Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Well cometh the teenager, as Wickham steals a very drab show
Sat 13 Mar 10 by Dave Gooderham
A 93rd minute winner from Connor Wickham snatched a vital three points for Ipswich Town as a 1-0 win over Scunthorpe United ensured they finally recorded back-to-back victories.
The 16-year-old twisted and turned into space in the penalty area, as the away defence parted, before coolly firing low past Joe Murphy for a crucial 1-0 victory and his first league goal for the club. It was a rare moment of ecstasy for the Portman Road faithful who endured a largely turgid afternoon marred by two sending offs – one from each team.
Scunthorpe skipper Cliff Byrne was shown a straight red card in the 68th minute for an apparent off-the-ball elbow on Jack Colback before just 11 minutes later, Town defender Damien Delaney followed him after a cynical foul on away striker Jonathan Forte. Both players might have reason to feel aggrieved at the instant dismissals but the day will belong to Wickham who belied his tender years with a super cool finish.
Speaking to the club website, Town boss Roy Keane said: “It was a great finish from Connor. I was surprised how well it opened up for him and it was a nice way to finish the game. I’ll take that all day long It was just what we needed. Credit to Scunthorpe they closed us down quickly. We didn’t play well, it wasn’t a good game but there have been many times when we have played well and dropped points.”
As expected, Scunthorpe showed their hand early on, packing the midfield and looking to stifle Ipswich at every opportunity. While boring to watch – a fact made patently clear by Town fans after the match who felt Wickham had delivered justice – it certainly worked for the majority of the game. Ipswich had little answer for such a stubborn resistance and whether that is down to Scunthorpe’s game plan or Town’s inability is open to interpretation.
Iron boss Nigel Adkins was certainly making no apologies saying: “We tried to control the tempo and get a result. In some of our previous away games, for example Leicester. the game was out of sight after half an hour. I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen here because I felt we had a chance on the counter-attack. We had to defend resolutely. The disappointing thing is that one lapse of concentration in the 92nd minute cost us a point.”
A drab start threatened to liven up when Daryl Murphy and Pablo Counago linked up well but an under pressure Jon Walters was unable to hit the target. Counago was preferred to David Healy and, in a typical display, looked dangerous in parts without making a massive impact on proceedings.
Town went into the match having not conceded a first half goal in an impressive ten matches and not losing at Portman Road in 12 games and nearly five months. But both were in danger when Hayes had too much room to break away and feed Matthew Sparrow whose shot was well parried by Brian Murphy before Gareth McAuley cleared the danger.
Walters nudged a header wide and Counago clipped the top of the crossbar but it was still pretty uneventful in front of a very quiet home crowd. They lifted periodically but mainly in anger at the officials. At times, their reactions gave the match a kind of panto feel with ironic applause when a decision went Town’s way. The fact that it had descended to this probably tells everything about the lack of action on the pitch. And it could have been a lot worse if Hayes’ brilliant volley had not been splendidly tipped over by Murphy in the Ipswich goal.
The second half failed to get much better although the hosts enjoyed a period of semi-sustained pressure on the United goal with a series of corners. A header from Walters brought the best out of Scunthorpe’s Murphy before McAuley nodded the subsequent set piece wide. Counago had the best chance of the game on 62 minutes, latching on to indecision in the visitors’ defence. But the Spaniard delayed for far too long and his eventual shot was cleared off the line.
Just six minutes later, the encounter seemed to swing in favour of the home side with the dismissal of Byrne. A through ball was directed at Colback but the nippy midfielder as he looked to break down the left. Referee Pat Miller had no hesitation in sending off the right-back suggesting that maybe an elbow was used to knock the Sunderland loanee to the ground.
Ironically, the sending off seemed to visibly lift Scunthorpe but David Norris should have done better with a free header from a cracking cross by Shane O’Connor. Before Town could try and exert more pressure, Delaney’s moment of madness changed the nature of the match once again. Forte burst clear just inside Ipswich’s half and the centre back inexplicably and cynically hacked him to the ground. Maybe referee Miller was keen to even up the numbers or maybe he was influenced by the rush of Scunthorpe players smelling blood.
Whatever the reason, Delaney was shown a straight red card and even the supportive applause from the home faithful would have proved little comfort. Maybe a yellow card would have been fair, but Delaney’s rash moment of madness, in making a foul that didn’t need to be made, gave the referee an option to send him off.
As Scunthorpe continued to play for their draw, Ipswich created the best of the late half chances. They fell to substitutes, Healy and Carlos Edwards, with the right winger putting in a wicked low cross which fizzed across the Scunthorpe goal before Healy showed a great touch to bring the ball down but his left foot shot was sliced well wide.
It was left to Wickham to carve a way through the away defence and give Murphy no chance. A special moment for the teenager, who turns 17 at the end of the month, and one shared by every one inside Portman Road.
