Ipswich Town 3 Northampton 1:ROY KEANE'S Ipswich Town hardly impressed in beating a Northampton Town side that offered far, far less than they had in beating Liverpool and Reading in the previous rounds, reports Richard Rae at Portman Road.
The visitors settled well and Liam Davis put them in front with a 25-yard shot which appeared to take a slight deflection as it flew past goalkeeper Brian Murphy.
It was a poor goal to concede, but Ipswich responded well. Carlos Edwards was fortunate that Davis slipped as he moved across to cover on the edge of the penalty area, but there was nothing lucky about the rising drive that gave Northampton’s goalkeeper, Chris Dunn, little chance.
After 44 minutes dominant Ipswich got their noses in front. Dunn could only palm away Grant Leadbitter’s shot, and although he managed to scramble the ball away for a corner, Northampton failed to deal with it and Damien Delaney drove the loose ball into the net.
There were some nervous moments for Ipswich before Tamas Priskin’s late header finally made the game safe.
Guardian Service
IPSWICH TOWN: Murphy, McAuley, Delaney, Smith, Eastman, Leadbitter, Edwards (Griffiths 90+2), Norris, Townsend (Peters 67), Scotland (Murray 67), Priskin. Subs not used: Fulop, Peters, O’Connor, Brown, Hyam, Griffiths, Murray.
NORTHAMPTON TOWN: Dunn, Rodgers, Hall, Hinton, Thornton (Holt 68), Gilligan, Osman, Wedderburn, Jacobs, Davis, McKay. Subs not used: Walker, Holt, Slowe, Kaziboni, Guinan, Konstantinou, Harris.
Referee: E Ilderton (Tyne Wear).
