Ipswich Town's performance in both halves needs to be good in their toughest test of the season against Fleetwood Town

Last week I wrote about how I wished for Paul Lambert’s Ipswich to go out and play Tranmere off the park, score goals at will and really send a statement out to the rest of the league.

Well, in the second half, that was certainly the case! Town were excellent after a pretty abysmal first 45 (despite Luke Garbutt’s wonder strike) and on another day they could have easily hit six or seven.

However, this seems to be a recurring fate for the Tractor Boys, who seem to play well for one half and awfully the other! Although I shouldn’t moan too much, as the table doesn’t lie, hey!?

With that said, we are going to need to ensure both halves are good enough this weekend, as we face arguably our toughest test in League One, with a visit to third place Fleetwood Town.

They say you can start to take the table seriously after 10 games, to really gauge where your team is at and the season they could have.

And with Town sitting two points clear at the top, two points ahead of second place Wycombe Wanders (with a game in hand) and unbeaten, it does make for some pleasant viewing.

Joey Barton’s Fleetwood will be bound to test that unbeaten run and will feel confident – in their own back yard – they can end it.

The Fishermen head into this one unbeaten at home and will be hoping to close the gap come Saturday evening.

So what can Town expect from Barton’s Fleetwood? For me, and I’m sure Mr Lambert would agree, I’d snap your hand off for a point.

Barton has made his side very pleasing to watch, with The Reds having scored the same amount of goals as Town this season (20) and looking a potent threat going forward.

That said, defensively they’ve proved slightly suspect, so Town will need to continue their impressive form at the back and with the attacking prowess we now possess, there is no reason we can’t pick up all three points.