BROADHEAD’S BACK!
In the 11th minute, Leif Davis’ rising effort was turned over. In the 12th minute, Cameron Burgess had a fantastic headed chance that went wide. Finally, in the thirteenth minute, Ipswich snapped the tie.
Credit to the alert Omari Hutchinson for capitalizing on a Swansea mix-up in the middle of the pitch to stab a forward pass. The Chelsea loanee is demonstrating off-the-ball hustle as well as on-the-ball skill.
Following that, it was all about Nathan Broadhead, who sprinted ahead, held his calm, and coolly dinked a finish past onrushing goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.
Broadhead’s form dipped after he missed a number of great opportunities in the East Anglian derby in mid-December, and he was benched for games against Leicester and Preston.
A lively cameo against Deepdale, complete with a trademark bodyswerve in the buildup to one of Kieffer Moore’s goals, will have made the Welshman feel better.
Since then, he has scored a deft far post finish against West Brom, an innovative flicked header at Millwall (also forcing an own goal), and demonstrated swagger against Swansea.
The quietly spoken forward looks to thrive on confidence. It’s definitely flowing again now. Three goals in three games brings his total for the season to eleven.
Broadhead is the key player of a well-coached, efficient team.
STUNG AT A SET-PIECE
Ipswich, like Millwall three days earlier, gave away far too many cheap free kicks in the early stages.
One of those, a bookable offence committed by Davis, resulted in the home team pulling level in the 31st minute.
When the deep dead ball was delivered square, the Blues failed to apply sufficient pressure; Matt Grimes teased a cross to the far post, Ben Cabango jumped between Harry Clarke and Cameron Burgess to head back across goal, and Jerry Yates scrambled in from close range.
Cutting down on fouls is something that needs to be focused on, as set-pieces appeared to be Swansea’s only opportunity to score in this game.
CLASSIC COMBO
Swansea have recently experienced huge defeats against the Championship’s top three teams, Southampton, Leicester, and Leeds. During the early phases of changing his team’s playing style, manager Luke Williams thought that with an extra day’s rest, his club would be better prepared to face another high-flying team in the division.
Ipswich regaining the lead inside four minutes was critical in draining any building confidence out of the home players and supporters.
It was a hallmark goal that we had seen numerous times under Kieran McKenna’s supervision. Burgess’ perfectly-flighted pass up the line was fantastic, Davis’ initial touch was terrific, and then came the beautiful cut-back for Conor Chaplin to sweep home on the run from the centre of the box.
Kieffer Moore’s ability to attract defenders will undoubtedly make it more difficult for teams to counteract this well-honed pattern of play.
Davis has 12 assists this season and needs just three more to break the Championship record for a defender. Chaplin, who returned to the team following a midweek break, will have been delighted with his 10th goal of the season.
NOT KILLING IT OFF
No doubt, Ipswich could and should have scored more goals in this game.
I highlighted Davis and Burgess having two chances at 0-0. Moore blasted a header off the post at a corner and sent a shot in the box that was too near to the goalie at 0-1 down.
After the restart, with the score 1-2, Chaplin shot wide from the edge of the box, Moore had an angled effort pushed over the bar, and substitute Jeremy Sarmiento fired at the keeper from a wonderful position.
Not establishing a two-goal lead meant there was always a sense of danger in the final half hour.
DIGGING DEEP
Swansea consistently put the ball into the Ipswich box. Ipswich consistently won both the first and second balls. Burgess in particular is tremendous.
“I thought both centre-halves were strong on first contacts,” McKenna went on to say. “We know Cameron’s strength, and Luke has been working hard on it in his game. Aside from that, I thought our second contacts at the edge of the box were great.
“They (Swansea) lock down well, and they push a lot of bodies towards the counter-pressure, so it’s one thing to head the initial ball away, but if you’re not well connected as a team, that’s dropping to a midfielder on the edge of the box, and they’re shooting.
“The way our forward players collapsed on that and secured things that could have been shooting opportunities for them and turned them into counter opportunities for us was a massive part of the victory.”
The midfield duo Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo were constantly in people’s faces in midfield. Lewis Travis then took over for Luongo and won several 50/50 battles in the muck. Forward substitutes Marcus Harness, Sarmiento, Burns, and Ali Al-Hamadi all contributed to the high forward vigor.
Finally, in a throwback to the first part of the season, Vaclav Hladky made a spectacular save in the 88th minute to seal the victory. The Czech goalkeeper displayed great reactions to keep the ball out after Harry Darling’s strike deflected off Davis in the box.
PROMOTION PICTURE
Southampton triumphed 2-0 over West Brom on Friday night. Leeds triumphed 2-0 against Plymouth on Tuesday night. They’ll both be disappointed to see Ipswich reply with an away win of their own.
“We’re up against three of the strongest teams in Championship history – we expect them to win,” McKenna remarked later, emphasizing his team’s underdog standing.
He went on to say that there are no internal expectations at a club that has greatly outperformed in its first season up from League One.
Town may not be feeling the pressure, but they may start applying it. A good run of fixtures continues on Tuesday night with the visit of bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United.
As I always say, what is will be. Town presently has 66 points after 32 games. With 14 games remaining, the total is already more than nine of the previous 14 seasons at this level. It’s only three points shy of Sunderland’s playoff finish last season.
What a ride. Keep loving it.
