Saints dominated the game but after equalising the visitors opener could not quite manage to break them down again so must replay at Portman Road.

Saints should really have beaten an Ipswich side who were well drilled and well organised but no matter how Saints huffed and puffed they couldn't blow the house down let alone the whole town.

Saints had dominated the early stages so it was against the run of play when Ipswich went ahead through Darren Ambrose on 19 minutes, but it didn't take them long to get back on terms with Morgan Schneiderlin capitalising on a defensive mix up to prod the ball home just after the half hour mark.

From then on the pattern of the game was set, Saints attacked and the visitors defended, in fairness to them they didn't come to defend, they were just pushed back as Saints continually out passed them, but to their credit they stood firm as Saints had plenty of the ball but just couldn't find an end product and that has to be down to a resolute Ipswich team.

Saints had a couple of reasonable penalty shouts but whereas over the last few years we seemed to get a lot of spot kicks, this season is the opposite, I haven't had the benefit of watching the replay on TV but in the second half from my seat Shane Long looked to be brought down for a stonewall penalty, of course we cannot blame our failure to win on poor refereeing decisions, however if given it would have changed the nature of the game and probably the result.

Perhaps the only plus point of the day was that we appear to have come through with no further injuries apart from Lloyd Isgrove who got a nasty cut on his head.

Clearly though Ronald Koeman wants to win the competition as was shown by his team who certainly had the desire to win and this was no game that petered out to a tame draw, Saints kept going to the final whistle and a replay that neither team would welcome with both having eyes on league positions.

Photo: Action Images

trotsky added 11:00 - Jan 5 Credit to Ipswich, who looked much better in defence and attack than most sides we've played in the league this year. I like to consider myself reasonably objective on these matters* but by my (literal) interpretation of the laws, we could/should have had four second-half penalties. Not sure which Long incident you're referring to. The first (as broadcast on the BBC highlights) was probably a penalty; cracking pass from Tadic but Long was "guilty" of waiting of the contact and so his fall looked rather unnatural. However, the final occasion was spectacularly embarrassing for Atkinson and co, who having judged correctly that Long was clipped from behind, failed to see it had occurred some distance inside the box, as was very evident from the marks left on the pitch by his fall. * i.e. I'm not one of those people who shouts "handball" whenever the ball connects with the upper half of an opponent.

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ItchenNorth added 13:10 - Jan 5 I wasn't that impressed with Ipswich tbh. It'll be tough away from home but certainly nothing to fear if we turn up. Pelle needs a goal, hes working hard has brings other into te game all the time but he hasn't really had a clear cut chance himself in the last three games despite coming close.
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TimSaint added 14:29 - Jan 5 ItchenNorth - Pelle not having a clear cut chance in the last 3 games ? Did you go to the Arsenal game, or even see the highlights ? Not wanting to be critical, he could and perhaps should have had a hatrick. He was slightly unfortunate hitting the post twice, but the chance in the 2nd half, after the keeper was robbed by Tadic, he put straight at the defender on the line. I'm sure he will get a goal sooner or later, as his performances have probably deserved, so let's hope the goals start flowing once again, starting at Old Trafford on Sunday :-) Apparently he has had the most shots in the prem so far, so the goals will soon follow ;-)

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Whatsforpud added 19:17 - Jan 5 Ipswich's goal woke us up. Before that we seem to be passing the ball around for the sake of it - in fact we passed it to death. Lost count the number of times the ball went backwards and forwards to Fonte. We need to be making better, timely runs up front to prevent sideways passing. I was willing Bertrand to drop his shoulder and try for a run down the line, but he seemed content to turn back all the time.

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luffy22 added 20:42 - Jan 5 My first live game this season and I did feel I was overcharged at £10. yes we are amazing at passing it between the back four. And it also shows we are in desperate need of some strikers. Shane long is not good enough, yes he does run a lot and looks quite strong, but thats about it, he's never going to score more than a couple of goals a season. and you don't win games without scoring so he's therefore not good enough as a forward, perhaps he needs a chance in midfield. Pelle gets lots of chances which he works hard for but can't get it on target. Midfield was excellent, so impressed with Waggayama, he is superb. and the defence looked rarely troubled even with ward prowse as a right back. Just a shame that rather than pushing forward we would rather pass back to defence

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ItchenNorth added 23:11 - Jan 5 Yes TimSaint I'm a season ticket holder. Pelle could have had a hat trick v Arsenal but bar the header which took the paint off the post, none were clear cut chances for him. The second time he hit the post was a toe poke (unlucky but barely half a chance). I stand by saying; Pelle has not had a real clear cut chance recently in front of goal. He's working really hard and playing well but we also need others to give him that clear cut opportunity that's been missing in the last few games for him.

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TimSaint added 11:14 - Jan 6 Itchen - yes totally agree that the supply line to Pelle has been poor of late, which has particularly been down to Tadic either misfiring or not playing. I didn't go to Palace away, so can't comment on that game, but against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, even at home, you don't expect to get many chances as a team, let alone as a striker. You certainly don't expect to get clear cut chances either, but not being too pedantic with your definition of clear cut, I would not have wished for a more clear cut chance against Arsenal, that the one presented to Pelle by Tadic, with just one defender on the line. Anyway, hopefully we have now Tadic back to his creative self (in the prem at least !!) and we can push on with positive results in our next batch of games, which unfortunately for me, are too far away to take my daughter, so I can only do the Ipswich Cup replay. Here's to another successful run and many more goals from our Italian goal machine :-)

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