retired_amyslack

East Anglia Daily Times
Saturday 22nd April 2006
Brave Blues Book Playoff Place

Town shrugged off the disappointment of their FA Cup Semi Final defeat to secure a hard fought 1-0 win at Leeds thanks to a goal on the stroke of half time from Eyal Berkovic. It took another determined and hard working display to withstand the rugged approach of the home side but manager Bobbins has instilled an excellent team spirit that shone through during a difficult encounter. With Birmingham crowned as runaway champions and West Ham favourites to take the second promotion place there now remains just one playoff slot still up for grabs after today’s match programme. A win at home to Bristol City sealed Coventry’s place in the top six and relegated the visitors whilst an excellent win at Preston ensured that Portsmouth will also be contesting promotion leaving Leicester and Sheffield United to fight out the remaining place.

retired_amyslack

There was to be no dramatic ending to the season for Bobbins and his team – two wins and a draw in their last three games left them two points behind West Ham in 3rd place and the Londoners joined Birmingham in the Premiership. The Ipswich manager was left counting the cost of drawing 16 of their 46 league games – had just one of those been converted into a win then his side would have pipped the Hammers on goal difference. But all thoughts of that nature had to be cast aside as he prepared his team for yet another tilt at the Playoffs. They faced Leicester in the two-legged Semi Final after Craig Levein’s side had made a late charge up the table to secure 6th place. Ipswich recovered a two-goal deficit to draw the first leg 2-2 at the Walkers Stadium. The home leg finished goalless after extra time and Roorsby watched in silent agony as his team triumphed in the penalty shootout to set up a meeting with Coventry in the Final.

retired_amyslack

East Anglia Daily Times
Sunday 28th April 2006
Town Make It At Last

At the third time of asking Ipswich Town have finally made it through the Playoffs to regain their place in the elite of English football. Inspired by a man of the match display by midfield star Cedric van der Gun the Blues raced into a two-goal lead inside the opening quarter of an hour. The opener was chalked down as an own goal against Coventry’s Sean Cooney after he deflected a shot from Darren Moore past his own keeper. The second was much more clear cut, van der Gun sending Rebrov free with a superb through ball that allowed the Ukrainian to slip the ball past the advancing goalie. But the Blues fans were made to suffer as Coventry came back into the game, pulling a goal back before the break through the excellent Graham Barrett when he drifted unmarked to the far post. Within minutes of the restart it was even-stevens as Sky Blues striker Grzegorz Rasiak lost his marker to head home. With the Ipswich contingent fearing the worst their nerves were calmed when a penalty was awarded on 65 minutes after van der Gun was upended in the area. David Unsworth converted the spot kick with his usual power to put the Blues back in front. The superb van der Gun made sure of the win in the 88th minute after he combined beautifully with Berkovic to finish with style in the bottom corner. The relief on the Ipswich bench was palpable as manager Roorsby Bobbins celebrated with his players. “To be honest it’s such a relief to have finally achieved our objective” he told our reporter later. “I was getting worried when we let our lead slip but all credit to the players. They responded superbly and I can’t praise them enough for their self-belief and their application. Everyone at the club is thrilled to be back in the top flight and we can’t wait for next season to come around.”
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Birmingham | 46 | 32 | 12 | 2 | 92 | 27 | +65 | 108 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | West Ham | 46 | 27 | 12 | 7 | 73 | 35 | +38 | 93 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | IPSWICH | 46 | 25 | 16 | 5 | 69 | 28 | +41 | 91 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Coventry | 46 | 28 | 5 | 13 | 80 | 55 | +25 | 89 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Portsmouth | 46 | 25 | 11 | 10 | 77 | 38 | +39 | 86 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Leicester | 46 | 25 | 8 | 13 | 78 | 56 | +22 | 83 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Sheff Utd | 46 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 69 | 49 | +20 | 77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Leeds | 46 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 59 | 60 | -1 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Norwich | 46 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 67 | 59 | +8 | 66 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Millwall | 46 | 14 | 20 | 12 | 42 | 42 | 0 | 62 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Q.P.R. | 46 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 68 | 59 | +9 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Stoke | 46 | 16 | 12 | 18 | 48 | 47 | +1 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Nottm Forest | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 49 | 58 | -9 | 60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Rotherham | 46 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 45 | 52 | -7 | 57 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Wigan | 46 | 11 | 18 | 17 | 59 | 71 | -12 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Burnley | 46 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 49 | 68 | -19 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Reading | 46 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 46 | 53 | -7 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Gillingham | 46 | 14 | 7 | 25 | 51 | 73 | -22 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Cardiff | 46 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 61 | 84 | -23 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Sheff Wed | 46 | 11 | 15 | 20 | 55 | 76 | -21 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Preston | 46 | 11 | 9 | 26 | 56 | 93 | -37 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Bristol C | 46 | 8 | 13 | 25 | 46 | 83 | -37 | 37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Hartlepool | 46 | 8 | 12 | 26 | 37 | 72 | -35 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Watford | 46 | 8 | 11 | 27 | 41 | 79 | -38 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_manragh

Congrats Bob lets hope you can stay up there, me and Terk both got fired!

retired_jgirl87

Go the Rooorsby, c'mon the Town.

retired_amyslack

Cheers guys

Roorsby had not exaggerated when he expressed his sheer relief at his team’s playoff victory as they were looking very shaky indeed when Coventry had played their way back into contention. But pushed on by the brilliant Cedric van der Gun they had recovered their composure and finished as deserving winners. Along with the Dutchman, veteran midfielder Berkovic and experienced centre back Dean Richards were named in the Championship Select at the end of the season, a suitable reward for three of the club’s best performers. Roorsby himself was named Manager of the Year, a big surprise given how well Birmingham had performed. Loan signing Sebastian Svard had done very well at right back and Thomas Riedl had established himself as an excellent holding midfielder. Sibon finished as top scorer with 22 goals whilst van der Gun scored 17 and racked up 20 assists.