15 March 2025
Ipswich Town 2 Nott’m Forest 4
Ipswich Town welcomed high-flying Nottingham Forest to Portman Road. For the three sides promoted to the Premier League this season, it seemed their descent to relegation this campaign is proving to be something they are unable to prevent. While desperate for points, wins seem unattainable and the fight to remain in the top-flight is draining out of them with each game played.
The gulf between the Championship and Premier League has never been bigger than it is now. However, despite this, owners of the clubs coming up do not seem willing to invest in their squads to the level needed to ensure that they are able to compete at this level. They are asking their managers to perform miracles that would not look out of place in the bible.
Kieran McKenna’s side are the only team in England’s top four divisions not to win a game in this calendar year. Unless they can change this, their fate already seems to be decided. The hosts started on the front foot and as a short-corner was worked to Hutchinson on the edge of the box, his curling left-footed shot narrowly missed the target.
Forest came forward with the dangerous Gibbs-White, who played an inch-perfect cross to Wood in the middle. The big striker got a header away at goal but it was straight at Palmer. Moments later, the keeper came bounding out of his box to try and clear the ball but smashed it against his own defender to gift the visitors a corner. As the hosts struggled to clear it, Milenkovic drilled home to open the scoring.
This comedy of errors underpinned just how things are not going according to plan for Ipswich, making their fight for survival an even tougher uphill struggle. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had created little up until this point but seized upon the gift from the Tractor Boys. Portman Road fell silent apart from the travelling Forest fans, who could not believe their luck.
As an attack for the hosts broke down, Forest transitioned from defence into attack quickly. Elanga picked the ball up out wide and cut inside with no Ipswich player willing to make a challenge. The winger cut onto his left-foot and bent his shot into the far corner to double the visitors’ lead. Heads were dropping in the hosts and you wondered whether the fight within them had gone too.
Some dreadful defending from McKenna’s side as a long ball was played forward allowing Elanga to run through on goal and slot past Palmer to make it three-nil to the visitors. While many will applaud some of the Tractor Boys’ performances this season, you simply cannot be as easy to open up if you have any hopes of retaining your Premier League status.
Just before the interval, Phillips had a half-chance as the ball dropped to him outside the box. He struck a first-time shot, having caught it well, but it fizzed over the crossbar. This was the closest the Tractor Boys had come to scoring but this game was already looking beyond them. In the space of six minutes Forest had scored three goals and pretty much put this game to bed.
After the break, Ipswich came out with a renewed confidence. They forced an early corner, which picked out an unmarked Delap in the box. He made good contact with his header but just could not get the direction right as it narrowly missed the far post. The hosts just do not seem to have the goals in them to get out of their current predicament.
Some neat football from the visitors opened up Ipswich once again. Andersen played it to Dominguez in the box, who laid it on a plate for Wood. The Forest striker opted for a first-time shot but Palmer got down well to make the save. Given the form of the Kiwi striker this campaign, many had expected to see the net bulge, but the opportunity was wasted.
In a half of very few chances, McKenna’s side ploughed forward once again. Clarke played a neat pass into Cajuste, whose turn to beat his man was sublime. He shot from the edge of the box with Sels well beaten. It was a great strike from the Ipswich man, giving the slightest glimmer of hope that they could still get something from this game.
The Tractor Boys started to throw caution to the wind at this point. As a move broke down, Yates played a sublime pass forward, dissecting the Ipswich defence. Gibbs-White picked it up on the left and the visitors had a two on one situation. He waited until the perfect moment to lay it into the path of Jota, who slotted beyond Palmer and into the far corner.
Any hopes of a comeback were extinguished in this quick Forest counter-attack. It underpinned just how cut-throat the top-flight really is. The away end went crazy as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side took another step towards securing an unlikely top-four finish this season. Nobody would have predicted this team would qualify for the Champions League this term, without their sanity being questioned.
Despite the fourth goal really knocking the wind out of the sails of the hosts, O’Shea clipped in a cross from out wide to find Hirst. He rose to win the ball and headed into the corner of the goal to reduce the deficit. It was celebrated with muted cheers from the home fans, knowing that there was nothing they could do to change the result this late on.
This was a game that Nottingham Forest were expected to win but there are no guarantees in the Premier League. More importantly, they opened up a six-point gap between themselves and the closest challenger outside of the top four. For Ipswich Town, they just seem to be going through the motions before that badge on their sleeve is replaced by the Championship emblem.
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