REPORT | Ipswich Town 3 Argyle 2

Ipswich Town 3
Mumba og 45+1, Hirst 54, Harness 86

Argyle 2
Whittaker 7, Edwards 90+1

Argyle fell 3-2 at Ipswich Town, the side they edged into second in last season’s Sky Bet League One title race, in a game not without controversy.

The Pilgrims led early on via a glorious Morgan Whittaker goal, but perhaps the bigger moment of the first half came when huge claims of a foul on Mustapha Bundu, when he was through on goal, were dismissed.

Town equalised through a Bali Mumba own-goal just before half-time, and took the lead via George Hirst early in the second period. Marcus Harness scored a third for the Tractor Boys which gave a crucial cushion, especially given that Joe Edwards narrowed the margin in stoppage time.

Steven Schumacher made three changes to his starting line-up, as compared to the team that began the midweek win over Sheffield Wednesday. Ryan Hardie returned to the central striker’s role; Mickel Miller’s inclusion on the left of a back four meant Kaine Kesler-Hayden returning to right-back slot; and Luke Cundle came into the central trio, playing as one of the slightly more advanced midfielders, with Adam Randell playing from slightly deeper than of late.

The changes meant Jordan Houghton, Joe Edwards and Mustapha Bundu all began proceedings on the bench.

For Ipswich, George Edmundson came into the team for only his second start of the season, replacing Cameron Burgess at the heart of the Town defence, while Omari Hutchinson lined up on the right-hand side in place of Kayden Jackson. Former Manchester United and Aston Villa defender Axel Tuanzebe was in the Ipswich squad for the first time.

Three minutes into the game, George Hirst wriggled into space just behind the Argyle defence, and got enough on the ball to get it past Michael Cooper. However, Hirst was unable to impart enough power for the ball to get to the goal-line before Cooper recovered to claw it back into his grasp.

Free-scoring Ipswich had started the game with the confidence one might expect from a side second in the division, and who had averaged over three goals per home game in the league so far this season. However, it was Argyle, from their first serious foray forwards, who broke the deadlock.

Whittaker received the ball wide on the right, and was allowed to drift forwards, then inside. Ipswich may, perhaps, have considered that Whittaker was far enough out that it would take a bit of a wonder strike to score from where he was.

It was precisely what he produced.

The ball left Whittaker’s left foot, curled into the weak autumn sunshine and then back into the shadows by the goal patrolled by Vaclav Hladky. The Czech goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the ball arching into the net behind him. Before Hladky was back on his feet, Whittaker was before the travelling Green Army, arms aloft. It was the perfect start.

The lead gave Argyle the ability to play for the counter-attack, and it was from such a move that the Greens, in pink for the first time, burst down the left, with Bali Mumba finding Hardie. He worked the ball inside to Azaz, who jinked into the area, but was unable to get a shot away.

The attack had come at a cost. Hardie’s exertions seemed to have extended his hamstring beyond a point of comfort, and he was replaced by Bundu on 19 minutes.

Argyle’s next big chance came via persistence high up the field. After losing the ball while on the attack, Argyle doggedly pursued, and eventually won it back just yards from the bye-line. It was worked into the area for Mumba coming on to it, but he shot over the bar.

Between times, Ipswich worked the ball forward swiftly on occasions, forcing a number of corners. Two of which fell to Conor Chaplin after partial clearances, but each time Argyle got bodies in the way and the chances were gone.

A huge moment in the game came on 42 minutes, when Bundu got behind Ipswich’s high line on the halfway line, and set out towards goal. He was just outside the penalty area, poised to shoot, when he seemed to have been brought down by Edmundson, trying desperately to recover.

Referee Gavin Ward waved away the claims from Argyle, to the dismay and disbelief of all in green, white and pink. Just four minutes later, their figurative wounds had a liberal dousing of salt.

From an Ipswich set-piece, Argyle tried in vain to extract a pinballing ball, and in his desperation to clear, Mumba glanced beyond Cooper and into the net.

Argyle had a run of chances shortly after the break, with Azaz and Whittaker coming notably close, but it was the hosts who took the lead for the first time, ten minutes after the restart. Leif Davis’s ball from deep evaded Argyle’s backline enough for Hirst to get beyond, and then calmly slot past Cooper.

Unsurprisingly, the tails of the Suffolk Punches were up, and Ipswich came close to getting a third when Hutchinson worked himself a yard in the area and struck for goal. Kesler-Hayden’s block, with limbs a-flaying, did enough to divert the ball’s trajectory the right side of the post, from a Pilgrim’s perspective.

The fight was still in Argyle, though, and as the match wore on and Ipswich sought to protect their lead, more and more play took place in and around the home side’s area. Numerous cutbacks were cut out at the last, and on one occasion it looked as though Cundle had conjured a ball to Azaz, but the ball would just not fall, and Hladky gathered.

Hladky was to be the home hero, ultimately. His flying save from Dan Scarr’s header from a corner earned an ovation inside Portman Road, matched, or perhaps bettered, only by the one for his denial of substitute Joe Edwards after he got free in the area.

Harness effectively ended Argyle’s hopes of a recovery with three minutes left, as after his first shot was tremendously blocked, he was able to roll the ball in after it had fallen kindly to him a second time.

Somewhat ironically, the clincher came after Argyle had gone down to ten, with Bundu unable to complete the game. Had the denial of his first-half opportunity gone another way, so might this game.

Edwards did get a late goal, turning home from close range, to narrow the final deficit, and in stoppage time Waine nearly reached Whittaker’s low centre, but Ipswich held on.

Argyle: 1 Michael Cooper, 2 Bali Mumba, 6 Dan Scarr (capt), 9 Ryan Hardie (15 Mustapha Bundu, 19), 10 Morgan Whittaker, 14 Mickel Miller (23 Ben Waine, 60), 17 Lewis Gibson, 18 Finn Azaz (8 Joe Edwards, 78), 20 Adam Randell, 28 Luke Cundle, 29 Kaine Kesler-Hayden. Substitutes: 21 Conor Hazard (gk), 3 Macaulay Gillesphey, 4 Jordan Houghton, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 7 Matt Butcher, 15 Mustapha Bundu, 16 Lewis Warrington.

Booked: Miller 28, Mumba 62.

Ipswich Town: 31 Vaclav Hladky, 3 Leif Davis, 4 George Edmundson, 5 Sam Morsy (capt), 6 Luke Woolfenden, 10 Conor Chaplin (2 Harry Clarke, 83), 18 Brandon Williams, 20 Omari Hutchinson (19 Kayden Jackson, 77), 25 Massimo Luongo (14 Jack Taylor, 65), 27 George Hirst (24 Dane Scarlett, 77), 33 Nathan Broadhead (11 Marcus Harness, 65). Substitutes: 1 Christian Walton (gk), 9 Freddie Ladapo, 12 Dominic Ball, 40 Axel Tuanzebe. 

Booked: Luongo 32, Woolfenden 66, Williams 68, Edmundson 74.