Ipswich Town 2-0 Blackpool: Seasiders slump to miserable defeat as Portman Road hoodoo continues

Blackpool slumped to a frustrating defeat to Ipswich Town to continue their miserable record at Portman Road.
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Ipswich Town v Blackpool as it happened

The Seasiders, who have never beaten the Tractor Boys at their home ground, had been looking to build on their back-to-back league wins.

They were the better side in the opening half against Paul Lambert’s out-of-form side, but fell behind shortly before the break, the goal following a catalogue of errors from a number of players.

Jordan Gabriel involved in the thick of the actionJordan Gabriel involved in the thick of the action
Jordan Gabriel involved in the thick of the action
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Alan Judge was the beneficiary for Ipswich, before Luke Woolfenden doubled the home side’s lead at the start of the second-half to give the Seasiders a huge mountain to climb.

Blackpool, who were unable to muster a response and were run ragged at times in the second-half, would have leapfrogged Ipswich in the league table with a win.

But the defeat sees them slump back into the bottom half of the table, albeit they still have games in hand on some of the sides in and around them.

Fresh from arriving on loan from Sunderland on deadline day, Elliot Embleton was thrust straight into Blackpool’s starting line-up for his debut.

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The attacking-midfielder, who wasn’t registered in time to face Northampton Town in midweek, replaced Ellis Simms as Critchley opted to make just one change.

It comes after the Seasiders claimed a second consecutive victory on Tuesday night, seeing off Keith Curle’s League One strugglers 2-0 thanks to goals from Marvin Ekpiteta and Jerry Yates.

Luke Garbutt and Grant Ward, both former Ipswich players, and Bez Lubala all returned from injury to be included on the bench.

The likes of Dan Ballard, Ethan Robson and Gary Madine were all missing, while Daniel Gretarsson, Keshi Anderson and CJ Hamilton remain long-term injury absentees.

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Ipswich, who came into the game in the midst of a horrid run of form on home turf, where they had lost six of their last seven, handed debuts to January signings Luke Matheson and Troy Parrott.

Embleton’s arrival into the team saw the Seasiders revert to a 4-2-3-1 system, with the Sunderland loanee playing just off Yates in a number 10 role.

We had to wait until the 12th minute for the first effort on goal from either side, and it came the way of the hosts.

Alan Judge got himself into some space down the left, directing a rising effort towards goal that deflected into the side netting.

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Defender Marvin Ekpiteta, who has two goals in his last two games, almost added to his tally when he headed narrowly wide at the back post from Sullay Kaikai’s deep free-kick.

Pool had half-hearted penalty appeals waved away when Embleton went tumbling in the box following a short corner, but the referee remained unmoved.

Critchley’s side continued to offer a threat from set pieces as James Husband squandered a good chance to make the breakthrough.

Ipswich left a generous amount of space at the near post, which Kaikai exploited with a teasing ball in that Husband could only stoop to head wide.

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Blackpool’s pressing also caused Ipswich problems, but while the Seasiders got themselves into some promising positions their final ball was found wanting.

A third Blackpool defender went close from a set-piece after 31 minutes as Jordan Thorniley side-footed Embleton’s corner wide of goal.

Ipswich produced a rare chance moments later as Luke Thomas found himself in space at the back post, but thankfully for Pool the wide man could only skew wide as he failed to make a clean contact with the ball.

Embleton, meanwhile, who continued to look neat and tidy on the ball, saw a 20-yard drive pushed away from goal by Tomas Holy as Blackpool’s pressing caused the home side problems once again.

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Ipswich had the ball in the back of the net shortly before half-time when Freddie Sears made the run between Blackpool’s two centre-backs before slipping the ball underneath the onrushing Chris Maxwell.

Thankfully for the Seasiders the linesman’s flag was raised for offside in what appeared to be an incredibly tight call.

There was no such luck two minutes before the interval to stop the Tractor Boys from breaking the deadlock.

It was a really poor goal to concede from Blackpool’s point of view, as they wasted a four-on three which allowed the hosts to break.

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Pool’s move broke down when Kaikai’s pass to Matty Virtue was intercepted by Ipswich left-back Myles Kenlock after taking a slight deflection.

Kenlock looked up before picking out Alan Judge down the right, who was left in acres of space after Husband had ventured forward to join in Blackpool’s attack.

Judge didn’t produce the cleanest of strikes, but it still managed to creep in past Maxwell at his near post to give Ipswich a one-goal lead at the break.

Blackpool needed to produce a response at the start of the second-half but that’s the complete opposite of what happened.

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Just four minutes into the second period, Ipswich doubled their lead as centre-back Luke Woolfenden headed home from close-range.

It was another poor goal to concede, as Yates could only glance his attempted clearance up into the air and into the path of the grateful Ipswich defender.

Blackpool could have reduced the deficit when Mark McGuiness almost turned Jordan Gabriel’s cross into his own net, with Yates waiting behind ready to pounce.

The Seasiders were fortunate to keep 11 men on the pitch seconds later when Maxwell rushed out of his goal to deal with Troy Parriott.

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The Ipswich man took the ball past Maxwell only to be shoved to the ground, but despite the goal being left wide open the referee only flashed a yellow card, rather than a red.

Nevertheless, the hosts ought to have made it 3-0 from the resulting free-kick as McGuiness, left completely unmarked, headed wide from point-blank range.

The more desperate Blackpool became, the more susceptible they became to being exposed on the counter.

The home side almost capitalised on this approach when James Norwood’s cross appeared to be rolling into the path of fellow substitute Gwion Edwards, but the impressive Ekpiteta somehow got across to make a desperate, last-ditch block.

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Pool really looked devoid of ideas in the dying stages and, if any team was going to add a third goal of the game, it was only going to be Ipswich.

Sears looked to have added his name to the scoresheet when he directed a drilled effort towards the bottom corner, only for Ekpiteta to make another stunning block.

The game ended in bizarre circumstances when referee John Busby stumbled off the pitch clutching his hamstring, indicating he was unable to continue. One of the linesmen took his place in the middle.

That was amusing as it got for the Seasiders though, who slumped to their second defeat against Ipswich of the season.

TEAMS

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Ipswich: Holy, Matheson, Woolfenden, McGuiness, Thomas (Edwards), Kenlock, Downes, Dozzell (Harrop), Judge, Sears, Parrott (Norwood)

Subs not used: Cornell, Chambers, Ward, Drinan

Blackpool: Maxwell, Gabriel, Ekpiteta, Thorniley, Husband (Garbutt), Dougall (Ward), Stewart, Virtue (Mitchell), Kaikai (Simms), Embleton (Lubala), Yates

Subs not used: Sims, Turton

Refere: John Busby

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