Ipswich hoodoo rolls on

I hate Ipswich and I hate football and I hate away games.

It was a nice, early start to the day. We set off on the long drive to Suffolk at about 9:30, with sleep in our eyes and smiles on our faces. I know we have a poor record at Portman Road, but some time that had to change. It has been a season where we've managed to end a couple of jinxes, and I was feeling fairly confident about our chances on the day.

The journey down was pretty stress free, until we hit the A14 outside Ipswich where the roadworks are causing havoc. We read the warnings on the official website, and gave ourselves plenty of time to get through them, but it's so frustrating to be so close to the ground and yet so far away. Eventually we fought our way through the queues and got ourselves parked up, and headed towards the ground.

There wasn't much around Portman Road, although we did eventually find a nice bar to grab a couple of pints, thanks to the advice of a friendly steward (the only friendly steward of the day). The pub was called the Old Orleans Bar and it was a nice place with a decent mix of fans in there. We'll be heading there next season, assuming both our sides are in the same division again.

After a couple of drinks, we headed to the ground. Before the game, I'd been told that Portman Road wasn't a nice ground, and as yesterday was my first visit, I was unsure what to expect. However, I quite liked the place. It's fairly old fashioned, or at least a couple of the stands are, and the away end is low and enclosed, which always helps generate a good atmosphere. It's a good job we did, as the home fans sat in silence for the majority of the game, although they haven't had much to cheer this season. They were a playoff favourite as the campaign kicked off, yet they've battled all season to stave off the threat of relegation. In midweek they were kept in the changing rooms for well over an hour after losing away at Watford, and they're probably desperate to get enough points on the board to survive, and move on to next season.

The frisking was a bit extreme on the way into the ground. I swear, any more vigorous and the steward would have had to marry me. But we got in, and got ourselves into the concourse in time to grab a coffee. My dad asked for a "coffee mate, please", which led to much confusion behind the counter as the bloke serving us scratched his head and said "Is that the powdered stuff?". We sort of attempted to clear up the misunderstanding, but by this time we were just ready to get sat down and watch the Reds hopefully end our nightmare run of results at Portman Road.

The game itself was dreadful. They were better in the first half, and could probably have been 2 or 3 up by the break. Luke Steele will take a lot of flack for the goal, and rightly so, because I've seen the replay several times and it's getting worse and worse. Why not just put your boot through it? Was it really a clever idea to let the ball run out? Luke clearly thought the ball was out of play, but if he puts it in the crowd, what's the worst that can happen? A throw in to them instead of us. It was a terrible piece of decision making, and it's fair to say it cost us a point yesterday. If you haven't seen it yet, you're in for a treat.

The second half, we were better but still not good, and we could still be playing now without scoring. Boggy had a slim sight of goal late on but it wasn't enough to be considered an actual 'chance'. Hume came on and looked poor again, and even his set piece delivery wasn't up to scratch, which isn't like the Iain Hume we know. Not having a reserve team is killing his season, and I hope he stays on until next year when we have the reserves back and he can get match fit.

The stewards were totally over the top all day inside the ground. I don't know what they were expecting to happen, but we were surrounded by Police up where we were sat, and anyone who stood up for so much as a second were immediately jumped on by the fuzz. Also, twice I went into the toilets and was followed by 2 stewards each time. Maybe I'm just dodgy looking or something, but they seemed intent on ruining what was threatening to be a decent atmosphere in the away end. The travelling fans were still in good voice throughout, and the Swansea chant was great. For the record, I will be going to Swansea, although hopefully I won't be sitting down.

As the full time whistle drew closer, we pressed more and more but never really looked like getting an equaliser. I was willing them forward, heading every ball, desperately wanting something to break for us. But it didn't, and we were beaten by a goal that wouldn't have looked out of place on a school football pitch.

When we got back into the car, we put Radio Suffolk on, hoping to catch some reaction to the non-event we'd just witnessed, but apparently the Championship is an afterthought, the real footballing action in Suffolk comes from the Zamaretto Division One South & West. They had match reports, manager interviews, the lot. Maybe they just don't like interviewing Roy Keane. I can't say as I'd blame them.

The journey home was a total nightmare, and just summed our day up perfectly. I wasn't aware that they take the roads in on a night in Suffolk, but we were diverted from both the A14 and the A1 through God-only-knows-where before we were finally back on route home, just in time to hit some sort of meteor crater in the road and blow a tyre. When we first got into the car outside Portman Road, our sat nav gave us an estimated return time of 8:30pm. At 10:15, I was retrieving a wheel trim on some quiet country road in the middle of nowhere. Like I said, I hate football and I hate away games.

Despite all that, I wish I was heading to Bristol on Tuesday night, but work commitments are keeping me away from Ashton Gate this season. If we play like we did yesterday, then we'll more than likely be beaten, although it all depends who turns up; the Jekyll of the Preston match, or the Hyde of Reading. Yet again, we sit pretty much an equal distance from the dogfight and the playoff fight, so all the points we can get are very much welcome. It's proving difficult to see just how our season is going to pan out.

Thanks for reading.