626: Kings of Anglia: Two wins from the Premier League

23 Apr 2026 · 1 h 2 min · 25 chapters

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In short

Ipswich Town’s 2-1 Championship win at Charlton (Valley) after conceding in 43 seconds; discussion of team selection, game turning points, Darnell Furlong’s impact, penalty controversy, defensive resilience, and what the result means for automatic promotion (two wins from the Premier League).

Guests (backgrounds)

Mark Heath (host). Alex Jones (AJ) is a fan who didn’t see the match live due to a press-box wall; provides tactical/selection analysis. “Rossi” (Rossi) attended pitchside and emphasizes atmosphere/away support and match details.

Key claims

Ipswich showed character by responding after a poor start and then controlling the second half; they defended the lead comfortably. Darnell Furlong is an “unsung hero” and a player-of-the-season contender for consistency. The penalty for Ipswich was legitimate (“definitely a penalty”), and Ipswich are getting more penalties than rivals. Automatic promotion is now within reach: six points from three games would likely clinch it.

Notable examples

Furlong’s equalizer from ~20–25 yards after Filagene/Matasiewa involvement; early Johnson error leading to Charlton’s first goal; Furlong’s foul won the penalty scored by Jadon Filagene; Jacob Greaves’ defensive performances after coming back; Leif Davis missing with injury.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Post-Match Reactions

1:12 to 1:50

Hosts share their thoughts on Ipswich Town's recent win at Charlton Athletic.

“Before we start, though, let's get our friends in.”

Team Performance Analysis

1:50 to 4:16

Discussion on team changes and performance reflecting on Ipswich's strategy.

“But I was meant to actually eat that pitch side yesterday, but I didn't in the end.”

Kieran McKenna's Insights

4:16 to 6:02

Analyzing Kieran McKenna's post-match comments on the team's character and performance.

“Then we can get into breaking the win down.”

Game Breakdown & Key Moments

6:02 to 14:00

In-depth analysis of match events, including team reactions and key goals.

“The first talking point, AJ, I'm going to come to you on this, is the team because there are only two changes, only one of which was actually not in force with Leif Davis missing out through injury again.”

Furlong's Equalizer and Its Importance

14:00 to 16:34

Learn about Furlong’s crucial goal and its significance for the team.

“They did carve a chance out that was good, wasn't it?”

Darnell Furlong: The Unsung Hero

16:34 to 19:08

Discussing Furlong's contributions and his role as a right-back.

“So it's not like a Leif Davis role where you're bombing up the flank.”

Player of the Season Conversations

19:08 to 23:28

Analyzing Furlong's potential candidacy for player of the season.

“Just the case of just doing everything I can personally.”

Second Half Resilience and Performance

23:28 to 27:34

Examining the team's performance in the second half and their comeback.

“which is solid, defensive, almost doubling up as a centre-back.”

Controversial Penalty Decisions

27:34 to 28:05

Debating the penalty awarded in the match and its implications.

“It felt for a while like it wouldn't because Charlton are really good defensively.”

Analyzing the Penalty Decisions

28:05 to 29:50

Discussion on the recent penalties awarded to Ipswich Town and their implications.

“And I don't really like to see those given, but I can kind of understand why.”
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Defensive Strength and Character

29:51 to 31:58

Exploration of Ipswich's defensive performance and character in recent matches.

“I mean, I guess maybe the Leicester game where they should have had two penalties and then Stoke a couple of days after maybe that one and maybe the Davis ban.”

Jacob Greaves: A Rising Star

31:59 to 35:24

Highlighting Jacob Greaves' impressive performances and his role in the defense.

“especially at the Valley, as we spoke about earlier.”

Promotion Chances and Challenges

35:25 to 37:30

Analyzing Ipswich's promotion prospects and upcoming challenges in the league.

“given the short turnaround off the back of Borough and everything with Davis.”

Pressure and Final Matches

37:31 to 39:48

Discussing the pressure on Ipswich Town as they approach the end of the season.

“We know that Town have got difficult games to finish with.”

The Road Ahead: Final Thoughts

39:49 to 42:00

Final reflections on the team's potential and upcoming crucial matches.

“pressure rossi because again milwall go first they play friday night at leicester and leicester going home as a relegated side.”

Reflections on Recent Performance

42:00 to 43:35

Discussion about the team's recent challenges and upcoming crucial games.

“I think we had a little blip against Pompey.”

Analyzing Upcoming Opponents

43:35 to 45:25

Examining the strengths and weaknesses of West Brom and Southampton.

“I don't think they're going to win their next two games.”

Lineup Changes and Strategies

45:25 to 46:39

Debating potential changes to the lineup for the next crucial game.

“This is when the rubber meets the road, as our American friends say.”

Injury Updates and Team Dynamics

46:39 to 49:56

Updates on player injuries and the impact on team performance.

“Then I'll go, yeah, okay, it's a little bit of travel.”

Thoughts on Recent Matches

49:56 to 50:56

Casual analysis of recent matches and personal experiences.

“If Davis isn't fully fit, you go with Johnson again.”

Prediction League and Friendly Banter

50:56 to 56:01

Light-hearted discussion about the prediction league and standings.

“It's, I think sometimes that could go a bit under the radar, but there is some potential players.”

Upcoming Matches and Team Updates

56:01 to 1:00:01

Discussing upcoming games for Ipswich Town and recent performances from both the men's and women's teams.

“One of us went to somewhere like the Maldives.”

Upcoming Matches and Team Updates

1:00:03 to 1:00:46

Discussing upcoming games for Ipswich Town and recent performances from both the men's and women's teams.

“If you could, just help lift us visibility-wise in the charts.”

Upcoming Matches and Team Updates

1:02:45 to 1:03:12

Discussing upcoming games for Ipswich Town and recent performances from both the men's and women's teams.

“But when I get on my phone and play real casino games on spinquest.com, the time flies by.”

Upcoming Matches and Team Updates

1:03:14 to 1:03:41

Discussing upcoming games for Ipswich Town and recent performances from both the men's and women's teams.

“Get the best quality paints from Dutch Boy for all your projects at Minaris.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a$30 coin pack for just$10. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Void where prohibited. Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.

0:38hello friends and welcome to the afternoon after the night before welcome to the koa podcast proudly sponsored by molecular uk and welcome friends to another twist in this quite frankly odd bizarre slightly crazy season phillipswich town 2-1 win last night at charlton started terribly, then got better. Real show of character last night. And now they stand two wins away from a return, immediate return, to the land of milk and honey that is the Premier League. I'm Mark Heath. I'm joined by Alex Jones and the boy Roscoe to break all things Charlton Athletic down from last night, talk about the game, and have a bloody good chinwag, really.

1:18Before we start, though, let's get our friends in. Rossi, how are you?

1:25Ross Halls:I'm all good. This season is even more weirder because it was another just weird night at the Valley. It was great scenes at the end, but it just still felt like, well, that was a game of football. And yeah, but we got the three points, job done. So got to be happy about that. And yeah, getting out of London is never fun, but uh got home safe and sound about 1am got got in i weirdly always have a cup of tea i don't know why so i've still had to do a few little bits and bobs and um i have a shireen i don't know i always go on a tangent when i do the intros but we're gonna go with it do you know shireen's yeah fruit loaf yeah yeah i just i always have that um do you butter it no i just have it plain because it's in the packaging but i know you can get a loaf can't you a proper loaf and cut it.

2:22Ross Halls:This is the like snack version. But I was meant to actually eat that pitch side yesterday, but I didn't in the end. And I went through my bag and went, oh, all right then, we'll have that. So that would come to 1am and go, hmm, three cup finals to go. Pugh, this season, eh? Football, bloody hell. I would spread that with butter, Ross, and probably put some cheese on it as well. Because I'm a decadent old man. Someone who's not a decadent old man. He's a decadent young man. AJ, how are you? Yeah, I'm all good. This podcast is going to be really good for me because, as I said to you yesterday, I didn't actually get to watch any of the game because there was, from the press box, a massive wall in front of me.

3:05Was that actually a wall? It's essentially just the front of the stand. But because the seats are so low down, they're basically level with said wall in the stand where the press box is, The press box at Charlton is one long row, which basically takes up the whole stand. You don't have, like, often press boxes. There's different rows, like short rows, one behind the other. This is just one big row. And whoever designed this, whoever built this, didn't factor in that the wall that you get at the end of the terrace, at the end of the stand, was too high that unless you're some sort of giant, which I certainly am not, but even people who are very tall had no chance of seeing over.

3:50So if you're sat down, you probably see about half the pitch. If you kind of lean your way up, you might be able to get down to near enough full view. But I didn't get a great view of it. So I'm looking forward to you guys telling me everything that happened at the Valley. Yeah, ironically, given you were our man there covering the game. Stuart Watson failed a late fitness test, so he's watching on TV at home, as was I. And Ross obviously was pitch side, so I'd imagine had a good view. Right then, let's hear from Kieran McKenna first of all, shall we? Then we can get into breaking the win down.

4:18Very important win. Another ride in the rollercoaster that's Ipswich Town. Here's Kieran. Kieran, big win from behind tonight. What did you make of that one?

4:28Kieran McKenna:Yeah, big win. I really like how we won, to be honest, because, yeah, of course, conceding a goal that early in such a big game was a big blow. So, yeah, to have that and then naturally from that then the first 10 minutes are tough and you can't get a foothold in the game and the opponents are right up and the crowd's right up is a big night for them as well. So to come back from that and the way that we've done it in terms of showing belief in our football, sticking to it, imposing ourselves on the game, sort of play our way back into the game, stay confident in what we do, score a really good goal in the first half, one or two other big chances and then come out in the second half really strong and get, I think, a deserved lead at that point.

5:11Kieran McKenna:I think it was a big show of character from the group, a big show of progression from, you know, over the course of the season. I think clearly a big show of progression from our first game against Charlton, and we've spoken about that plenty, about, you know, how this group have had to sort of come together and learn over the course of the season how to react in those sort of moments. So I think that was the big thing from the night. Of course, we would like to have got the third goal, maybe controlled it a little bit more with the ball in the second half, but it's natural in this type of game at this stage of the season that it doesn't always go that way and we had to see it out with some fantastic defending headers, blocks at the end and actually go through it and I'm not sure we've given up a chance in the second half against a team who were really trying to put it on us and that was another really strong bit of the performance.

6:01OK, right, let's dive into the talking points then. The first talking point, AJ, I'm going to come to you on this, is the team because there are only two changes, only one of which was actually not in force with Leif Davis missing out through injury again. Again, obviously he was banned before. What did you make of the team? Do you expect to see more rotation? I've got to be honest, I was quite surprised that we didn't see more changes. I kind of changed my mind on this going into the game where initially I thought, yeah, and we spoke on the pod earlier in the week and I said three or four changes was kind of the way that I saw it going.

6:36and then Stu brought up the comments from Kieran McKenna which is at this stage of the season we can't rotate for argument's sake and when you look through the team and how they played against Borough and what happened where more changes were made in that game against Pompey and the very flat performance there we've seen this story before Ipswich have a high energy, high intensity game over the weekend and the feeling is right let's make three, four, five changes going into a midweek game often away from home at a team ranked mid-table or lower and they've then gone and found it really, really difficult.

7:12And at this point, where the finish line is so close, I think they're not tinkering with things too much, especially, again, given the positives from that Borough game and the fact that that's near enough to what I think Ipswich's strongest team was. I then thought, actually, with McKenna's comments, it made sense to go with what he went with. it was the I think it was a couple of changes out from what I thought it was going to be maybe one or two and the Davis one obviously was the big twist but other than that there wasn't really a great deal I think that bringing Anis Mimetti in was the obvious move with the way that Marcelino Nunez's week was last week a very interesting few days wasn't it with the Norwich game and the poor display at Pompey stuff like that other than that keeping the core the same, Philogene goes again then Taylor partnering Matasiwa, the back line otherwise staying unchanged, having Casey McIntyre ready to go again.

8:09I wasn't hugely surprised and I thought it was the right call, to be honest. Yeah, I don't hate it. I like consistency in team selection, especially this time of the season. I was surprised to see even a Zon start over George Hurst. Rossi, that team that started didn't start very well, fair to say. 43 seconds in, they're 1-0 down. And I'm effing and jeffing at the TV. Here we effing, chuffing go again, I said. indeed in the group chat. And I realised at that point, I'd forgotten, of course, about the curse of the valley. You know, we saw that horrible night after Paul Cook got the old Spanish archer and it's basically fans and players, you know, big totes trying to scrap with fans.

8:46Dear old Bloom has spontaneously combusted on game day after that game. There was the 4-4, obviously, in the promotion season. That was mental. So what did you think when that goal went in? Because I've been worried, as we know, because I put it in the group chat yesterday, that this team don't have the guts for the fight. They haven't got enough bottle about them. There's not enough street fighters in the team to really dig in when times are hard. So when they went 1-0 down, I was like, oh God, they're going to throw it all away. What did you think, Ross?

9:15Ross Halls:Yeah, I did go, oh, here we go again. This is going to be a long, long night, especially taking on a Nathan Jones team. And of course, they've got a number from early in the season at 3-0 defeat at Portland Roads. and not 43 seconds on the clock, which was not good. I wasn't really. I was sort of getting myself prepared. It takes me a few minutes to make sure my settings or my camera is sorted because, I don't know, sometimes some stadiums, definitely night games, they change the front lights a little bit or it gets brighter than you're expecting or darker. So it takes me a while to adjust my settings and I just remember just doing a few test shots and then I just saw, oh, well, save.

9:56Ross Halls:Oh, and end goal. Not a good start, really bad start. And we've seen, unfortunately, this team have not been able to come back or it's knocked them a little bit. They lose their heads. But their reaction wasn't great. But yeah, they conceded that early on. It's not good. And Cholton fans, they were loving it. And of course, I had their way in right in front of me and they were just in shell shock. Did you see it AJ from your not so perfect vantage point And what did you make of it Because clearly Ben Johnson makes the error But then as Luke Chambers actually said on the TV From that point they've still got to do quite a lot To put it in the back of the net And there are various other mistakes as well You could argue that Walton just kind of pushes the ball back Into danger, that kind of thing So what did you make of the goal and their reaction Because as Ross says they didn't really then Kind of recover from that for a little while actually And it did feel like they're not going to be able to do this where's the character well you know where's the heart that kind of stuff yeah i like that luke chambers was uh on tv and was also on the pitch for charlton for a bit of good fun um the the goal conceded was really poor shades of the girl the goal they conceded the the second goal that borough scored over the weekend where it was a giveaway down the same side obviously that one was davis losing the ball and this one was Johnson with a pass and then Town not being able to get their shape back quickly enough I think the goal against Borough probably was worse because they did get back in time and still couldn't stop the initial shot and the goal.

11:41This time there was no protection maybe that's worse in a way actually thinking about it where Greaves was left exposed O'Shea was left exposed. Furlong tracking back was left exposed. There was no cover there. I guess it just comes because it's such a bolt of the blue with Johnson losing the ball totally unexpectedly from Ipswich's kickoff. So, yeah, that was the frustration there. Different elements, of course, to it. Should Walton do better, I think? Yeah, there's definitely a side where I think he should either hold the ball or be able to push it somewhere that isn't straight into Doherty.

12:19And then it's also unfortunate as well that O'Shea probably comes quite close to keeping the shot out with a block, but then ends up almost turning the ball into his own net, basically. So that was disappointing. And then the response was really poor. I thought that pretty much up until the goal goes in, which came from next to nothing, I thought that the chances, inverted commas, they created didn't really feel like clear opportunities. I thought that the attacking passages of play had no real semblance to a Kieran McKenna team. They didn't really feel like really clear and noticeable. If you said, what is the identity, the attacking identity of this team, and I hadn't watched them before, based off that game, I'd have absolutely no clue, really.

13:06It just felt like attack and vibes, basically, with no other structure. and then the biggest concern for me on top of things like giving the ball away poor passes heavy touches the body language off the back of the goal they can see was dreadful it was hands on hips it was slumped it was heads down i really didn't like that um it changes with the goal it improves with with the goal uh who knows what would have happened if furlong doesn't hit that and to the back of the net from 20 yards. But definitely the response to falling behind, I was really disappointed by. Yeah, it was bad. And you say the body language at times is not positive, is it, around the side, which does make me worry.

13:50Because, you know, clearly, although they are close now to being promoted, there are still three big games left to go and no doubt some more twists and turns. And they're going to need resilience and character, especially the next two games away at West Brom and Southampton. They did carve a chance out that was good, wasn't it? just before they scored with Furlong, who we'll talk about a lot, creating a chance for even Azon, who completely fluffed it. And again, I was like, oh, here we go. You know, I love, I want to love even so badly, but he did, he should have done so much better with that.

14:22And it was, it was again, this kind of feeling of this, you know, it's not going to go right for us tonight. But then the equaliser did come, Ross, and it kind of sort of exploded from nowhere because Filagene had done nothing really, suddenly creates a bit of space with a bit of magic, feeds it to Matasiewa, who then sets up Furlong. Absolute rocket from Furlong. I don't know if rocket's the right word, actually, because it never really got off the floor, did it? But it was a perfectly driven right-footed hammer from, what, 20, 25 yards. And for his first goal for the club, important time, brilliant.

14:57Ross Halls:Yeah, you know what? It's been coming very quietly. You know, he came close. Oh, he's in a box at Borough for the Borough. Yeah, he should have scored that, shouldn't he? Yeah, so it's been coming. And as a right-back, you don't get in that many positions, do you, really? He's the one who sort of creates chances and starts moves off. But yeah, some appreciation for Jadon Finnejean, because I've just watched a goal back. And at the time, I was swearing at Jadon for that first half an hour, because I thought he was dreadful. Some of his passes, he was bullied off the ball. But you've got to appreciate him giving the ball to Azor Matosiwa, do a nice little chip pass.

15:35Ross Halls:And then Furlong, who fair play to even take the shot on because he could have potentially passed it to someone else and maybe overpassed it, but he just went for it and really good strike. And what a way to score your first town goal, a very important moment. So we needed to get that equalised before the break because I was a bit worried if we're behind and Nathan Jones would have done his team talk and they would have shut up a shop and really defended their lives. But, yeah, Darnell Furlong, a bit of an unsung hero in this town team. Just a solid player. He's been on and off, though, I'll have to admit, the last few weeks or so.

16:13Ross Halls:But as a season as a whole, very much been an unsung hero. I think right backs probably don't get as appreciated as other players. You know, you've got Leif Davis at left back. He's obviously a fan's favourite because of the amount of years he's been here and assists and stuff. But Darnell Furlong, I think we've got to give him some love, especially making you know key moments in this game you know winning the penalty later on yeah um we're going to hear from donna in a second i want to spend a little bit of time talking about him this season aj and his contribution did we think in terms of the goal though did we know he had that in his locker because that was a beautiful finish no because he missed a much easier opportunity over the weekend where he slotted through on on goal and and kind of i don't want to say fluffed his lines because that's harsh for a right back making a marauding run from deep but that's kind of how it felt in the moment i think the term i'd use i i thought lasered into the bottom lane it was kind of like hit yeah yeah yeah with with power but it wasn't like a kind of a venomous ripping the net strike it was low and hard precise yeah precision is definitely the the name of the game with this shot it's kind of a congested area i think that if there weren't quite a few bodies in front of the ball i think that kaminsky would have had a better shot a better chance of getting down to it but um yeah maybe five percent fortune 95 real quality with that strike definitely didn't see it coming but um we've seen attacking contributions from him he's a defense first right back that's for sure and that's why as ross says he's probably a little bit of the unsung hero as right backs are in McKenna's system because they end up almost playing as centre-backs at times.

17:52So it's not like a Leif Davis role where you're bombing up the flank. But he's had those opportunities. He's chipped in with the odd assist. He's had probably three or four moments where he really should have scored. And this is one where he shouldn't have scored. You don't expect Darnell Furlong to have a moment like that. But my word, could that be looked back on in some way when we get to the end of the season? and obviously it will hinge on what happens between now and the end of the campaign. But that was some moment. Yeah, and he really celebrated it, didn't he? Which sounds obviously obvious he's going to celebrate a goal.

18:24But the way he celebrated it, he knew how important it was and what a big moment it was. Let's hear from him and then I'll talk a little bit more about him. The first goal for the club, did you envisage it coming in that fashion? It was some striking outside the box, wasn't it? Yeah, it was a nice goal. It was a really nice goal. More so the timing that I was happy with. Scoring in the half after going a goal down, it was an important one. So, yeah, really happy. And, you know, the boys dug so deep to go and get the job done over the line. I was going to mention the timing of the goal. It felt quite crucial after the poor start.

18:52Yeah, yeah, it was a tough start. But, you know, it happens. We've been there before. You know, it's one of those things in football. So, yeah, we're just super proud of the fight back. Was it always on your mind to, you know, someone maybe needing to take the game by the cuff of the neck at that moment and you the man to deliver? Not really. Just the case of just doing everything I can personally. And everyone is the same on the pitch. you know everyone's trying everyone's trying to go out there and score or contribute to the three points so here's what it is it'll be another person next week so we'll carry on it's been a battle all season battle tonight and see you've taken a bit of a hit did you enjoy that one out there yeah i enjoyed it in the end i mean to say i enjoyed it i think i enjoyed it once the final whistle went but uh the game was very stressful and uh yeah that's that's how it is that's how it is you know you want it so bad so until you get there you're not happy so and after the final whistle enjoy that moment with the fans yeah really nice yeah there's the support's been great all year, home and away.

19:43And, you know, a night like tonight, coming very far away from where a lot of them must live. And, you know, they're right there to back us and get us over the line. And getting an away win must be really crucial going into another two tough away games coming up. Yeah, massive games. Away from home, you need to win them games if you want to do anything. So we're happy with it. He has got an absolutely beautiful shiner. Have we got any idea how he's done that, AJ? Because I used to, in my scrapping days, I used to love having black eyes because they were earned. there were badges of honor um do you know how darnell's done that no you were actually the one who made me aware of it it was from the borough game that you mentioned it wasn't it i think it was actually in the first half of that one um there was a clash he had with tommy conway down the the flank where he went down i think i've been around 20 minutes or so could be from that but um no it definitely is sporting it well though it's uh that's that's got to be a stinger Yeah, that's a really good one.

20:40It's not just a little part of the eye, but it's above and below the eye. So he must have had a real knock there. Ross, I'm going to ask you both this. Darnell Furlong, people have been saying off the back of last night that he could be a sleeper for player of the season, or certainly in that conversation. What do you make to that? Because off the top of my head, you'd say Zor Matasiwa, even though he's not really been his kind of self recently, since the dead leg. You'd say Jack Clark, surely, because of the goals and the big moments. Jacob Filagene maybe a shout because he's had some big moments but Darnell Furlong in terms of consistency and overall contribution I suppose would you say that's fair?

21:17Where would you put him in that conversation?

21:20Ross Halls:He's just so consistent, he's just solid he's had off days but since he's been signed he's been fantastic he just sort of gallops he doesn't do a Leif Davis-esque gallop down the wing but He does his job. And he's definitely got to be, you know, discussions to be made because I think it's right back, isn't it? I don't think right back is a sexy position. Furlong will probably say differently. Good old Darnell. But he has been key, I think, for this team. He's been the consistent play. He's played pretty much every game. I don't think he's missed a game, has he, since he signed Ajak? I can't think.

22:03Ross Halls:He was close to obviously getting suspended. but he was able to sort of take that tightrope. But yeah, he just does the job. And he's a wind-up merchant, which we love as well. I love away games especially. I see it very up close and personal on pitch side. He's very just – he doesn't like do it, obviously, either. He just sort of like, you know, just cheekily does. I remember when we went back to QPR, he was getting a lot of abuse there and stuff. And he was just in his stride, just enjoying it. And yeah, he's definitely, as I said earlier in the chat, an unsung hero this season. And yeah, he could get a few votes.

22:40Yeah, the wind-up merchant part of his game has come on, hasn't it? As he's been kind of more and more established in the side. AJ, he's kind of an under-the-radar guy, isn't he? Because when he signed, we were all like, oh, OK, another right-back. No one was like, he's going to be one of the key parts of the side this season. What have you made of him? I think it's the kind of right-back that he is that is the reason he was going to be a key part. where Ashley Young comes in. It obviously hasn't worked for Ashley Young. To answer your question, Ross, Blackburn away. He didn't play in that one.

23:12Young started at right back in one of his very, very, very few starts. So that's pretty much the only one off the top of my head. But he's more attacking, as is Ben Johnson, and we know what the right back role is in a trademark Kieran McKenna side, which is solid, defensive, almost doubling up as a centre-back. Axel Twanzibbe, Harry Clark to an extent as well, of course, had that same kind of hybrid role. And Furlong does that really well, and he combines that in a similar way probably to what Harry Clark did, but maybe to a different level where he does the defensive work and then obviously, as I mentioned, contributes going forward.

23:56Really good in his 1v1s, mentally really strong. I think the right personality for this group. It's difficult when you get to a player of the season conversation. Three games to go, but I'd struggle to look past Azul at the moment and certainly think on top of the two wingers you mentioned, Dara O'Shea would be the other one, of course. But you would have Darnell Furlong in that picture, and that's credit to him for the fee that Ipswich signed him for, the lack of fanfare, given how important he's been. I'd probably have him as the third best right back in the division behind Tristan Kramer when he's played there and Van Aeve at Coventry that's how impressive he's been so all things considered it's been a really impressive season from him to this point Yeah, great signing Right then we've said all season or certainly for a little while that Town are struggling to put a complete 90 minutes of football together you'd say again that was the case in this game but happily AJ the second half was much better.

24:59And it needed it to be because I know reading your observations this morning, you felt quite strongly that had they failed to get a result last night, that they may have been kissing goodbye to automatic promotion. It was kind of that much of a, you know, a feeling around it, given that they'd not won for a couple of games as well. So how impressed were you with the second half in terms of, you know, a display of resilience and character? It's their first comeback win away from home. I think since, was it Watford in 2023? So it's been a long time. We've only just had, obviously, their first comeback win full stop since the Samiento moment.

25:33So again, it's another one of those things ticked off, isn't it? They can do it. They are up for the scrap. They can win when things go against them early doors. Yeah, another thing ticked off. The next step is that complete 90-minute performance, as we mentioned. But we've had these games where you sometimes wonder what's been said in the dressing room at half-time. start so well in the first 45 and then fall off a cliff and this was then the opposite everything that they they did in the first half with the body language with those sloppy passes being so poor in possession with kind of getting swallowed up a little bit by the atmosphere and the crowd realizing that the Charlton were on their way to securing what would have been mathematical safety for them they then changed that they totally changed the dynamic of it after the restart I I thought that they controlled things very well, and it was pretty much from the off within the first five minutes.

26:24This was going to be the pressure half of the season almost because I thought that if this was going to end in a draw or even a defeat, that that probably would be it because how do you then take yourself mentally to go and they would have had to beaten both West Brom and Southampton and QPR to have things in their hands going into final, well, to get things over the line. So for them to handle that pressure for me was really important. I liked the way that they penned Charlton back in this game. They didn't really let them get out when they cleared the ball. The counter pressure was really good.

27:04They made sure they were hoovering up loose balls, really suffocating Charlton in possession. And they were patient as well. They didn't try and rush it. This is a team that so often, far too often, when they're not winning a game, gets really frustrated and kind of almost loses their cool and opponents buy into that. The home fans will buy into that. Even the away fans can buy into that. And that didn't happen here. They knew that the chances would come. They knew that despite the low block and then Charlton soaking up pressure that the space would open up. It felt for a while like it wouldn't because Charlton are really good defensively.

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27:41But then the one moment where they get the chance to do that and pick the lock, Charlton have to react. They do it poorly and that's what leads to the goal for town to win it. Teed up perfectly. So Rossi, they do get the moment. It's that man Fernong again surging into the box. He gets grabbed and pulled back. Now, there have been some contentious penalty issues in recent games and weeks. Norwich, not a penalty for me. I will die on that hill. Hurst against Borough. Whoa, that's soft. Really soft. And I don't really like to see those given, but I can kind of understand why. But this one, however, was definitely a penalty.

28:16Penalty Ross, what do you say?

28:18Ross Halls:Yes, very much so. Because, yeah, what else can Furlong do when he's in the box and he's been touched? He's going to go down because there is contact there. And, yeah, I know Nathan Jones, the charter manager, he said it was silly from his team's point of view. And, yeah, Penalty FC, as I said in the previous podcast, because that is now three, isn't it? In the last four games or something like that. It's ten anyway this season. Yeah, it's a lot. It's the most in the league, isn't it, I believe? Yeah, it is indeed. And, yeah, obviously Jack Clark was on the pitch at the time, but Jadon Filagene has got form because of Norwich penalty and he obviously steps up.

28:57Ross Halls:Is he a lucky boy? Because it just creeps under Kaminsky in goal. It wasn't a great pen, but you take it. And I think he even knew himself a little bit. I think it was actually fair enough when, obviously, Filagene went off to wheel away. You just got Casey McAdiv, his hand over his mouth going, But yeah, a penalty indeed. And I think we've got people scoring them because you can get penalties and if you miss them, he's like, oh, that's a waste of time. But yeah, big moment and that away end was bouncing. I thought he'd missed it because it wasn't the best penalty. And he also did the little kind of slightly showboaty run-up as well, didn't he, AJ, where he starts the other side of the ball and kind of curls back round.

29:41Not his best penalty, it's fair to say, but still they all count yeah as i said after the norwich game i hate that run up i love it and i hate it looks so cool when you pull it off but he almost looked really really really stupid if that had gone wrong um sneaks under under kaminsky will be really disappointed with that one i mean both the goals but certainly with that one and again what a moment right in front of that packed out away and um clearly of course the the officials are biased and and love it switch town and there are no examples throughout this season to suggest otherwise. Well, they've been hard done by.

30:19That's not happening. Yeah, I can't think of any. I mean, I guess maybe the Leicester game where they should have had two penalties and then Stoke a couple of days after maybe that one and maybe the Davis ban. But I don't know. Other than that, clearly the officials love Ipswich Town and will just hand them penalties all the time. So I'm expecting to start at 1-0 up at the Hawthorns on Saturday and I can just imagine if you're a Millwall fan or a Southampton fan or a Borough fan, you get that notification, especially if you're not watching and you know it's like a clear penalty. You get that notification on your phone from an app that says it's a penalty to Ipswich.

30:58You must be fuming. You must be fuming. But as I said, I think earlier in the week, teams that have more time on the ball in the final third, creating chances are going to get more penalties. And what, Leicester two years ago had 12, Towner on 10? I know it's a lot more than the rest of the division, but it's not some ridiculous anomaly. That's stupid. Let's keep drinking the tears, that's what I say. And I think in many ways, Ross, the most impressive thing for me about the game, apart from clearly the character they showed to get back into it and then go ahead, similar in a way to the Norwich win, actually, is the character they then showed in terms of defending the lead and how solid they look defensively.

31:42Because there have been times, obviously, this season where they look really, really shaky and ready to collapse at any moment. But again, they showed real steel to see this one out, didn't they?

31:53Ross Halls:Yeah, I was comfortable. There was no squeaky bum time or anything like that. I know there's anybody you just never know, especially at the Valley, as we spoke about earlier. It's a ground that we've got scars from, especially at 4-4, which I just don't think that's ever going to happen again in football. That was just mental to be 4-2 up in the 90-plus minute. And then, you know the rest, ladies and gentlemen, you know the rest, which we don't want to talk about. But no, they were comfortable, just solid. You know, Daro Shea, solid. Jacob Greaves, I think we should definitely have a little segment on him because he has been fantastic since coming on the team.

32:29Ross Halls:And I'm pleased McKenna's keeping the back line solid. solid and I know Leak Davis missed this one which I'm sure we'll get on to but um yeah winning all the balls in the air Charlton didn't really threaten too much really so I wouldn't say it was an easy job for the town defense but um just as you said they show character because yeah you just hope they had the bottle and they showed it which is key for this uh vital part of the season yeah you say that they weren't really threatening they didn't really have a clear-cut chance but the balls though getting pumped into the box were definitely dangerous they were threatening balls and yet town dealt with them all and as you say jacob greaves again imperious aj he's been he's been tremendous since he since he come back into the team yeah he has he's had his work cut out for him because um cedric kiprae's been really good for for most of the season that's why he started so many games and after the kind of chopping and changing week in, week out, settled.

33:27That's where we landed on Cedric Kipre. But I always felt strongest that Greaves would be the long-term option because of all of the strengths that he has, because of being a left-footed young English centre-back. The ceiling for him is sky high. And I always thought that when we start to get those consistent performances, he's done this before in the Championship, and he was in the Team of the Year for Hull. and you can see that his confidence is so much better. He can at times still look a little bambi on ice on the ball, but there's big progress that's happened there. Ultimately, you've got the two roles at centre-back.

34:08You have your ball player and you have your hard-as-nail, hairy-ass defender is what you end up with. Your ball player is Daro Shea. He creates chances from deep. He splits the pitch. Obviously, he does his defensive work more than well enough, really really good of course but Greaves is where you've got your kind of bread and butter defender where it's headers where it's clearances where it's big tackles um he can do the on the ball stuff of course but that balance between the two of them I hope that's the partnership that Ipswich Town have going forward for for a long time because it works really really well and credits Jacob Greaves and I really hope that uh this will be a big a big platform to for him to kick on the rest of the season and beyond.

34:52Yeah, and you mentioned the guy who's taken the place of, Cedric Kipra, who obviously came on in this game as well. And I thought he was excellent. I don't know how long he played for, but it felt to me that there were at least four or five headed clearances when they were really pumping the balls into the box that Kipra just kept winning and winning, AJ. Yeah, he was, I think, the perfect substitute in that moment. I thought that the move probably would have been to take Ben Johnson off. I thought that Johnson struggled more at left-back in this game compared to previous ones. I'd imagine there's a good chance he was dropped into it quite late on, given the short turnaround off the back of Borough and everything with Davis.

35:30But with him coming on, he came off to Casey McAteer. Town went to more of a five to see it out. And it's just an awareness as well, where from a team perspective, it worked well that Town looked to strike on the counter to try and win it, but also were not going overkill to try and get that third. And it was the perfect balance to finish with, and credit to Kipre as well. It's not easy for a centre-back to come on in a game. I don't think you don't see it very often, and you certainly don't see it in Kieran McKenna teams where he's so keen to bring on as many attacking options as possible. But yeah, the way he stepped in, big-headed clearances, really solid.

36:10I like them as a three. I don't think we're going to see it at all in the championship, but don't rule it out. If they get over the line that we see those three starting as a proper centre-back trio at some point. Exciting. And maybe not that far away now. Right then, so the game is seen out. Nunes probably should have made it 3-1, but I wasn't too disappointed because I had 2-1 in the prediction league, didn't we, boys? So I might come on to that in a bit. But the big question, of course, after that victory is what it means. and we can look now and what it means basically is that they are verging but getting verging's maybe a bit a bit strong but certainly creeping towards edging closer towards the Premier League so this is the table after last night so you've got Coventry obviously home and host champions fair play to them this season fantastic and then you've got Town level on points with Millwall but with a game in hand and Millwall you'd have to say given their their last two games against Leicester who have obviously been relegated, which is still mind-blowing given the squad they've got.

37:14They're in all sorts of bother. And then Oxford. So you'd have to say that Millwall are going to win their final two games. That's going to leave them on 85 points. So effectively, if Town can also get six points from their last three games, they're going up. So that's two wins, AJ, from three games. We know that Town have got difficult games to finish with. certainly West Brom away and Southampton away. Hopefully they're saving that full 90 minutes performance for Southampton away next Tuesday. But how do you feel about things? And when we look at the table, is there anyone else that could play a part, do you reckon?

37:54Yeah, I don't want to kind of burrow out of the equation totally, but I think it's fair to say that they've got a lot of work cut out. And you're not just looking at Ipswich dropping off in the final three games. You're looking at Millwall and Saints having to drop points, and that's going to be pretty difficult. So I think it's going to be playoffs for Borough. Southampton still, I mean, definitely are in that fight, but it is going to rely on Millwall. Would they have to lose a game, wouldn't they, somewhere? So I think that that's going to be pretty difficult given that run in the final two that Millwall have.

38:34so it feels like it's close enough to a straight shootout and I think it's all on Ipswich and it's all about how they handle the pressure now it means that Saturday isn't a must win necessarily but you don't want to have to go to St Mary's knowing that you need to win the game because they are going to have to win one of these next two if they're going to have it in their hands going into final day and to be honest I think they're going to have to win one of the next two to ensure or two of the next three to ensure it because I can't see Millwall dropping points in their next two games. So I think that there is going to be a lot of pressure regardless because they don't want to have to go to Southampton and win.

39:16So the impetus is going to have to be on going to the Hawthorns and doing it there. Hey, look, if they take six points in the next two games, they're essentially promoted at St Mary's on Tuesday night, which would be great fun going back to Portman Road. I don't think we'll be blessed with that one. but given that the two fixtures coming up how hard they are um don't underestimate west brom by any means i'm sure we'll come on to there's still quite a lot of work left to go and of course it's about what they do on the pitch and how they perform but for me the biggest thing is is about handling the pressure that comes with this final week of the season and it's going to be more pressure rossi because again milwall go first they play friday night at leicester and leicester going home as a relegated side.

39:58I don't think they're going to get a lot of support. It still baffles me, honestly, as someone, obviously, I live with a Leicester fan. How they've managed to get relegated with that squad, I know they had six points off for whatever, but they should still be more than good enough to stay up. I mean, their record is absolutely dreadful. You look at the players they've got. But anyway, I think Millwall will beat them. And then again, the pressure goes back on town for Saturday. Now, you went early after they beat Norwich. I think a lot of people maybe felt like this. Why? It's done. You know, they're there.

40:30And obviously it's been proved there's a few more twists and turns. Are you expecting a few more twists and turns before the end of the season? Or do you reckon it's just going to be bang, beat West Brom, bang, beat Southampton Rock Boys?

40:42Ross Halls:I hope so. That is what we all want because I don't know if our hearts can take it. yeah obviously the Coventry game in the last promotion campaign that was a sort of heart in mouth sort of moments in that one the Southampton game feels like that could be the same night again because it was weird because wasn't that Southampton the Coventry game that was a rearranged game as well wasn't it I think because they were in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against a team from Manchester so is that coincidence or was that just fate that every time we get promoted back to the Premier League we just got to take on a team who had to get a game rearranged because of the FA Cup and in the semi-finals and all that and yeah Southampton I think it was going to be interesting to see how Southampton get on because if they win and beat Man City then they're going to be buzzing but also knackered and drained going into the game of St Mary's but then their fan base will be buzzing as well because they're in a cup final and then they know if they win against Town that it will be a shootout on the final day.

41:52But you know what?

41:54Ross Halls:As Sir Alf Ramsey said, I'm fine. You know, it'll be two tough away games. I think we had a little blip against Pompey. Maybe we just needed to get that out of our system. Get the feet, lose terribly, not do really well. grind it out against Charlton good job done hard fought win West Brom gets sort of win against them Southampton this team hopefully will show their bottle and get a big away day to remember for us all so yeah I believe in this team now I really do, it's been a weird season it's been a while to sort of fall in love with this team but I don't know. There's a few players that are really showing they've got it in them.

42:48Ross Halls:They just now need to really prove it to us in these next three games. As I said, three cup finals to go. Can they get over the line? Kieran McKenna, as a manager, he's been there, done that. This new band of brothers, can we finally get over the line? I feel fine, as Saurav said. AJ, I mean, from a purely selfish point of view, I kind of want them to get promoted at portman road on the final day of the season that'd be much better for us than a kind of a midweek game at southampton when we've got deadlines and means that we won't get a lot in um but you it sounds like you reckon it will go to the final game yeah i mean it will regardless but they will not be promoted atst mary's on tuesday night um just to stress because there could still be like a 15-goal swing.

43:35Who knows? I do think it will go. I don't think they're going to win their next two games. And I still have a lot of concerns. I'm going to be honest, and I'm looking at performances, and I'm looking at the last three and some of the goals conceded and the teams that they're coming up against that worry me. You look at the way that West Brom are playing. You look that they're still fighting, fearing about a potential points deduction, the players that they've got. They've kind of found their mojo now that they've been rejuvenated under James Morrison. Going away from home where Ipswich, again, are still struggling to put teams to the sword.

44:16Southampton doesn't need any real explanation. I am hoping that win or lose, they're going to be very drained off the back of a Wembley semi-final and obviously missing Flynn Downs, Mr. Vardant Conduct, three-match ban. Yeah, but I still have my concerns and I still want and feel like this team need to prove certain things and that's both on-pitch qualities and those kind of intangible mental aspects as well that I think we need to see more from because they're going to have to take one of these games by the scruff of the neck and win them and teams don't go to the Hawthorns and win. Southampton dropped points there, Wrexham dropped points there.

45:02Southampton, as I said, doesn't need much explanation and bigging up from this point. And it's just not as simple as that. And I still have those concerns about this team. So I hope they prove me wrong. I know that other fans feel the same way.

45:20This is the moment to prove people like me who have those fears wrong and prove Ross right. This is when the rubber meets the road, as our American friends say. Rossi, we're not going to go in great depth into the West Brom game because you're going to do a boot room about that. But in terms of the side, we only saw two changes, one enforced last night. What would you like to see on Saturday at West Brom? Because I think I would want, as I said in the starting X1 piece that I did, all of these games now feel like must-win games. And I think in that scenario, I want George Hurst to start. I know he's been up and down and much maligned, but I still think in a must-win game, I want George Hurst playing up top.

46:10So that's definitely one change I'd make. And I really like now the Azor Matasi with Jack Taylor, partnership in midfield. I want to see that going forward. That clearly is the best option. Taylor just keeps getting better and better for me. And we've already talked about stop faffing around with the centre-back rotation, that kind of stuff. So what would you like to see? How many changes would you like to see on Saturday?

46:30Ross Halls:yeah not too many but it is a very quick turnaround although i'm getting a bit sick of that in a way because like they're professional athletes they should be fine and they've been playing all season now at the start of the season it's sort of like yeah they're just getting up you know up to you know speed of everything but we're now in the end of the season they're running they've got to be ready for every game now um and yeah traveling they're only going to the midlands they've just been to london it's it's not crazy you know if we're going to millersborough or bloody wrecks them again. Then I'll go, yeah, okay, it's a little bit of travel.

47:01But I don't want too much change.

47:05Ross Halls:I think the back line is fine. We'll find out a bit more. Davis, if Johnson has to play a left back again, I don't mind it. Daniel, I thought, did okay, actually, when he came off the bench. I thought he sort of assured everybody, showed his experience. But no, I want Taylor and Matt Siwa to continue. And it is just the four going forward because it's case mcatea i think is showing he should be starting at right yeah right mid um left is just a toying cost isn't it between clark or philagene um the 10 roll nunez and metty are both not performing for me um so that's once again that's a bit of a toss of the coin but you know in a bad way with philagene and clark going oh i don't mind who starts um i'll probably start clark I may continue with Metty I think Nunes will start and then yeah you've got to start Hurst because he'll be the fresher of the two strikers as my voice cracks there maybe I'm not that convinced with that decision but yeah not too many changes please but if once again we'll find out a bit more I'm sure on the day if you know if there's been a few knocks because of the Charlton game you know some players may have got a bit bruised for their battling win but yeah I think you've just got to keep with a winning team now because it's running There are no presses this week so we won't have an opportunity to speak to Kieran but in terms of the team we should probably bring people up to speed on Leif Davis AJ so he dipped out last night on the TV they were saying a very very minor hamstring injury but it sounds like there was a quote I'm sure I read that I assume that was you talking to Kieran where he said he wasn't close yeah so he wasn't close for for this game so we'll be assessed going into the weekend i'd also heard it's been quite minor and scans and stuff look okay so we'll have to wait and see i don't think it's going to be um anything serious but you have to manage leaf quite well because he's had these knocks he's been out of match rhythm he's had a month out with football come back and then his partner's given birth he's missed a game then he's had the borough game So stop start for a player that loves to play week in, week out.

49:21And I think that with a hamstring injury, that can be quite problematic when you want to find rhythm and fluidity that you then all of a sudden lose that and get thrown back into it again. That's quite difficult. So yeah, we'll see you going into the weekend. It's two or three changes for me. I'm not going too big. I want to keep the core the same. Johnson, if Johnson starts, then that's fine. I don't want to push Leif Davis. I don't think he was ready to play against Middlesbrough on Sunday, and that obviously played a part leading to the goal that put Burrow ahead on the day. And I don't want a repeat of that.

49:59If Davis isn't fully fit, you go with Johnson again. Simple as that for me. Other than that, I'm sticking with Filagene for better off the ball work than Jack Clark. And also, the rule of thumb is Filagene, better starter. Jack Clark, the better substitute. I just think that's how it works. Been really impressed by McAteer. You keep the rest of the back line the same. You keep Matissea and Taylor the same. So the other changes I'd go would be Nunez back in. Agree with Ross that both the number 10 options are not performing at the moment. And Hurst up front for me in this one is a number nine who has a better chance of battling Nat Phillips, who is a big, experienced centre-back.

50:39And I think that Hurst would do better up against him. yeah i think you refer to jack clark there as a substitute aj you mean of course finisher not subs they don't have subs they have finishers yeah that's what they are um you've done a key battles piece haven't you for tomorrow morning in terms of looking ahead to west brom so that's that i hope you've read it uh i've read it yeah i liked it i enjoyed it um i can't read anything about it if you ask me but um it was definitely a rollicking good read um any other things to mention from last night um i i wonder what's going on with nathan jones fingers have you noticed this um they seem quite i couldn't see it but i heard a lot about it yeah i just you know i don't want to obviously you know the body shame the guy but his fingers are quite yellow and i just wondered as someone who also used to be a fairly heavy smoker i wondered if he smokes which would seem remarkable for someone involved in uh in the old health and fitness side of things um he doesn't bite them quite a lot.

51:36Ross Halls:Sloven Bilic. Wow, yeah. He was a smoker. He was a lord himself, wasn't he? Yeah. A lot of European smoke. But you know what? It's, I think sometimes that could go a bit under the radar, but there is some potential players. The nicotine pouches. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of players use interesting, isn't it? But I just noticed that last night. I'd like to know more. If anyone out there knows what it's all about, please do let me know. AJ, have you got any more crazy stories from the road because the the story from pompey where your room was hot and you you had you then headbutted the the bed that was mental like absolutely crazy um did you have any uh anything else from last night because you had to stay over because uh yeah you you were you were you were you were scared you might be targeted in the ends i was yeah so uh i didn't get a train back in the end got my little uber to drop me back at lewisham and you know what it was lovely the only story i have i went down for breakfast this morning i think i told you this um and there were just 15 or metropolitan police officers all just coming for their breakfast i don't think they were staying in the hotel i think they'd just come in for some some free orange juice and some bacon i don't know what that was all about but um yeah other than that not very eventful and that's how i like it didn't concuss myself this week uh we go again i don't think you were concussed um anyway maybe you were concussed or maybe you wish you were concussed now because i'm going to talk about the most important thing we have to talk about today's pod which is of course friends another league table which starting to feel like it may be decided that's this one baby here we go that's right because yours truly got the score right last night 2-1 i said even though i actually joined the build-up in the day said i actually think town they're going to lose i've got a bad feeling about it i went 2-1 i boxed clever it's come off for me and now i've got six point lead at the top of the table.

53:29Yes, 47 points. Me. AJ, second, 41. Stu, 39. Rossi, all the way down there. Whoa. Get the old binoculars out to Rossi down there at bottom, 35 points. The title is mine, isn't it? I've got one hand on the trophy. Yeah, you said this about Ipswich after the derby day. You said that they've got one foot in the Premier League and then they took one point from their next two games, lost to Portsmouth. so um you've gone early and i don't mind it you go early as i said and as i've said all along um this season in particular these silly competitions they're for children ultimately it's just a child childish competitiveness um and and i think it's quite embarrassing to be honest yeah that's just how i see it okay because i mean you have won all of them so far so obviously i didn't have anything to you yeah uh rossi you left you left there was that deliberate or you just didn't want to talk about it?

54:25Ross Halls:Yeah, you said you've got one hand on your trophy. I've got all my hands on the wooden spoon. Oh, there we go. Oh, dear, Rossi. So, yeah. Do you know what? Is that because I've been consistent on back and wins? Of course, it's been up and down this season. But, yeah, I take my wooden spoon with pride and I don't really care because if town get promoted, happy days. There's still three games left, Ross. yeah but i've got back wins for town and if they don't win those three games then i'm not going to get any points am i so i think what's let me down is my first goal scorer because someone pointed out i forgot who it was sorry um the person who made this comment um i've been very unlucky with a lot of my first goal scorers i've been on the bench and not in the 18 at all so because that happened again at chelton buddy jack clark so you love a rogue shout as well well yeah that as well just sometimes go oh i think ashley young will score first or something like that i think i actually did for one game yeah i think you get you start to get desperate though don't you as you as you start to see yourself getting cut away you start making wilder and wilder picks just because you need something to to land to get you back in it um i i think like the actual championship this i need to go back and have a look maybe ross can i think this is going to be a very low points return i don't feel like any of us have actually done that way.

55:50You are very much the Coventry here, Mark.

55:54Ross Halls:By this stage of the season, we've forgot about the Prediction League. Yeah, that happened last season, didn't it? We just stopped doing it. We all remember, apart from the one who went on holiday. Who's that? I can't remember. One of us went to somewhere like the Maldives. I seem to remember that Ross just stopped doing it. To be fair, it wasn't that much fun, was it, in the Premier League? What's for me, damn it. Yeah, well, I mean, you've won still, mate. Exactly, that's what I meant. You're still the reigning champion two years in a row, but it does look like I might unseat you this season, which I won't mention at all when it happens.

56:32Anything else to mention, friends? Anything else for the scorers? Yes, Ross?

56:37Ross Halls:One more thing to mention. I have potentially a new lucky stall, which is blue and white. I'll borrow this from another photographer, good old swampy who um does some freelance work yeah his name's carl but um i think he's nick he's nicknamed swampy that's what he's named in my phone um but yeah he's a good lad and photographer and um because i've lost four stools this season which probably won't shock everybody um and i just do you know what i just got to a point on sunday for the borough game i was like i cannot be asked to get a new stool so i went over to him and said mate can i borrow your stall and he went yep no problem he gave me this nice blue and white one so hopefully this is a lucky stall that i'll be sitting on for the next three games and for the qpr game at boron road we'll be celebrating with this stall and promotion but uh we shall see but looking forward to next three games cup finals here we go and we should also mention ross of course it wasn't only a good night for the men's team last night it was also a very good night for the the women's team had a great win very good win um i didn't i wasn't really following it because i was in the ground at the valley and it was i didn't know until half time when i went over to the away end and sort of caught up with a few people and um i was good old just jobster and lear from crew and jobster went oh you've seen the score for the women's game i went oh no and he went 4-1 i went oh no what's 4-1 he went no they've won 4-1 i went wow um they're very much it's in their hands now with staying up, but I think they've done it pretty much.

58:10Ross Halls:They've only got two more games to go. They're away at potential WSL2 champions, Birmingham on Sunday, which will be a tough game, but you never know. And then they play their final game against, I forgot who they're playing. Sorry, I forgot who they're playing, but they're playing at the same time as the men for the QPR game, which is not ideal, which is disappointing. But yeah, they've been an incredible run. David Wright, fair play to him and the new signings as well. AJ, you got the team in the plan? Sunderland. I thought it was, I was going to say Sunderland, but I wasn't confident it was Sunderland.

58:46Ross Halls:I didn't want to butcher it properly. But yeah, they've been incredible. But yeah, really good win at Colchester on Wednesday night as the men beat Cholton. They, of course, beat Sheffield United 4-1, which is an incredible result. And what a story it will be for them to stay up and then town men's team get promoted. That'll be a great season as a whole. Did you see Boz's goal? Yeah, it was a great goal. They hit. And as well, right-backs, the two right-backs scoring for Ixwich Town on the same night. It's incredible. I love that. I mean, to be fair, I thought Darnell Furlong's hit was brilliant, but he doesn't win goal of the night.

59:27No, that's a better goal. That's a sensational goal. If you've not seen it, go and watch it. It's on obviously all the social medias around the ladies' side. Fantastic goal. Brilliant goal. Brilliant win. And great to see them, likely staying up now under David Wright. Right then, friends, that brings us almost to the golden hour. I don't honestly know when the next podcast is going to be because on Monday there's going to be a press conference. I'm off. AJ's off. Stu will be covering the press conference. So I'm hoping he may have time to pod with Ross Monday afternoon ahead of Southampton, but fingers crossed that will happen.

59:59But anyway, obviously, Ipswich Town are in a very good position. Just to remind us to support our sponsors, Just use the code KOA10 at molecular-uk.com for 10 % off all that excellent car cleaning and other cleaning products. Leave a five-star review on iTunes. If you could, just help lift us visibility-wise in the charts. And follow us across social media on Kings of Anglia, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X. What's the other one? I've forgotten. Facebook. If you're 85 years old. because apparently that's all he uses Facebook now. My dad's all over Facebook. I'm not so keen on it anymore as a result.

1:00:38Rossi's there with his wooden spoon. Look, fantastic. Friends, Israest Town are two wins away from the Premier League. They go to West Brom on Saturday. We'll be there. If you're going, enjoy it. Roar the lads on. If you can't be there, follow it all with us, and we'll be back at some point next week to break it all down and look ahead, hopefully, to what could be another famous night at Southampton. as town perhaps seal their spot back in the top tier land of milk and honey. Friends, have a great weekend. We'll speak to you next time.

1:01:38Thank you.

1:02:05Thank you.

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From the publisher

Mark Heath is joined by Alex Jones and Ross Halls to reflect on Ipswich Town’s battling 2-1 win at Charlton Athletic.

The boys hear from Kieran McKenna and Darnell Furlong, lament Town’s terrible start and praise Furlong’s laser-guided equaliser.

Then it’s on to a much improved second half showing, a penalty that definitely was, and another excellent rearguard action.

We finish by chatting about what it means, how we think the promotion race will play out now and a tough test at West Brom.

Plus, Mark thinks he’s got one hand on another trophy.

Kings of Anglia is sponsored Molecular! Get 10% OFF with promo code KOA10 at https://www.molecular-uk.com/

Subscribe on our website to watch the video version of the podcast - https://www.eadt.co.uk/subscribe/

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