By Alfie Burr
Many thanks to Martin Atherton who has done the last few match reports, but he puts his feet up this weekend, and young Alfie Burr takes up the reporting duties for this game, but Martin will be back next week to cover the busy October schedule, so many thanks to Alfie for picking up the pen for this game.
DONS DRAW AND IT COULD HAVE BEEN MORE
After the poor display last weekend against Crewe, I guess many of us were looking for some sort of reaction, Russ included, as it was agreed by all and I include the players in that, that the Dons did not equip themselves very well against a Crewe side that although had faced stiff opposition in their opening games against the newly relegated Hull City and Charlton Athletic they were hardly likely to be amongst the big hitters this season, and if the Dons could not deal with the Railwaymen, what chance against some of the big boys of League 1 and the prospects of the season ahead, right there it had the warning signs of a long and difficult season. I appreciate that there are well over 40 games remaining but do we really want to be in a position that we are fighting for survival long before Santa comes dropping down the chimney, playing catch up is not the best scenario for any team.
I’m not sure playing the League leaders when you are down on your luck is the ideal game to get your season off to a start, but for Russ and Carlton Morris there was also the East Anglian edge to the game that gave us a slim chance.
Russell Martin made five changes to today’s Dons starting line-up as we saw Cargill, O’Hora, Houghton, Gladwin and Sorinola get swapped out for today’s match against the Tractor Boys. Keogh, Fraser, and Williams making their first starts of the season, and Kasumu and Harvie recalled to the starting line-up.
The first five minutes saw a good amount of possession for Russell Martin’s men, but this was all undone by the seven-minute mark when some poor defending led to Ipswich’s only goal of the game with Jon Nolan netting his third goal of the season with a strange finish. The ball wasn’t cleared despite several opportunities as it was crossed into the box, and Nolan’s scuffed shot somehow bounced over Nicholls and then Lewington on the goal line.
By the thirty-minute mark, Ipswich have already made a change. Stephen Ward was substituted off for Myles Kenlock after getting what looked to be a minor knock and just after the re-start Dons had a great chance to score following some slick passing between Fraser and Morris, but the chance wasn’t taken.
Thirty-five minutes in and Daniel Harvie was booked for an off the ball collision and according to the 3CR commentators, he was lucky not to see red as Harvie was tracking back and got involved with Chambers and it looked fairy deliberate.
With the first half drawing to a close Joe Mason was slipped in for a one on one with the goalkeeper, but his chance was saved by Tomas Holy’s leg as Mason shot straight at him and deflected it out for a corner.
I would say at half time Kasumu and Harvie have been particularly good, and Keogh hadn’t done anything wrong, and Kasumu’s strong start to the season continued as he looked a solid player for the Dons.
The second half begun as the first half had started with the Dons having their fair share of possession and looking a lot more threatening than they did in the first. Nine minutes into the second half saw Sørensen running down the right-hand side after a nice Mason flick, Sørensen crossed the ball in and the Ipswich defender misjudged the bounce and it fell to Daniel Harvie who took a touch, set himself, and lashed it home with his weaker foot into the right-side netting, not a bad way of scoring his first goal for the Dons, Game on !
Thirteen minutes after the Dons goal, Ipswich were forced to ten men as recent substitute Flynn Downes came off due to injury after a challenge on Morris, and Ipswich had used all their subs and now down to 10 men.
Shortly after Morris missed from 8 yards out with his flick shot saved at the near post by the increasingly shaky looking Holy. With twenty minutes to go Scott Fraser had a shot from just inside the Ipswich box, Holy fumbled it into the path of Brittain but he also shoots straight at the keeper.
Dons have kept possession very well recently and continued to do so into the later stages of the game and it looked like they smelt the blood of the League leaders.
5 Minutes are added on and Dons were still applying a lot of pressure against the Ipswich defence and were looking the more likely to take the win, creating a fair few chances but sadly couldn’t turn them into goals.
The game finished all square, but you couldn’t help but think it could have been so much more for the Dons.
My MOTM was either Harvie or Kasumu. I feel Harvie played quite well, and obviously did get the goal. But Kasumu was very solid in midfield, created some good chances and he isn’t afraid to get stuck into a tackle. So, for that reason, Kasumu is my MOTM, with honourable mentions for Fraser, Keogh, and Williams who looked to have come through the 90 minutes with no apparent problems.
