 3-0 Bristol Rovers

Men of the match

Woolfie made a good captain, Kalvin Phillips scored a peach of a goal, and Jack Clarke and Wes Burns were playing well, too.

But MOTM, for me, was our newest recruit, Ben Godfrey, wearing the number 44 shirt. He looked so dependable and settled for a first-time out player who has literally just joined us. I was mightily impressed.

Round up

A good game, but it felt a strange one. It seemed too easy and could be watched without tension, which was very unusual for us and this team! You knew almost from the start of play they were going to win and the only question was by how many. I think by halftime, everyone was expecting a much higher score.

I’m looking forward to our match against Brighton on Thursday night. The team has learned from each opponent and match and is beginning to raise and model their game accordingly. First-choice players are coming back from injuries, too. The general consensus is that we should be optimistic for the second half of the season.  

Other thoughts

Going forward in the league and hopefully the cup, too, I wonder which other new signings will be added to our firepower and who will be leaving. Jaden Philogene? There are so many rumours. Is it still complicated? Rumours about other players proliferate on social media. I’ll be upset if Woolfie or Jack Clarke leave us, but I realise the management has to work out the 25 senior team members balance rule, and this will no doubt dictate who may have to be deregistered or sent out on loan.

My New Year’s resolution was to observe but not to listen or react to online speculation – posts on fan forums are not always noted for their veracity. My own fairly innocuous comments have sometimes been met with derogatory responses, questioning my ‘experience’ of football. After over sixty years of watching at every level, I think I know as much as many do, from my two boys, their children, the club (up and down) and international games…not a bad grounding.

But I guess it’s just another part of the rich tapestry of modern-day sport.

View from the train

I was surrounded by men talking in a Nordic tongue – Norwegian or Swedish, possibly? Managed a brief chat with a young lad from Marks Tey underneath their arms. Jammed as we were like sardines, it was strange to sense a calmness in the carriage that rarely comes after a league game.

Fourth round (Coventry City), here we come!