What The Papers Said: NCFC

By Aston
September 19 2005

Seeing as my match report from yesterday’s game against Norwich brief and too the point I thought id let you see some more detailed reports from the press.

Seeing as my match report from yesterday’s game against Norwich brief and too the point I thought id let you see some more detailed reports from the press.

Paul Connolly of the Times wrote:

Ipswich Town 0 Norwich City 1

THE EAST ANGLIA DERBY RARELY crops up in discussions about the world’s most intense local rivalries. Perhaps Lee Mason, the referee of yesterday’s encounter at Portman Road, was aware of this and decided to inject some vim into the occasion; perhaps he was also slightly surprised by the fierce noise and heat that he managed to generate.

A series of unfathomable decisions by Lee not only bemused and angered the Ipswich Town supporters but turned the match decisively in favour of Norwich City. There were only 18 minutes gone when Kevin Lisbie, pursued by Sito Castro, the Ipswich right back, was set free 25 yards from goal by Paul McVeigh; Lisbie and Castro’s legs tangled, seemingly accidentally, and Lisbie went sprawling.

Whether or not the incident warranted a free kick was debatable, but when Mason showed the red card to Castro, the sense of disbelief inside Portman Road was palpable. He may have been the last man, but the trip did not appear to be deliberate.

Joe Royle, the Ipswich manager, was unhappy with the decision and said the club would appeal against the red card. “I thought it was a tangle of legs and it was hardly a scoring chance with the ball running through to the goalkeeper. I’m not even sure there was even contact,” he said.

Ipswich were the first to settle and were playing neat, considered football before the sending off. But chances were few and their best effort in the first half came after 16 minutes when Jay McEveley, the left back on loan from Blackburn Rovers, whipped in a curling cross that was met eight yards out with a diving header by Sam Parkin. Robert Green, the Norwich goalkeeper, scrambled to his right and just managed to keep the ball out from going inside his right-hand post.

Norwich, after their poor start to the season, looked nervous and it wasn’t until Mason intervened with the sending off that they started to create chances. On 23 minutes, Lisbie suddenly found himself free inside the penalty box behind the Ipswich defence but he stuttered like a fast bowler with the yips in his run up, offering Jason de Vos enough time to make a last-ditch saving challenge.

Lisbie was again in prime position in the 34th minute when, after a superb cross from Dean Marney, he missed his header from seven yards. A few minutes later, Youssef Safri picked the ball up 40 yards out and ran at the Ipswich defence. His run barely deviated from a straight line but he squirmed through the pliant home rearguard and, with only Lewis Price to beat, forced the Ipswich goalkeeper to make a splendid save.

The goal that Norwich had been threatening came five minutes into the second half when Gary Doherty sent a long ball out to the left where Darren Huckerby, the substitute, was scampering along the touchline. Huckerby got in front of McEveley and the winger, from just inside the penalty area, stroked the ball home from an angle past the advancing Price.

Thereafter, Ipswich awoke from their slumber. The ten men piled forward and, four minutes after Huckerby’s strike, Kevin Horlock sent in a cross that Parkin, six yards from goal, should have done better than head two feet over the crossbar.

Ipswich were heartened and for the next ten minutes Norwich were unable to escape from their penalty area. But the squall subsided and Huckerby should have scored a second only to scoop the ball over from three yards when found by Safri. And still the Ipswich fans sang: “One nil to the referee”.

“I was proud of my players but disappointed with the manner of the defeat,” Royle said. “We started the match strongly but we are not getting the breaks. Lewis Price made a bit of a “Horlicks” for their goal. There are a lot of positives and I can take heart from the performance in view of our list of injured players."

Christopher Davies of the Telegraph:

Ipswich Town (0) 0 Norwich City (0) 1

Ipswich will appeal against the dismissal of defender Sito in the 18th minute for denying Kevin Lisbie what referee Lee Mason judged to be an obvious goal-scoring opportunity as Norwich registered their first away league win in 23 attempts.

Criticism of match officials has become a weary and easy excuse for defeat but Ipswich manager Joe Royle appeared to have a stronger argument than most in claiming that Spanish full-back Sito's red card was harsh.

"I thought at most it was an innocent tangle of legs," Royle said. "Having seen it four or five times on TV, I'm not even sure there was contact."

Guidelines to referees for denying an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity state that officials should ask themselves whether the player was heading directly towards the goal and if he had clean control of the ball.

Lisbie had not even touched the ball as he ran on to Paul McVeigh's pass and fell over after Sito challenged the striker just outside the penalty area. In addition, Lisbie was not running directly for goal, so on both counts Sito appeared to be innocent of a sending-off offence. It was his second red card of the season, so under the totting up process the defender faces a two-match suspension.

"We'll be appealing," Royle said. "I had a word with the referee at half-time and he said he saw it as a deliberate foul by the last man. The game hinged on one decision and we had to play for 70 minutes with 10 men."

The decision by Lewis Price six minutes after the interval to rush from his goal, allowing Norwich substitute Darren Huckerby to break the deadlock, was equally significant. The goalkeeper was caught in no-man's land on the edge of the penalty area as Huckerby raced on to Gary Doherty's long pass - Royle's description was that Price "made a right Horlicks of it". Huckerby cut inside Price and Jay McEveley before putting the ball in the net.

Both sides had a number of good chances. Sam Parkin saw a header well saved by Robert Green, who was also alert to prevent McEveley from equalising with a 30-yard shot. Green also produced a series of excellent punched clearances under pressure as Ipswich put the ball in the opposing goalmouth whenever they could.

Norwich, for whom Calum Davenport was a rock in defence, can point to a number of missed opportunities. Lisbie was the worst offender when he delayed his 24th-minute shot, allowing Richard Naylor to make a goal-saving tackle. Dean Marney saw a looping header tipped over the bar, and two minutes after his costly mistake Price pulled off an outstanding save from Dean Ashton. Youssef Safri is probably still wondering how Price saved his point-blank effort from 10 yards.

With five minutes remaining, Safri laid on an apparently unmissable opening for Huckerby but the Norwich striker scooped the ball over the bar from two yards.

And finally Conrad Leach from the Independent:

Twenty-two games without a league away win, a run stretching back some 16 months, is an awful lot to contemplate for any team, but Norwich City ended that dismal streak at Portman Road yesterday, in, of all things, the East Anglian derby.

The timing of this win seemed unlikely. After all, the side from Norfolk were second from bottom of the Championship. Three points lifted them up only six places but will have given the Canaries a far greater psychological boost.

Clearly, coping with relegation from the Premiership has left its scars on Nigel Worthington's men. They carried over from last season their awful away form of zero wins, and it took their fourth away fixture of this campaign for them to finally break that particular duck.

But Norwich have a fine recent record against Ipswich, having done the double over them two seasons ago, and they are now unbeaten against the Suffolk side at Portman Road in more than seven years. However, on this occasion, the Canaries were helped on their way to winning by the sending-off after 18 minutes of Sito Castro. As the Ipswich full-back chased after Kevin Lisbie just outside the penalty area, there appeared to be only the slightest contact that sent the striker, who is on loan from Charlton Athletic, to the ground. That was Joe Royle's initial view, although the Ipswich manager later amended that to believing there was no contact at all. After consulting his assistant, the referee showed the Spaniard, just back from suspension, the red card.

Royle said he will appeal against the decision, especially as he felt his case was strengthened by the ball running through to the goalkeeper rather than being close to Lisbie's feet, but there was no doubt that Norwich instantly gained the upper hand.

Worthington claimed later that his men should have been well ahead by half-time. That the game was still goalless at the break was down to a combination of fine goalkeeping by Lewis Price, although he was later at fault for the goal, some poor finishing and a whistle in the crowd.

With 24 minutes gone, an excellent saving tackle by Richard Naylor on Lisbie appeared at first to be all the work of the Ipswich defender. That he had time to execute it was actually down to a whistle from an Ipswich supporter, causing Lisbie to delay his shot long enough for Naylor to recover and Worthington, for one, was none too happy afterwards.

Further chances came and went for the visitors, with Price producing one outstanding save seven minutes before the break when Youssef Safri broke through the defence and hit a left-footed shot that the goalkeeper parried clear.

Yet, six minutes after half-time, Price undid his good work. A long pass to substitute Darren Huckerby lured Price out of his goal and he then barged into his defender Jay McEveley. On the edge of the area Huckerby composed himself before finding the empty net. "Lewis made a right Horlicks for their goal," admitted Royle. But it took none of the sweetness of victory away from Norwich.

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