View From The Town End: Ipswich Town

Susan from Turnstile Blues gives us the lowdown on what we can expect from Ipswich on Friday night.

How would you sum up Ipswich's season so far?

Until the last match - a defeat at home to Brighton - it was pretty hard not to be very excited. We're playing well, have brought in some great new faces over the summer, and we were top of the league! I think (I hope) the Brighton game was a blip.

When we spoke to you in pre-season you were predicting a top four finish. Have your transfer dealings or early season form made you rethink that?

Losing to Brighton was partly because of an injury to a key defender (Berra) and I think avoiding injuries will be crucial in determining where we finish. If we're lucky, yes, top four. I'm very excited about some of our last minute acquisitions, especially Tommy Oar, although I haven't seen him in a Town shirt yet. The new signings have made me feel more, not less, hopeful.

Any fond memories of games between our two teams?

Not really, as I can hardly ever remember a match against you that we haven't lost! I think I'd have to go back to our 3-1 victory at Portman Road in March 2003. It had a bit of everything (disallowed penalties, a sending off), a goal scored by one of my favourite players ever, Martijn Reuser, and it's always extra nice to beat a team managed by Alan Pardew.

Any not so fond ones?

I didn't enjoy our meeting last season at Portman Road to be honest. It was one of our worst performances of the season. The one I remember most though was a match I wasn't at, but was listening to commentary on the radio. Darren Bent scored the "winner" in injury time. Before we had even finished dancing around the kitchen in celebration, the ball had been taken up the other end and Ingimarsson had equalised. Queue rather embarrassed and premature end of celebrations. Now THAT felt like a defeat.

Who should Reading fans be worried about on Friday night?

If Freddie Sears is on form, they should worry about him. Our young loanee from Arsenal, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is worth watching too, but he probably won't play for the full 90 minutes.

Any Reading player that you're not looking forward to facing?

I was surprised when Hull City let Quinn and McShane go as I think both are good players. I haven't seen a lot of him but Nick Blackman looks like he could cause our defence problems.

Score prediction?

We always score two, so 2-2!

Thanks again to Susan and you can follow Turnstile Blues on Twitter @Turnstile_Blue