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Saints V Ipswich The Preview
Saints V Ipswich The Preview
Friday, 22nd Jan 2010 08:59

With all the excitement of the last week, the  game against the Tractor Boys has almost been forgotten.

Saints fans have had a lot to concentrate on this week, with transfer news, the JPT Trophy and of course the debacle that is Portsmouth Football Club, the FA Cup and Ipswich has barely been mentioned, but now the attention turns.

So what does this game mean to Saints, well obviously the FA  Cup's low on Saints current priorities, but it shouldnt be overlooked, it offers the opportunity to bring in some money into the coffers, money that will pay for the new signings that have come in and might come in, it offers AP the  chance to give a run out to some of the fringe players and in the case of this match the chance to repay Roy Keane for the disrespect he showed to us in 2005 when we were relegated.

It is a game that is winnable, Ipswich have struggled in the league, although a 14 game run with only one defeat has seen them pull five points clear of the bottom 3, however 8 of those games have been draws and the same number have been against sides that are struggling, this tells us that that Ipswich are a tough side to beat but not a great side, one that keeps it tight and can hit you where it hurts.

For Saints though it offers them the opportunity to pit themselves against a higher division side and monitor the progress we have made, however that has to be tempered with the fact that we are a bit thin on the ground squad wise with injuries, suspensions and the fact that all three of our new signings will be unavailable due to being cup tied, but we still hhave the depth to put out a decent starting 11 and that has to be good.

It has been a good  cup run, three victories so far in our first season in the first round for half a century, in the past three wins would have seen us in the quarter finals, so this serves as a reminder to where we are.

The most likely result in my opinion is a score draw, not a result that Saints will be happy with given the fixture pile up we already have, so hopefully AP will set out to win the game and win it well.

In truth most Saints fans wont care if we go out of the competition, we have other concerns that take priority, in fact just about the only reason to really bother are to see that odious idiot Keane put in his place, traditionally Saints & Ipswich have always shared an affinity, two clubs who in the 70's & early 80's took on the big clubs and lead the way for the smaller teams in the top flight, Town of course had more success than us, but we like the rest of the country applauded them for the entertaining football and the way they conducted themselves, sadly both of us find ourselves in hard times, a straw poll  amongst Saints fans would be in favour of seeing them relegated, but that is entirely  down to the Keane factor, another poll if it asked the question would you like to see Saints  beat Ipswich, Roy Keane sacked and them stay up would be 100% in wishing that and success for them in the future.           

Photo: Action Images



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