After today’s 2-2 draw against Blackpool in what was unusually these days, an excellent Ipswich performance, Town fans could be forgiven for feeling just as down in the dumps this evening as they were after the Birmingham defeat in midweek.
Both games saw better performances and probably a situation where four points would have been just reward for our efforts rather than the solitary one point. But for better defending and officiating, then we might just have been looking at more from these two games.
Each season, as a marker to where we are on course to be, I often look at the next opposition, see what we did against them last season and if it was just a draw then, or a defeat, then I am in hope that if we win this next game, we are better off than the same game last term and then we just have to match the same results thereafter to ensure we don’t become significantly worse off than last season to have high hopes of avoiding relegation.
Well my friends, looking at our 26 games so far this season and comparing them to last, we are only ONE point worse off than in the same matches against the same opposition last season!
Now I hear you say that for example, QPR are not in our league this year but West Ham are and they were not last year. So how do I accommodate these fixtures in my line of thought?
Simple! As QPR finished top of our league last season and West Ham finished bottom of the Premier League, they swap places with each other and this theory continues from here looking at respective finishing places last season, Norwich become Blackpool (so we gained a point in this fixture today) and Swansea swap with Birmingham.
Similarly looking at those relegated from the Championship last May, and at those Promoted from League One, Scunthorpe were replaced by Brighton, Sheffield United by Southampton and Preston by Peterborough.
The following list of games played so far show how the two seasons compare overall:
|
Match |
Opposition |
H/A |
2010-2011 |
2011-2012 |
Variance |
|
1 |
Bristol City |
A |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
2 |
Hull City |
H |
1 |
0 |
-1 |
|
3 |
Southampton |
H |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
|
4 |
Peterborough |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
5 |
Leeds |
H |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
6 |
Blackpool |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
7 |
Coventry |
H |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
8 |
Middlesbrough |
A |
3 |
1 |
-2 |
|
9 |
West Ham |
A |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
10 |
Brighton |
H |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
11 |
Cardiff |
A |
3 |
1 |
-2 |
|
12 |
Portsmouth |
H |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
13 |
Crystal Palace |
H |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
|
14 |
Millwall |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
15 |
Doncaster |
H |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
|
16 |
Notts Forest |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
17 |
Reading |
H |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
18 |
Burnley |
A |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
|
19 |
Watford |
H |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
20 |
Barnsley |
A |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
21 |
Derby |
H |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
22 |
Leicester |
A |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
23 |
Reading |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
24 |
Notts Forest |
H |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
25 |
Birmingham |
A |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
26 |
Blackpool |
H |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
-1 |
And so there we have it. Last season we finished some 19 points off relegation and tonight, we are destined to be only one point worse than that come May. That’s of course if we do no worse in each of the last 20 games this season than what we did in them last time and you have to admit, there was not much to shout about last season was there? So even if there is not much to shout about again this time around, we’ll be ok. Let’s just hope that there is not less to shout about. Now how did we fare against Leeds last season……
