Ipswich Town column: Lambert needs to start engineering wins to be worthy of his new long-term contract

Happy New Year to all you Ipswich Town fans and followers. After what can only be described as a disastrous 2019, let’s hope and pray 2020 brings nothing but joy and happiness to Portman Road.

And it very nearly brought just that on New Year’s Day, after James Norwood’s excellent opener ended up being cancelled out by yet another defensive howler.

That draw means Town’s winless run in the league has now reached eight matches and the Blues have fallen way behind from their initial serge at the top.

I was stood on a miserable Sincil Bank terrace watching a Lincoln City demolition and witnessed the shear anger and frustration towards Paul Lambert at the end. And truth be told, I thought it was every bit deserved.

If we’re being honest, despite our bright start to the season, can we really say we’ve seen Ipswich Town play a team off the park and look overall convincing in their quest for promotion? Hmmm.. I’m not too sure.

The continuous chopping and changing of not only the line up but the formation and tactics too has baffled the Town faithful and it’s clear as day to see that it just isn’t working.

How on earth a manager who was relegated last season, hasn’t won a game in two months and is yet to get his team fully firing has now been offered a five-year contract is truly baffling! But I guess we’ve all become accustomed to these sort of ludicrous decisions from our owner, Marcus Evans.

That said, I suppose all we can do now is back Paul Lambert and hope he has what it takes to get us out of this rut.

This weekend sees the chance to get another step closer to Wembley, but also an opportunity to just win a game, against a team in the league below. That gigantic Leasing.com EFL Trophy tie is then followed by a home fixture to Accrington Stanley and a trip to Tranmere Rovers, which Ipswich Town simply have to win.