Tag: Ipswich Town

Lawro’s Column: 14th February 2005

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marklawrenson
Since we got on the first page of Ceefax in terms if the Championship table it has been like playing at altitude.

I’m one of those people who is quite frightened to talk Preston now because we keep winning don’t we!

The game against QPR last week was a big result. The fact that we went one down and still came back to win.

I think it was excellent, Billy changed it at half-time and what he did obviously worked. Nugent scored his first goal and that is going to be good news as well.

The other thing as well is that we are showing really good character, when you are playing well and you are in a good run of form, where as in the past at one down we have probably gone and lost two or three nil, now we haven’t seen it as a big problem and we say ‘we are one down let’s keep going and try and turn it around’. We have a mental strength more than anything to turn it around so that is a good thing and I would have thought in the minds of the players at the moment it doesn’t matter who we play against.

The players will already be full of confidence, it is impossible not to be full of confidence when you keep winning. From that point of view Billy is probably going to say that we have got into the play-off position, we have got to keep going. We have done the easy bit which is get ourselves in there, now it is so so important just to stay in there by hook or by crook.

We know how open the league is and we know that all the teams in the top ten are going to have to play each other between now and the end of the season so they are gong to be taking points off each other. It is just important for us if we can maintain our home form and keep picking points up away from home, that should, in theory, be enough to keep us in there.

It was good to see Chris Lucketti grab the winner again last weekend. You can never score enough goals from different areas. You look at every successful team, take the best team in the Premiership, John Terry must have six to eight goals this season. It just needs a contribution from so many different people, yes of course you want the strikers to score but if your midfielders are chipping in and your defenders are chipping in, what it does in the end is it turns draws into wins and you have three points rather than one which is why, on this good run, we are where we are.

Young Nugent got his first goal for the club at Loftus Road and I am keeping a close eye on him. At the moment it is all brand new, it is a different division, it is a different club, what we have seen so far we have liked. It is just important he continues that progression. Actually coming on and changing a game is easier than starting because it is a completely different mindset when you have to start. He has shown he can do it and if he keeps knocking at the door like that then they are going to start him sooner or later.

Ipswich Town are the opposition and I have tremendous amount of respect for their boss Joe Royle. I think every time he has had a team in this division they have got promoted. I honestly believe that he is the best manager for this division that there is, I’m not being disrespectful he has obviously been a good manager in the Premier League with Everton. What I’m saying is that when he gets jobs at this level he finds strikers, he plays a really good way, his teams always score goals, they play attacking football and I think that his team are easily the best team in this league, easily, and that includes Wigan and Sunderland, I think Joe’s team are the best.

This is the acid test for us, if we can get a result against Ipswich, the best team in the league, that would just rubber stamp it and from there we are asking why can’t North End get promotion from the play-offs?

You would hope that tonight’s match would be a good one but our record on Sky is not great. I know that we beat Cardiff away but we bombed against Sheffield United, I feel that us playing at home we owe the audience one don’t we. The thing is we don’t have to change, just because we are playing against the top team, we just have to keep playing the way we have played over the last nine games.

The people of Preston will be getting excited about the league position and we just need to continue what we are doing. We are a long way away from the automatic spots, not just in terms of the points but also in terms of the number of games you would have to win just to get there and that’s assuming that teams like Ipswich, Wigan and Sunderland are going to lose. We don’t really want to be noticed do we? We just want to keep playing, keep getting the points, let everyone talk about Ipswich, Wigan and Sunderland and we will just keep along nicely thank-you very much.

It was good to see the North End fans travelling down to Loftus Road in their numbers and I think we will get a really good gate on Friday night because it is the best team in the league and we are playing really well.

It’s the classic thing, if you are winning and you are playing good football and scoring goals then the crowds will come because that is what they want, they want to support a winning team and they want to be entertained and if they don’t then there is something wrong.

Programme Notes: Billy Davies 14th February 2005

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Leicester City v Preston North End


Preston North End boss Billy Davies’ programme notes ahead of the game against Ipswich Town.

Good evening and welcome to Deepdale.

A fortnight ago when I wrote my programme notes prior to the Coventry City game we were sitting just outside of a play-off position and looking forward to a couple of tough encounters against two very physical sides in Coventry and QPR.

We started off at home against Micky Adams’ side who are fighting for every point at the bottom of the Championship table, they got at us right from the start and scored an early goal which really set us back. But we got back into the game and just after half-time Chris Lucketti scored what proved to be a crucial goal.

The skipper has been excellent this season and on more than one occasion he has shown why we rewarded him with a new contract, he paid back a massive part of that last weekend when he was in the right place at the right time to score the winner in a frenetic afternoon’s play at Loftus Road.

There is no escaping the fact that I had one or two choice words to say to the players after what was a disappointing first 45 minutes against Queens Park Rangers. But tremendous credit to the boys, the second half we got back into the game playing football the way we have become accustomed to over the past weeks and months.

I was really pleased to see David Nugent get his first goal for the club. We have seen in training and in reserve games what a talent he is for someone so young and I warned the press that Nugent would get his chance eventually and that he would probably take it. He took his chance like all poachers should and it got us back into the game at a crucial time.

The most pleasing aspect of the past two games has been the spirit and resilience that the boys have shown in coming from a goal behind in both games. Obviously I would prefer that we didn’t concede early goals but the attitude from our players has been exemplary and on each occasion they have had to show a willingness to fight to get back into the game.

With so many teams battling for position as the season draws to an end I expect to see more and more teams scrapping for everything on the pitch and it is important that our mental attitude is spot on going into an important period for this football club.

The one final bonus to come from last week was the return to action of Paul McKenna. The initial analysis on Kenna’s broken hand was that he would be out of action for at least three weeks so I have to say how pleased I was that Paul reported for duty and made himself available so early. I have already emphasised how important Paul is to the PNE side and I think he showed that when he came on last week.

This evening we are playing host to an Ipswich Town side who rightly sit at the top of the Championship table.

Joe Royle’s team have probably been one of our toughest opponents this season and they gave us little change when we travelled down to Portman Road earlier this season.

Joe has got his side playing football the way he likes it and more importantly he has got them doing it on a consistent basis.

He has a got a team who work very hard for each other and in Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi he has a strikeforce the envy of many a manager outside of the Premiership.

Joe has managed to strengthen the side well over the past couple of years and brought in some good players, and I know that he has got an eye for a good player as I am led to believe that he once tried to sign me when I was a player at Rangers!

Tonight’s match will be played live in front of a national audience for the Sky TV cameras and not only is this an excellent chance for the Preston North End players to show what they can do but it is also a great chance for the fans to show how proud they are of this famous football club.

We took an impressive support down to Loftus Road last week and I am sure that The Gentry and the rest of the boys will be on form tonight to cheer the lads on.

Be loud, be proud and enjoy the game.

Quotes: Darren Bent 11th February 2005

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Ipswich Town striker Darren Bent was interviewed ahead of his game against Preston in February 2005.

It has all been going really well this season, I have managed to score a few goals and it has all been going downhill really.

 It has been good being top of the league and we have stayed there for a long period and the team has been playing.

 We seem to be more determined this season and more about where we want to go and where we want to be next season, so everyone has been a lot more determined.

 There are a few players who have done really well and we have been close up as a squad and it has been brilliant.

 This season we have managed to beat Wigan and Sunderland who have done well and we have sured up the back four we look more determined a lot more solid not to concede goals.

 There are more teams that are going to come into it and challenge for the top two but if we just keep winning our games and concentrate on our own form then there is no reason why we can’t get promoted.

 I want them to do well because when George Burley was here he was the one who gave me my first chance so if they got promoted as well as us that would be fantastic.

 I’m not too sure what the key is really. We are just playing well and being consistent and that’s all we can ask for really if you are consistent in this division and pick up points away from home there is no reason why you can’t be a big force in this division.

 It is about team spirit really you can’t really rely on one person to score the goals, it is about team spirit and everyone sticking together.

 He is brilliant, a lot of people criticise him but he is fantastic, some of the stuff that he does is brilliant. He works for the team, he does bits and bobs for the team and it is just a breath of fresh air to play with him. He never stops trying and I think that  is why everyone loves him.

 Me and Shefki play together all the time and we never talk about who has scored more goals or whatever, we play together and we just try and get Ipswich promoted as a pair.

 I’m hoping that I can get there, it is not going to be easy it is still going to be tough so if I just continue working hard then there is no reason why I can’t to twenty really.

 Obviously Dean Ashton scored a lot of goals when he was in this division and he was brilliant, hopefully now that he is gone I can score as many goals as I can and just get on with it really.

 Whenever you play for your country it is always fantastic, it is always brilliant to represent your country and there is nothing better playing at the top level, you don’t really want to be anywhere else.

I wouldn’t say that we know each other really well but it is interesting coming up against Lonners in training. He is a good keeper, he’s exciting, in fact I was giving him a bit of stick because he scored his goal from his own box. I expect to see him pushing on and doing well and I wish him all the best.

A lot of people said that I would be going but I am happy here, I have been here when I was young I have enjoyted all the time that I have been here and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else really.

Obviously we are not counting our chickens yet, there is still a long long way to go but as long as we keep going for ourselves and keep working for each other then there is no reason why we can’t go where we want to go.

Flashback – Ipswich Town 10th February 2005

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There isn’t too much to look back on in terms of games between Preston North End and Ipswich Town. Despite both clubs being around since the 1870s they have only come up against each other 15 times, and it has to be said that the Tractor Boys have had the upper hand, especially in recent years.

But it wasn’t always like that, in fact if North End’s first three fixtures against Ipswich were anything to go by, you would have thought that the Suffolk club were PNE’s lucky omens.

The two clubs first clashed in an FA Cup Fifth Round tie in the 1953/54 season. Scott Symon’s side had safely negotiated their way through the previous two rounds of the Cup, with 2-0 victories at Derby County and Lincoln City and when Third Division Ipswich Town arrived at Deepdale for the Fifth Round many expected to see a rout.

But Scott Phillips’ side were not arriving in the North West with a bad reputation, they were chasing promotion and had already defeated the likes of Reading and Birmingham in previous rounds.

34,630 fans crammed into North End’s home and the Preston folk would not be disappointed as they were treat to a stunning display of attacking football from the Lilywhites, a pair of braces from Charlie Wayman and Jimmy Baxter plus goals from Angus Morrison and Tom Finney helped PNE to a fine 6-1 win, a victory that catapulted North End into that epic quarter-final tie with Leicester City.

It would be over 10 years before the two sides would clash again, but the results were not much different. North End had slipped down a division for the first league encounter between the two clubs.

Jimmy Milne’s side probably still had the FA Cup Final defeat to West Ham fresh in their memory when they embarked upon the 1964/65 campaign and they got off to a slow start with a 0-0 draw at home to Rotherham United a 3-3 thriller at Cardiff City.

So there was a definite case of venturing into the unknown when Preston made their first ever trip to Portman Road to take on an Ipswich side managed by former Newcastle legend Jackie Milburn.

Milburn was following in the footsteps of Alf Ramsey who had departed for England the previous year and he wasn’t having too impressive a start to the season. The week before North End’s arrival he had watched his side defeated 3-1 at home to Coventry and the last thing he wanted was the visit of a North End side tipped by many to one of the favourites to return to the top flight.

Those fears were realised when North End put on one of their most impressive performances of what turned out to be another disappointing year. A Brian Godfrey hat-trick and a brace of goals from David Wilson helped Milne’s men to a fine 5-1 win at Ipswich.

Milburn had departed Portman Road by the time the two teams met just before Christmas later in the season, new boss Bill McGarry’s main task would have been keeping the score respectable after shipping 11 goals in the first two encounters with North End, but that was not to be!

Brian Godfrey brought his tally against Ipswich to five with a brace and Alex Dawson also chipped in with a couple goals in a 4-1 win. It was a partnership that would produce 53 goals between them during the season, unfortunately it was leaking goals at the back that led to PNE’s demise that year, only the bottom club Swansea conceded more goals than them that year, as North End had to be content with mid-table mediocrity.

One season on and North End still held the upper hand, although the first signs of their grip slipping were starting to show. A 2-0 win in late November of 1966 is actually the last time that PNE beat Ipswich and we have goals from Nobby Lawton and Alan Spavin to thank for that. Later in the year Ipswich scored their first ever success over the Lilywhites when they held North End to a 0-0 draw.

The following season and Bill McGarry’s team were easily the superior, a 1-1 draw at Deepdale would be seen as a decent result for Bobby Seith’s team in the greater scheme of things because by the time North End travelled to Portman Road to be thrashed 4-0 in March of 1968, Ipswich were heading for the Second Division Championship and the Lilywhites were heading for the bottom three.

And that was that as far as league meetings between the two teams go until the Tractor Boys were relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2001/02 season. Those more recent seasons have seen Ipswich carry on from where they left off in 1968 with impressive wins at Portman Road and hard fought draws at Deepdale.

If the Lilywhites historians can take anything from studying previous battles between the two clubs, the fact remains that in the long and illustrious histories of both clubs Ipswich have never won a league game at Deepdale.