Portman Road Ipswich Town
Championship League v Reading
Saturday, November 26th 2011, 3pm
Alex Luke
Portman Road Ipswich Town
Championship League v Reading
Saturday, November 26th 2011, 3pm
Alex
Luke
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1. Why you were looking
forward to going to the ground (or not as the case
may be):
It had been a while since
my last away game so I was looking forward to
another trip out. Ipswich seemed a good bet due to
our improving form and their poor run of 4 straight
defeats. From photos and other reviews I had seen of
Portman Road it had impressed me as it seemed to
combine the old and the modern, very well.
2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking? I went on the coaches with
a few friends that left the Madejski at 9:30am. The
journey seemed shorter than I expected and there was
very little traffic once we entered the town. The
coach parked about a five minute walk from the
ground.
3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly? We arrived a good hour before the match kicked off so decided to visit the club shop. There is a glass wall within the shop, which provides an impressive view of the ground. After, we went to buy a burger from one of the many vans surrounding the stadium. It was fairly expensive but tasted good and was cheaper than the food on offer inside the ground. Home fans were exceptionally welcoming and there was no trouble anywhere. We also walked around the outside of the ground, taking in the statues of former players, outside of the Brittania Stand, which seems huge. 4. What you thought on
seeing the ground, first impressions of away end
then other sides of the ground?
The away end seemed old
and tired. However the view from the seats was one
of the best I've experienced with Reading. The
Brittania Stand looks very impressive as do the
other ends of the ground. The ground itself seems a
good size.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. The first half was a very poor affair.
Reading had an early chance when Kebe burst down
the right hand flank but his low cross was just
too far away from Church. Any touch and it
would've been in. The only other moment of note in
the first half was when Chopra rolled the ball
past Federici only to see it bounce back off the
post.
The game exploded into life in the second
half. Ipswich took the lead when a Grant
Leadbitter free kick caught Federici in no-mans
land and Daryl Murphy nodded home. However Reading
soon responded with Gorkks thumping home his first
for the club with a great header from an Ian Harte
free kick. The game then entered a bit of a lull
before Josh Carson ran at the defence and
unleashed a shot that bounced off Gorkks and
looped over Federici. Time ticked on and it seemed
like an Ipswich win was on the cards. However 3
minutes of injury time was added on and Reading
showed why they are the best team in the league in
the last 10 minutes of games. In the first minute
of injury time Pearce bulleted a header past
Wright from a corner to equalise. Ipswich suddenly
fell apart and with 30 seconds left Reading
completed the comeback, Le Fondre oing superbly to
outpace the defence before chipping a delightful
ball to Noel Hunt, who slotted home to send the
Reading fans into delirium.
The stewards were very friendly and
tolerated the standing from the 500 or so Royals.
The atmosphere throughout the game was
a disappointment though. The Ipswich
fans made little noise which was a
bit disappointing as the Reading fans
tried hard to get an atmosphere going.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: Finding the coach was fairly easy for us,
although one fan failed to find the coach so we
had to leave him behind. Once we got going, we got
out of the town fairly quickly due to
the surprisingly small amount of
traffic.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out: Overall the day was excellent. A superb
win for Reading in the most dramatic fashion
completed an enjoyable experience. Despite the
high ticket prices I would definitely visit
Ipswich again and thoroughly reccomend it.
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