Ipswich 3 Portsmouth 2: Neil Allen's verdict - No sob story, no bluff and bluster to misdirect supporters. Blues must accept the best team won

No excuses.

It may be an uncomfortable admission, but Ipswich were simply better than Pompey at Portman Road on Saturday, worthy winners on the balance of 90 minutes.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to acknowledge the glaringly obvious and not attempt bluff and bluster to divert supporters’ attention – unless you happen to be Joey Barton. Or Derek Adams for those with longer memories.

Certainly Danny Cowley, in his post-match address, didn’t attempt to fraudulently convince those 28,444 who attended the top-of-the-table fixture to doubt their own eyes. He couldn’t, we all observed the emperor was wearing no clothes.

Not that Ipswich were infinitely more superior than Cowley’s men, far from it, this was no one-sided occasion gloriously lapped up by a bumper Tractor Boys crowd.

Granted, 1-1 represented an unworthy scoreline at the break, with Ipswich deserving far more for an excellent display over the opening 45 minutes.

Conor Chaplin hit the post, Wes Burns drew an excellent save from Josh Griffiths, and there were many other encouraging moments as the visitors doggedly defended a penalty area under siege for sustained periods.

Nonetheless, the second half was a more even affair until the 74th minute heralded a breathless spell of three goals in seven minutes, with Ipswich emerging as 3-2 victors.

Pompey were indebted to two Colby Bishop penalties for their goal return, yet, in truth, hadn’t shown enough creativity throughout the contest to win outright.

Ipswich clearly had – especially in the first half – and, based on that overwhelming evidence, fully warranted the three points, no matter how painful that may be to declare.

So no witch hunt directed at the Pompey players, after all, this group defied expectations to establish a fine unbeaten record during the opening two months of the League One campaign.

For nine matches they were unsinkable, fending off Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, Peterborough and, in the Carabao Cup, Championship Cardiff. But, alas, not against Ipswich on Saturday.

Pompey have not been condemned to League One for another season on the opening day of October – and, as such, the defeat should be not greeted with hysterical wailing and demands for immediate recriminations.

This wasn’t their day, no complaints, time to swiftly move on rather than launching an inquest to root out those purportedly responsible.

In terms of analysing the match, Cowley’s men were denied the chance put their foot on the ball in the first half and, in the second, when the game had calmed down, suffered from a lack of creativity.

Owen Dale was superb once again, lighting up the visitors’ display with his energy, skill, work-rate and an intriguing running battle with left-back Leif Davis, yet more attacking influence was required from others.

Overall, very little service was provided to Bishop and Dane Scarlett, who, regardless, remain willing runners and continue to chase and hunt the ball without complaint.

Deprived of Joe Pigott through being unable to face his parent club, the strike pairing where challenged to see out the entire 90 minutes with no alternatives on the bench to replace them.

Yet they barely had a cross to feed off, unlike their hosts, with Conor Chaplin knitting things together from a number 10 role – then two drives to the byline down the left and subsequent crosses in the second half proved conclusive.

Meanwhile, Wes Burns, fittingly the match-winner, was magnificent on Ipswich’s right, giving Clark Robertson an awful time, with a lack of defensive cover contributing to the Pompey skipper’s tough afternoon.

Josh Koroma, who netted on his full debut against Plymouth, was rightly handed another start on the left wing, but struggled to find a foothold in the game, unlike Dale on the opposite flank.

Nonetheless, this group of Pompey players have continually demonstrated heart, desire and character, excellent traits once more evident at Portman Road, irrespective of the outcome.

A philosophical Cowley highlighted as much afterwards when asked if he could take anything from a result which sees his side slip into fourth.

There was no anger in his demeanour, rather generous acknowledgement of Ipswich’s talents, a strong bench and Kieran McKenna’s coaching strengths, albeit on this occasion avoiding reference to the hosts’ obvious financial power.

Pompey’s head coach even declined the opportunity to fire parting shots at those members of the Portman Road crowd who, late on when 3-2 up, irritated the visiting players by refusing to given the ball back on several lengthy occasions when it entered their end.

There were subsequent gasps of disbelief and even outrage when seven minutes of time added-on were declared, yet it hardly took forensic examination to understand why.

The Blues headed to Suffolk with one enforced change, Tom Lowery’s hamstring injury handing Joe Morrell a first league start of the campaign, while substitute Ryan Tunnicliffe, oft-mooted to depart to Australia, was included in a match-day squad for only the second time this season.

Such was Ipswich’s impressive start, it was no surprise when they took the lead on 25 minutes after Dale was dispossessed in the centre and eventually Chaplin slipped the ball through for Marcus Harness to net with an excellent finish.

However, six minutes later, Dale pushed a pass into the penalty area, the chasing Scarlett’s blistering pace took him past the sluggish Luke Woolfenden and Christian Walton brought him down for a penalty converted by Bishop.

The second period was a different affair, lacking the thrust and tempo of the opening half, yet it sprang into life on 74 minutes when Davis crossed from the left and substitute Freddie Ladapo netted with a fine first-time finish.

Just four minutes later, Sam Morsy needlessly brought down substitute Ronan Curtis, with Bishop again netting the penalty for his eighth of the campaign to make it 2-2.

Then, on 81 minutes, Kyle Edwards’ left-wing cross deflected off Connor Ogilvie and looped to the far post where it was headed home from extreme close range by Burns.

‘Slim margins’ as Cowley described it and, on this occasion, the hard facts are the better side on the day reaped the rewards.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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