Ipswich Home Drew 1 – 1
With Stephens suspended for the visit of Ipswich, in came not just Harwood-Bellis but also Taylor with Walker-Peters benched; make of that what you will but I suspect it has more to do with height than anything else. Further forward there were starts for Dibling, Lallana and Fraser but it didn’t look as though they’d have a ball o play with as the Tractors wouldn’t give it up after winning an early free kick. Eventually, though, Saints got possession and Manager Martin’s tweaks were justified as in the fifth minute Lallana threaded a delightful pass through to Dibling who took his first senior goal with some skill. The game, though, was still proving awkward and when Ramsdale went down with a ‘convenient’ injury, Lallana led the rush to the technical area for an impromptu regrouping. It seemed to have some effect as the team managed to get Archer forward and he had just enough speed and strength to go clear and take the ball round Muric, but the finish from too tight an angle couldn’t beat the post. Lallana and Fraser were not trusted to last more than 57 minutes as the now usual mass substitutions came slightly earlier than usual. Archer again made an opportunity all for himself but Muric saved while no-one was really sure whether Fernandes was shooting or passing when well placed. It was looking more and more like a much needed league win was coming our way, but all home fans were aware that a two goal cushion was most likely needed to see us home. The game ended as it began, with a free kick conceded at the beginning of seven added minutes and Ipswich then refusing to concede possession. Not for the first time Ramsdale managed to touch a dangerous effort over the bar and from the resulting corner Brereton-Diaz got in a good defensive header, but only out to Morsy who drove the ball back powerfully. There were plenty of striped shirts in its way and inevitably the ball hit one of them – Aribo’s in fact. Just as inevitably, it seemed, the deflection took it to just about the only part of he goal that Ramsdale couldn’t cover and home fans stared in disbelief while telling each other that they knew that was going to happen.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, maybe the best of our defenders – and they all had plenty of work to do.
30. Aaron Ramsdale, although his distribution looks suspect and he was lucky not to be punished for an early lapse.
33. Tyler Dibling with a fine goal, and who also lasted the pace better than he has been doing
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