When Gravesend-born Alfie May scored an 84th minute equalizer for Cheltenham on Monday it was the first goal that Ipswich had conceded since February 11th.
In total they had played sixteen hours of football in nine games without their defence being breached once. Meanwhile they had scored 22 goals in a run of eight successive wins, three of which were away from home at Milton Keynes (0-1), Bolton (0-2) and Derby (0-2). They are unbeaten in 14 games since losing 1-2 at Oxford in January. Amazingly, despite this phenomenal run, May's equaliser means that they remain in third place - still chasing Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth for the automatic spots.
Very few fans who made it to Bristol to witness Charlton's lacklustre display in defeat to Rovers will hold out much hope of us upsetting the apple cart at Portman Road this weekend. Having said that, very few people who saw us go 2-4 down in the 94th minute at The Valley last October would have envisaged us snatching a point at 4-4 five minutes later. Dropping those two points meant that Ipswich failed to overtake Plymouth and go top of the league and it would be some consolation to Charlton fans in a disappointing season if we could achieve something similar on Saturday. It is likely that, of the starting eleven that day, only Thomas, Dobson, Fraser, Rak-Sakyi and Egbo will feature this time and we might expect our defence - strengthened by Michael Hector's arrival - to cope much better with Conor Chaplin (22 goals this season) and Freddie Ladapo (15).
The equivalent fixture last season was a humiliating last day 0-4 defeat by an Ipswich side who finished 11th to our 13th, but our current team is scarcely recognisable from that of last April. Only Innis, Morgan and Dobson survive from a starting line-up which included Harness, Matthews, Famewo and Washington. Lincoln City are the only team to have won at Portman Road this season and only Fleetwood and Cheltenham have managed a draw, so to take another point would be quite an achievement. But, if Lincoln can do it, why can't we?