Ipswich Town could be about to embark on a roller coaster end to the season

We’ve been up, we’ve been down, and this column is only four weeks old! Such is the roller coaster journey of being a Town fan.

Following the Lincoln draw and Plymouth victory, the wave of optimism was high. However, after back-to-back defeats, I write this more from a position of hope. The hope that something may finally ‘spark’ this Ipswich side into life as we enter the home stretch of the season. Amazingly, with everything still to play for.

With 11 games left and 33 points available, anything can happen still. History shows 74 points sees you finish between fifth and sixth place within this division. For Town to achieve this point total, we need 20 from the available 33 points.

We are now entering the do or die part of the season. As we enter the home stretch, we must first clear the fence before the sprint finish and that is Wigan.

A defeat to Wigan, our third on the bounce, wouldn’t see us pulled up on the outside but it would seriously damage any chance we have of going for a photo finish.

However, let us keep hope. We head into Wigan fresh from Paul Cook’s first full week on the training ground; could this be the point we all look back on in May and say ‘that is where the season really started for us’?

The week where Cook was able to put his marker down on the training ground, implementing a style and philosophy. Imagine this Saturday as the start of a new season following a ‘mini week pre-season’.

I spoke last week about how Cook may want to be more flexible in his approach, so it was pleasing to read following the Portsmouth game that he is open to looking at Jackson and Norwood up front together.

We should not forget they combined gave us 22 goals last term. After all, goals win points and points win prizes.

So with 11 games to go buckle up; the roller coaster will be starting soon. You may feel nausea at times.

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