This was a controlled win against opponents who barely landed a blow, easing the pressure on Oliver Glasner and suggesting genuine relegation fears may prove short-lived. Jean-Philippe Mateta's goal, scored just before the hour, provided what they deserved and cast a pall of early-winter gloom over Portman Road.
Ipswich usually put teams under the pump here but were scrappy and subdued, the worry for Kieran McKenna being that they looked a class below their visitors. The teams had begun level on points but if the Suffolk side cannot find a way to match opponents of Palace's physicality and nous they will be left for dead.
In freezing temperatures the question at kick-off was whether either side could light a fire under its relegation fight. Ipswich always knew the season would present this challenge, their chief failing so far an inability to turn consistent performance levels into results. It is the timeless concern of handy, but toothless, promoted sides. A string of injuries has hardly helped and their latest, to Axel Tuanzebe, handed a start to the local-born Harry Clarke.
This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the December 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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