View From The Town End: Ipswich Town

How has the season gone so far?

It's been a bit mixed, which was what I was expecting - although I was pleasantly surprised with some of the late signings/loans that McCarthy brought in. Grant Ward, Connor Grant and Jonny Williams (when fit) look like fine young players.

We seem to almost literally be playing "a game of two halves." At least we only seem to play well for one half of a match and we've been punished for it, although it worked in our favour when we made a great comeback against Barnsley. I thought we were very unlucky with poor refereeing decisions against both Norwich and Wolves, but we have to live with that.

Did you get what you needed in the transfer window?

Not quite. We have our perennial right back problem, but I think Mick's just happy to play Chambers in that role. He's such a great leader on the pitch that it probably makes up for the fact that it really isn't his best position.

Overall, I think we did very well in the transfer window, although I was a little sad to see Daryl Murphy go. We don't have a top quality centre forward.

Mick McCarthy took aim at some negative fans a few weeks ago, was he in the right?

I've written a whole piece on this subject for the new Turnstile Blues fanzine! I think it's perfectly all right to criticise Mick.

He has his faults like all managers and we certainly didn't play well for a lot of last season, but on the other hand, he's had to create a squad with virtually no funds (by today's standards), has been really unlucky with injuries and has still kept us in contention for the play offs in the last four seasons. I think some of the abuse he says he gets is completely out of order.

Any good/bad memories of games between the teams?

Well, last season at yours was fairly bad! That was probably the worst, but I also remember some fairly tedious matches at both grounds. We never seem to play well against Reading.

Who should Reading be wary of on Friday night?

Depending on who's playing (we have injuries) then Grant Ward is a handful, so is Bishop, Sears is due a return to form, but he's not had a great start to the season. I don't think Joniesta (Williams) will be fit.

Anyone that Ipswich fans are worried about?

I have to be honest and say that the Jaap Stam-era Reading is a bit of a mystery to me and you've lost some players I feared, but Yann Kermogant always seems to play well against us.

Finally, give us a score prediction

Sorry to be boring, but I'm going for a 1-1 draw. That will be better than the same fixture last year, at least.