The home fans at Portman Road have yet to experience the joys of a Premier League victory this season. They came close on Sunday, agonisingly so. Until the 87th minute against Bournemouth, Ipswich Town were on the road to a momentous victory. But the wait continues. For now, at least.
Two Bournemouth substitutes, Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara, foiled what would have been Ipswich’s first Premier League home win since the 2001-02 season — when they were last in the English top flight — to secure a late 2-1 comeback win, leaving Ipswich in the relegation zone and further adrift of those hovering above them.
It was a similar story last month against Leicester City when a 1-0 win escaped them after a stoppage-time Jordan Ayew equaliser.
Ipswich have dropped 15 points from winning positions this season and, worryingly, zero points from a week that saw both Crystal Palace, who are a place ahead of Ipswich in 17th, and Bournemouth visit.
Mark Ashton, Ipswich chairman and CEO, said in the matchday programme: “An outstanding home record was an integral part of our two promotion campaigns and we know picking up points at Portman Road will be hugely important once again as we look to achieve our goal this season.”
With that goal being to avoid relegation, recent home results do not bode well. Ipswich, 18th in the league, are now four points adrift from safety after 15 games.
The one positive arguably is the faith so far shown in their manager at a time when Gary O’Neil is under pressure at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester have already sacked Steve Cooper and replaced him with Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Kieran McKenna, who achieved back-to-back promotions with Ipswich, guiding them from League One to the Premier League, said after the match: “The players know and feel especially in today’s game, even on Tuesday (against Crystal Palace) or last Saturday (against Nottingham Forest), I don’t think we are too far away against really good sides.
“Throughout the three games we have had in the last eight days the margin to us taking three points, six points (compared to zero) in those three games is that a huge jump? I do not think it is.
“Belief in the results is hard when you concede late but I think the players believe in the way that we work and they believe we are improving.”
In their losses against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, Ipswich conceded first and were unable to break down those physical and defensive setups. On Sunday, Ipswich took the lead and yet could not protect it.
Australian international Cameron Burgess, 29, at centre-back was one of the best players on the pitch against Bournemouth, regularly snuffing out attacks and even providing the assist for Conor Chaplin’s goal in the 21st minute. But Ipswich will need to better control the momentum of games to thrive.
Last week, fellow relegation candidates Leicester showed they could build on a lead after going ahead in the second minute against West Ham to win 3-1 and fought back to recover from 2-0 down against Brighton to earn a 2-2 draw. The battle for survival will be gruelling.
Ipswich have 11 home games remaining with the next coming on December 21 against a Newcastle United side that has been vulnerable on the road this season. If they perform as they did on Sunday, with fight and endeavour, there is hope. The long wait for a home win could finally end this month.
Against a team now eighth and just one point off a European place, Ipswich came close to victory on Sunday. Instead, Bournemouth secured their third win on the bounce and became the first Premier League side to record comeback wins in two different away games in a season after trailing as late as the 87th minute. The other comeback was a 3-2 victory against Everton in August.
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said after the match, “In the first half we missed clear chances and at the start of the second were thinking it probably is not going to be our day. But the substitutes addressed the finishing.
“They were very compact. They were not giving us a lot of chances to cross properly, but there was a moment in the second half where it opened up and we needed this. Probably the fresh energy and fresh mind from around 87 minutes.”
Bournemouth’s quality off the bench included not only the two goalscorers, Unal and Ouattara, but Philip Billing, David Brooks, and James Hill. This season, Bournemouth’s substitutes have scored or assisted more goals than any other team with four goal contributions.
Addressing their strong start after 15 games, Iraola said, “I think we should not look at the standings right now, it is very early in the season. I do not even know where we are. I know that we have 24 points and I value those 24 points. That is a good total for the amount we have played.”
He will hope to top last season’s points total, when Bournemouth achieved their best Premier League points tally by accumulating 48 points.
(Top photo: Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
