Second match of the weekend. A return to Home Park but this time we are here in the Devonport end. I haven't seen an Ipswich match since Roker Park, which is quite some time and I think it was worth the wait.
This was third vs top and if Plymouth won, they would leapfrog Ipswich.
A beautiful sunny day brought a good sized crowd of over 15000, including 1000 or so traveling fans from Suffolk.
In terms of possession, Plymouth just about edged the first half but as we all know, when a favoured ex-striker returns to the ground with the away team there is only ever one outcome. Every time he got the ball, Freddie Ladapo, the partizan crowd boo-ed him with all the good natured intent of bumping into you ex. So it was inevitable that he should score the first goal. Towards the end of the 1st half, Ladapo got a shot in, which looked harmless enough, it even looked like it was going wide, only for it to curl into the goal. Much to the dismay of Cooper in the Plymouth goal, who like the rest of us thought it was going wide. You could see why Ipswich were top and previously unbeaten, they were just that bit more composed and their goalkeeper, Walton, pulled off so really good saves.
The second half saw Ipswich have more possession however, they were never really comfortable and Plymouth kept pushing. Not long after the hour mark, Bali Mumba (ex Sunderland, I never understand why we sold him to Norwich) cracked one in from around the 18 yard area. The home fans, as you would expect went wild, as Mumba is a Norwich player, no doubt this caused some moans from the ipswich lot.. Six minutes later, up pops Morgan Whittaker (on loan from Swansea) to score the winner, cue scenes of delirium.
Not quite finished yet, Ipswich through everything at Plymouth, including Walton, the goalie, who very nearly equalized, in the style of QPR's Seny Dieng against Sunderland, only to be denied by Cooper in the Plymouth goal infront of the away fans. The final blows and chants of "Top of the League" ring out around Home Park.
A really good match, that got a bt fiesty at times, the Ref to his credit allowed play to generally flow and wasn't influenced by the home crowd, everytime someone went down. The atmosphere inside Home Park was great, lots of singing and banter with the Ipswich fans who were excellent.
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