Ipswich Town v Charlton Athletic
7:45pm Kick-Off
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire)
INTRODUCTION
With the result confirmed against Boxing Day opposition; Cardiff City, it meant that the Addicks have faced all twenty three teams in this seasons Championship, sitting in 11th place with 31-points is certainly an improvement on last season (and that position could improve on Saturday should Charlton win by at least two goals)... With all teams faced though its time to do it all again, we must forget the faults of the players from past matches, we're now in a twenty-three match play-off against all other teams from our Division and it begins this Tuesday against Ipswich Town...
THE OPPOSITION
It has only been a month since the Addicks last faced Ipswich at the Valley... On that occasion the Sky cameras came to town in what was probably one of the best performances from the home team this season with Charlton wasting plenty of chances to keep all three points in South East London... Sadly Ipswich would take those three points back to Suffolk with a last minute winner from Striker: Noel Hunt.
Since that result there has only ever been one direction from Mick McCarthy's side and that is up... Just the one draw (0-0 at Bolton Wanderers) has seen Ipswich fail to take maximum points and they currently occupy 2nd spot in the league and will go to just one point behind leaders Bournemouth with a win on Tuesday night... In fact you have to go back to the middle of October to see when Ipswich last lost (on the road at Cardiff City) whilst you have to go back to August to find when Ipswich last lost at Portman Road, the Addicks will certainly need to be on top of their game to get a win this midweek.
KEY PLAYER
Even though they didnt feature at the Valley this season there are plenty of ex-Addicks who could come up against their old side this Tuesday in Midfielders: Cameron Stewart and Darren Ambrose whilst the link from Charlton is academy graduate: Morgan Fox... Of course the main player to have appeared for both sides is probably striker: Darren Bent.
My player to watch though is currently top of the Championship scoring charts: Daryl Murphy who has 16-goals to his name this term... Starting his career at Luton Town, Daryl would come to fame signing for Sunderland in 2005 having a 5-year spell at the club, initially signing for the Tractor Boys on loan, Murphy has gone on to have four spells in Suffolk with a stint at Celtic in between... With three goals in his last two matches, our defenders will once again need to be at the top of their game to keep the Irish striker from adding to his tally.
LINE-UP
With Charlton fighting back from a goal down against Cardiff on Boxing Day, Peeters could be loath to make changes, the one forced change will be Callum Harriott who serves a ban following his red card on Friday... Neil Etheridge should remain in goal whilst it remains to be seen if Chris Solly continues or if he is rested.
Etheridge
Solly - Ben-Haim - Bikey - Gomez
Gudmundsson - Buyens - Jackson - Cousins
Vetokele - Tucudean
PREDICTION
Teams have to lose at some stage and I see revenge for the late goal last time out.
Ipswich Town 0-1 Charlton Athletic
1
Comments
COYA!
1-1.
They had a good win at Brentford, but they were not better than us at the Valley. If Igor is champing at the bit to make amends and JBG carries on where he left off, we can surprise them.
5 Yellows and 2 Reds he gave
1-1 banker
Got a feeling we may get something from this, not quite confident enough to predict a win, but 2-2 maybe??
Sod it, 1-0 Charlton, re run of the last trip to the eastern waste lands.
Nervous about the game but delighted with the 10 minute drive to Portman Road from ours.
My prediction is 1-1 but I would not be surprised if we sneaked a win.
Happy either way as ITFC playing with confidence.