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Match Report: Ipswich 1-2 Preston | Help spread the word: Share on Facebook 
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Ipswich Town slumped to a disappointing home defeat on the opening day of the season, going down 2-1 to Preston North End. Paul Bloomfield reports.The Ipswich Town starting line-up included all four summer signings, with the surprise inclusion of youngster Tommy Smith in the Ipswich defence. Jim Magilton decided to keep faith with the defender, who had started both pre-season friendly matches at Portman Road. Ipswich got off to the perfect start, with less than two minutes on the clock when Kevin Lisbie headed home Danny Haynes’ delivery into the box. Neither Lisbie nor the Town fans could have wished for a better start, with the striker making his debut for the club. The Blues continued to look sharp in the opening exchanges, and would ultimately be left to rue the chances they missed during this period. Pablo Couñago was guilty of squandering the best opportunity when he failed to make good contact with the ball, scuffing what turned out to be a weak effort from a promising position. The visitors pulled level in the 21st minute with a stunning long-range effort from Paul McKenna. The midfielder found himself with plenty of space outside the box, and sent a powerful shot past Richard Wright in the Ipswich Town goal. Preston began to dictate the play after scoring the goal, and Town seemed to fall apart defensively in what was a mad few minutes. Having escaped a close shave moments beforehand, the Blues were caught out by a quickly taken free-kick in the 34th minute. Town players were still busy disputing the award of the set-piece when the kick was taken, which led to a low cross being sent into the box and Simon Whaley tucking the ball home from close range. Ipswich failed to make an impact for the remainder of the half and went in behind at the break. Alan Quinn made way for Tommy Miller at half-time, with Danny Haynes switching sides to take up Quinn’s vacated left-sided position and Miller taking up a right-sided role. Early in the second half, a defensive error by Preston handed Owen Garvan the opportunity to level the score, but the Irishman dragged his shot wide of the post. Ipswich had come out of the dressing room looking a lot livelier than the team that left the field at half-time. Alan Lee was introduced into the game just past the hour mark, with Pablo Couñago the man to make way. The Irishman almost put his side on terms minutes later when he saw his curling effort narrowly pass the wrong side of the post. Ipswich were denied the award of a penalty in the dying moments, after Kevin Lisbie appeared to be brought down. The referee, who had frustrated Town fans all afternoon, wasn’t going to change his ways, and waved play on. The man in black blew the full-time whistle moments later. In rainy conditions that are not normally associated with the opening day of the season, defensive debutants Gareth McAuley and Pim Balkestein didn’t do a lot wrong, but were both guilty of a few misplaced passes. Richard Wright could have done nothing about Paul McKenna’s sweetly struck equaliser, and other than the two goals Preston scored; the Ipswich goalkeeper was only called into action to make an elementary save low down to his left. Kevin Lisbie was the most impressive of the new signings, with his pace and ability to run at the opposition defence evident. Tommy Smith must also be commended for his performance at the heart of Town’s defence. The surprise inclusion didn’t look out of place and put in a confident and assured display. After an impressive opening few minutes of the game, Town seemed to switch off and ended up paying the price. Whilst the second half was a major improvement, with Town enjoying the lion’s share of the possession, the home side lacked any real conviction and didn’t create the number of goal-scoring opportunities that they perhaps should have done. Ipswich will be in action again on Tuesday, when playing host to Leyton Orient in the Carling Cup. Town will be looking to recover from this weekend’s defeat when they travel to Turf Moor next Saturday in the next Championship encounter against Burnley. Paul Bloomfield Click to view author Paul Bloomfield's profile Fancy writing for LiveFootball? Click here to find out more. |