Us And Them

ITFC 3-1 Birmingham April 27th 2013

After a comfortable win in the last home game of the season we are now mathematically safe, but it has taken until now and sixty points to achieve it!

There was an upbeat atmosphere at Portman Road and I sense that better times lie ahead for us as long as we keep the main man Mick McCarthy here. Mind you, I'm always optimistic, every season I predict at least the playoffs for us!

I'm not a big lover of Birmingham, but fair play to them the blues brought a large following of 1,977, many of them turning up in fancy dress as it was their last away game. They made plenty of noise and for once they were good humoured. I also have to say that I quite like their pink away strip!

Full time

Carlos Edwards got the end of season party atmosphere going for us after just six minutes with a screamer that would rival Aaron Cresswell's strike, already awarded goal of the season. Six foot and eight inches tall Nikola Zigic thought that he had equalised two minutes later but his header was ruled out for offside.
Town were two nil up after just seventeen minutes when Luke Chambers, unmarked, headed in Cresswell's free kick from six yards out. Frank Nouble then had two goals disallowed before half time, both for offside - harsh decisions from my viewpoint behind the goal!
Daryl Murphy added a third goal for the blues after fifty-seven minutes with a smart left foot shot and substitute Chris Burke scored a consolation goal for the visitors just before the end.
That result put Sharon four points ahead of me in the TWTD prediction league (she predicted the correct score and gained six points). I'll have to pull out all the stops to finish higher than her in the final table next Saturday!
After a short delay, Mick, Terry & the players came out for a lap of appreciation, they were warmly received by the crowd, the majority having stayed behind after the game, unlike last season where hardly anybody hung around and the players couldn't get back to the changing room quick enough.

While we were all celebrating a great escape one hundred and seventy miles up the road the natives were restless. Wolves fans were on the pitch ripping the dugout roof off and demonstrating against owner Steve Morgan following a two-one loss to Burnley which all but confirmed their back to back relegations.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if you look at the demise of Wolves since the sacking of McCarthy and what he has achieved at Ipswich in six months then you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what a big mistake they have made.
As I said on my Facebook check-in at the match "Thank Evans for McCarthy."
The playlist
Us And Them by Pink Floyd - Two contrasting scenes at Portman Road and Molineux, without McCarthy in charge we might have been on the pitch calling for the owner's head and if he was at still at Wolves they probably wouldnt'!