Phil Parkinson was delighted with out 2-1 win over Ipswich Town and feels that six wins, three draws and only one defeat from our first ten games represents a good start to the season. “We’ll take 21 points from the first ten games. You always say that after ten games, it’s a decent benchmark of where you want to be, and I’m pleased with the return. There are some teams above us, but we didn’t play because of the international break and the points return has been good. You can always get better, and we will endeavour to do that, but we’re pleased with what we’ve done so far. When the fixtures came out, people were saying it was going to be a tough old start, and we’ve had some tough games against some good teams. But we’ve come through it with just one defeat. There have been games where we could have got more points – I think anyone who saw Charlton away will say we should have won that one – but we’ve got to be pleased with the return. We’ve had a tough run in those ten games, so we’ve got to be delighted with the 21 points on the board.”
In terms of the way the game unfolded from a tactical point of view, the gaffer had this to say. “I think the first half we got caught in between a little bit with our pressing,” Parkinson said. “I thought we allowed them to progress up the pitch too easily, even though we started well and got the goal. The second half we were much better, we put Goochy in behind the two strikers and got on top of them better. We forced them into more mistakes and it was a much better display. Sometimes when you're not at your best you've got to find a way to win. The lads stuck at it and it was an important win for us, to back up the win against Gillingham. Ipswich are technically very good in the midfield area, their midfield three are probably as good as anyone in the division and it did show at times. I thought we were rectified things at half time by getting that extra man higher up the pitch, to stop them building attacks. There was perhaps a little bit of edginess there but it was an important game against promotion rivals and we came through it. You go back to the Peterborough game, it was a very tight game and were we at our best in terms of playing? Probably not, but you've got to come out the points and discuss what you can do better later. The lads stuck with it and I thought the resilience, the organisation, was great tonight. Sometimes you can't play as well as you'd like, the teams at the top are there for a reason and can make things difficult for you. The second half was a lot better for us.”
PP felt that Andre Dozzell’s red card for a dangerous tackle on Grant Leadbitter was justified. “At the time, I thought it looked soft, but we’ve looked at it back and he (Dozzell) has rolled his foot over the ball and caught Grant. In the Premier League, VAR would have a look at that and it would definitely be a red card. He’s caught Grant, and you know what type of player Grant is – he’s not going to go down unless he’s been caught.”
However, Ipswich boss, Paul Lambert, felt Dozzell’s red and the penalty given against Mark McGuinness were both mistakes from the ref. "The two decisions are monumental errors. We will look at Andre's and see if we can appeal - it was never a sending off. Mark wasn't even looking at the ball and was about a yard away. Two big decisions went against us this evening. We will look at the bigger picture, though. We've played good football and we're sat second in the table."
