Leeds are optimistic of getting a result away to Ipswich Town tomorrow, but it will help if we can keep 11 men on the field for the full 90 minutes.
Brian McDermott was certainly feeling optimistic when he spoke to the official site ahead of the game. "I think our team has done really well. We’ve looked like a solid unit, we look like we are difficult to play against and difficult beat. We’ve got resilience and desire, we’ve been down a goal in every home game and got back and got a result. I’d say it’s been a solid start but I know the Championship. You have to hang in there and pick up points.”
You could certainly say that we’ve been hard to break down, especially in the last away game at Leicester, but the problem has been that we haven’t offered much going forward, so the last two games have been a little bit on the dull side. On our recent visits to Ipswich we have at least started the games in a positive frame of mind, but the problem at this particular venue is that we’ve had a man sent off in each of the last four games.
Kevin Nicholls started the trend in our relegation season of 2006/7, unwisely getting involved in a spat when he was already on a yellow card. Our next trip to Portman Road had to wait until we were back in the Championship in 2010/11, and Alex Bruce had to play out of position at full-back. Ipswich knew their former player’s limitations and targeted most attacks down that side, leaving Bruce dazed, confused and picking up two yellow cards.
Next it was Aidy White’s turn for what I thought was an accidental collision but the ref deemed to be a professional foul. And Tom Lees was the victim of an equally harsh straight red last season, for a foul I thought deserved no more than a booking. In both games we’d been the better side before the sending off, but I moaned enough about both decisions in the match reports I wrote at the time, so maybe I should just let it all go and move on.
The team news is that we have no new injury problems, as Paul Green has recovered from the knock that caused him to be taken off against Wednesday last week, and El-Hadji Diouf continued to work his way back to fitness by playing the full 90 minutes in a development game against Barnsley in midweek. Meanwhile new signing Scott Wootton is likely to go straight into the squad to bolster our defence.
Ipswich have suffered two defeats in three league games so far, but they came in difficult away games at QPR and Reading, while their one home game saw a comfortable victory over Millwall. They could be an outside bet for a promotion challenge this season under Mick McCarthy, who did well to pull them out of the relegation zone last season after taking over from the hopeless Pau Jewell.
Their midfield player Cole Skuse will have a fitness test after being taken off against QPR last week, but defender Tyrone Mings will definitely be missing, as he faces more weeks on the sidelines with his knee injury.
We haven’t won at Portman Road since we beat them 2-1 twice in the calendar year 2001, so it’s about time we had another victory down there. But much as my heart is set on a win for Leeds, my head says a draw is more likely, in a closely fought game between two well-matched sides.