DanJ's Match Preview - Ipswich Town vs. Derby County
Friday, 16th Dec 2011 14:16 by Daniel J Sewart

The Rams halted their slide and now head away from home to face a team who have managed to do the same. Both teams will be desperate for three points and most fans would be happy to take them from Paul Jewell.

Ipswich Town vs. Derby County

Portman Road

3:00pm – Saturday December 17th

Current Form – Last 5 League Matches:

Ipswich Town: 20th – L, L, L, L, W

Derby: 14th – L, L, L, D, W

The Tractor Boys:

Ipswich will welcome back their Captain Grant Leadbitter for the visit of Derby while between the sticks David Stockdale will be absent after his loan was cancelled by Fulham due to Mark Schwarzer sustaining a serious injury.

Town’s second choice keeper Richard Wright is still injured so the gloves will be handed to Arran Lee-Barrett for the clash.

Midfielder Grant Leadbitter has been missing in action for the Blues recent matches with a groin injury but after training well during the week he may be in line for a return albeit from the bench.

Centre-back Ivar Ingimarsson is likely to miss again with a broken nose he sustained during training two weeks ago.

Paul Jewell was laying it on thick when speaking about his former club:

“Wherever you look in the Championship, it’s full of clubs with great tradition and great fan bases. Derby reminds me of Ipswich – a great club, with great tradition, great facilities and a great fan base. At the moment though, like us, they are trying to get out of the Championship.”

“It just didn’t happen for me when I went there. We went 14 games in the Premier League without scoring a goal, but it was always going to be difficult and as hard as I tried I couldn’t turn it around. I have no regrets about going to Derby though.”

“When I left I told Adam Pearson that I thought he (Nigel Clough) was the right man for the job. I just felt that they needed the feel-good factor back after a tough few years.”

“I thought Nigel Clough was the natural choice because of his dad. I think the fans just needed someone who was synonymous with Derby in the past.”

The Rams

Nigel Clough will have to decide who he throws up front as the recent star on his Christmas tree has been Priskin who is unavailable due to the terms of his loan agreement with Ipswich.

That should open the door for Callum Ball up front while Theo Robinson is also expected to make the squad at very least.

Robinson played for nearly half an hour during the Rams midweek Senior Cup tie against Belper Town but was taken off as a precaution when he received a nasty knock on the hip.

Although he did not train the day after the match Theo is likely to be fit to return at Portman road.

Nathan Tyson and John Brayford were back in full training this week and may have done enough to make the bench with Brayford the more likely of the two to appear.

Nigel Clough is hoping his team continue their improvement in form:

"The win against Bristol puts that little bit more belief into the players. It's difficult when you're playing well and not getting the results because we've had that over the last two or three seasons."

"If we keep doing the right things and the wins will come and that was proved on Saturday against Bristol City. Ipswich will be a different camp after getting a win at Barnsley. We've stopped a bad run too so it'll be difficult to call what will happen this weekend.”

"We're unbeaten in two and we're eager as anything to take that to three. We saw Ipswich several times during their losing run and they weren't playing that badly. They were unlucky a couple of times with the timings of goals and things like that.”

"They looked out of it against Barnsley, who had won five out of six, and they come back and score five in the second half which pretty much sums up the nature of the Championship. They'll probably argue they weren't doing too much different in that second half than they have been in the games that they lost.”

"It was a good performance last year at Ipswich. We scored two good goals and I thought Frank Fielding was excellent that night he made some great saves to keep us in the game.”

"We hadn't got a win there for a few years so we'll be looking to get another one on Saturday."

DanJ’s Match Preview:

Ipswich is pretty much the only team in the Championship with a worse recent record than the Rams having only just ended a seven game losing streak.

Manager Paul Jewell has followed up a promising start to his tenure with a run of outs that has put extreme pressure on the former Rams boss – which is just the way we like it!

After Paul Jewell spent big money on players after taking the Rams reigns in the top flight – while managing to upset most players at the club and resigning when it all go too hard – Derby fans would be happy to put one over him at his new home.

The pressure will be on Jewell and his team to gain some more points after their recent win against Barnsley and pull themselves away from the relegation zone so Rams fans may get their wish.

The Rams may enjoy playing a nervous team who have not managed a win at home since the middle of October. If they can put some pressure on the Blues early then they may win the battle between the ears as well as on the pitch.

Priskin being unable to play may prove to be a blessing for Nigel Clough as it will give Callum Ball a chance to strut his stuff for the club. Ball looked every bit the target man the Rams have been looking for and if Clough is brave enough to partner him with either Bennett or Robinson (if he is fit) then the Ipswich defence could be in for a torrid time.

The other factor that could make a big difference is the return of John Brayford. If the Rams right back is fit then that would release Paul Green from the back four and allow him to slot into right midfield. With Ben Davies struggling for form, a right hand side of Brayford and Green could be quite exciting.

Ipswich have been scoring goals but been quite leaky at the back while the Rams have, until last week, struggled to find goals. I think this week the drought Derby have experienced will continue to be alleviated with the likes of Jamie Ward leading from the front - while the Tractor Boys woes will continue.

Dan J’s Score Prediction:

Clough to prove who is the better man…ager!

Ipswich 1 - Derby 2