Ipswich Town
Preview: Town – Portsmouth
By Aston
January 4 2008
Town face Premier League side Portsmouth in the 3rd Round of The FA cup at Portman Road tomorrow afternoon. Town will be without Jason De Vos as he is being rested to avoid further knocks but Alex Bruce and Richard Naylor are both back in the squad following injures. Tommy Miller is included after serving his one match ban. Alan Lee is a doubt with his Achilles injury again.
Town squad: Alexander, Bruce, Casement, Clarke, Counago, Garvan, Harding, Haynes, Lee, Legwinski, Miller, Naylor, Peters, Sito, Supple, Trotter, Walters, Williams, Wilnis, Wright.
Town manager Jim Magilton: "Harry Redknapp has done a terrific job at Fratton Park. His team are flying at the moment and are contenders for a European place and that is a fantastic achievement, they are where we want to be, so Saturday's game will give us an idea of the standards that we have to attain if we want to play at that level.
"The FA Cup is a wonderful competition and Third Round day is one of the special days in the football calendar. There will be stories up and down the country and hopefully we can create one here ourselves.
"It's the oldest cup competition in the world and the magic of the cup should still be there. When you look back in history, some of the greatest moments in the game have happened in the competition; Ryan Giggs' goal against Arsenal, Alan Sunderland's last minute winner for Arsenal against United, this club's win in 1978, all fantastic football moments.
"With Portsmouth having a fantastic away record and us carrying a long unbeaten run at home, this game has all the ingredients of a terrific cup tie and my players are relishing the challenge.
"They are desperate to keep the proud record at home going and if we could claim the scalp of a Premiership club, it would give everyone a boost."
Portsmouth will have their quota of African players as Sulley Muntari, Papa Bouba Diop, John Utaka and Kanu will all be going to the African Nations Cup on Sunday. Pedro Mendes is out with flu, Sean Davis has a foot injury while reserve ‘keeper Jamie Ashdown has a shoulder injury.
Former Town defender Herrmann Hreidarsson, says it will be a hard game for current side Portsmouth, saying: "Ipswich have such a good home record that we know it will not be easy, our away form is very good and we have collected some excellent scalps on our travels, but it is a game where we could slip up if we are not at our best.
"We are not going to win the league so the FA Cup is something we are going for, we may not have been picking up results at home recently but we have not been playing badly - having too many 0-0 draws and not creating as many chances as we would like.
"I enjoyed my time with Ipswich and could see the potential that Jim Magilton, my former midfield team-mate, had to become a manager.
"He is doing a very good job and has certainly got Ipswich playing well at home.
"I was pleased to see the draw and still keep in touch with players from my Ipswich days, including Fabian Wilnis who has spent time with me in Iceland."
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