MINI MATCH REPORT Birmingham City clung on for the draw which relegated Ipswich Town but it could have been so much more. The visitors were utterly dominant in the first half but failed to capitalise on their openings and ended up with a result that satisfied no-one. Garry Monk made two changes to the team which drew with Sheffield United in midweek with Kerim Mrabti and Jota in for Jacques Maghoma and Connor Mahoney. Both players had plenty of attacking opportunities in a first half Blues dominated. As it was they went into the half time break with just a single goal lead – courtesy of Lukas Jutkiewicz. (Image: EMPICS Sport) That came after seven minutes when Maxime Colin surged into the Town box and squared for Jutkiewicz to turn home. Jota and Mrabti both had good chances in the opening period but were wasteful and the visitors also spurned several free kicks in promising positions as Ipswich offered very little. That all changed when the emerged from the interval though and the kittens became lions. They got their reward within a minute of the restart at Gwion Edwards volleyed home Josh Emmanuel’s deep cross and Portman Road exploded. Seconds later Alan Judge hit the post and seconds after that Emmanuel skimmed the same upright with a curling effort. Adams and Mrabti both had clear chances to regain the lead and Jutkiewicz was guilty of a glaring miss from a Mahoney corner. But in the end Blues had one point and the Tractor Boys were headed for League One. ‘LUCKY’ Monk was left frustrated by his Blues side as he cited a lack of a clinical edge as the reason for their draw with Ipswich Town. “I said before the game it was going to be a tough game, they are fighting and you can see from their second half, they gave everything. “The case for us was we were nowhere near clinical enough. (Image: TIM EASTHOPE/BIRMINGHAM MAIL) “We had the chances to win the game, especially after getting ourselves in the lead we had four, five, six good chances to make it where they couldn’t come out and show that reaction or be close to putting us in a situation where we were maybe lucky to even get a point from it. “We are disappointed with it, especially after such a good first half, creating the chances but when the score is 1-0 a team that is fighting is going to come out and give themselves a chance. “Even in the second half we had three really good chances and didn’t take them. You can’t do that if you want to take the three points. “The positive was it’s another point we wanted the three, tried hard to get the three, should have got the three but we weren’t clinical enough today. “You leave yourself open when in the first half you should have been in a much more comfortable position. Unfortunately 1-0 leaves you that. “We knew that it was never going to be all our own way here but the bottom line is we weren’t clinical enough to take the chances here and that’s a shame because we weren’t clinical enough.” FANS REACT (Image: EMPICS Sport) @BeatusBluey: Should of had it won in the first half but could easy of lost it in the second when Ipswich came out fighting for there lives so all in all a point was about right @boomasylum99: Ipswich worked so hard in the second half shame they’ve gone down too big a club to be in league one hopefully they’ll be back soon, have to feel like it’s two points dropped especially with the way we played in the first half @MarkSimo98: Happy with the result to be fair. Got another point on the bored… not always an easy place to go Ipswich even if they are on the way down @dc180: Poor second half cost us, looking a little tired towards the end … at least we didn’t lose … on to Derby @JSBluess; _: Worst second half we’ve had all season @Kei_City So empty performance today, we’re lucky to have a point tbh. If we can only show what we’re truly are against strong side then we could be out from this division! Shocking display @MarkWatson1875: Under normal circumstances I’d have said that a point against Ipswich isn’t good enough, but it’s a lot easier to take after picking up 4pts against Leeds and the Blades. Typical Birmingham City result. Let’s be honest, we all knew it was coming READ MORE THE CHAMPIONSHIP RELEGATION PICTURE One down, two to go. Ipswich’s draw with Blues confirmed their relegation to League One and Bolton could go next week. The Trotters meek relegation is almost inked in after they were thumped 4-0 by Derby County. Rotherham currently occupy the final relegation spot and sit on 40 points after earning a point a Stoke City. Wigan are one point ahead of The Millers, having played a game less. Unfortunately for The Latics, that game in hand is against Champions elect Norwich later today. It’s then Millwall on 42 points who earned a spectacular draw with Sheffield United and Reading on 44 who beat Brentford. Blues are next on 46 points, six points ahead of the drop zone with four games to go. It’s Derby on Good Friday before relegation crunch clashes with Rotherham, Wigan and Reading. FOR ALL YOUR LATEST BLUES NEWS, OPINION, ANALYSIS AND TRANSFER GOSSIP, CLICK HERE Source link The post Birmingham City fans lament ’empty performance’ against Ipswich as Garry Monk fumes appeared first on 10z Soccer. #GarryMonk #AlanJudge #BirminghamCityFC
