After a tough start to the season, the new-look Ipswich Town have finally found their feet in League One.

Paul Cook went ahead with a radical overhaul of the Tractor Boys team, backed by the club's new ownership group, with 19 new senior players heading to Portman Road.

They had lost just one of their last six matches before yesterday's fixture with Oxford United, and the two sides played out a goalless draw in Suffolk.

Let's look at the reaction to that match and some other news coming out of the club in the past few days.

Cook on Oxford stalemate

Despite having the better share of possession yesterday, Ipswich were out-shotted by Oxford but neither side could get the ball in the back of the net with their five shots on target between them.

 

 

 

 

Paul Cook still believed that his side deserved to take all three points though, saying in his post-match interview: “No, I felt we deserved to win, I’ve got to be a bit biased. I thought the first half we were very equal, I think we’ve hit the post twice.

“But I thought in the second half we took control of the game. Kicking into the end we like kicking into, I felt a goal was coming.

“We allowed Oxford only brief counter-attacks in the second half, so I was really pleased with how we played, I was really pleased with everything about our performance today."

Debutant Clements praised

There was a bit of a surprise selection for the Tractor Boys yesterday as Bailey Clements was thrown in at left-back with Matt Penney and Hayden Coulson nowhere to be seen.

The 20-year-old has appeared for Ipswich twice in the EFL Cup before but this was his league debut and he more than proved his worth by being part of a unit that kept a clean sheet.

Clements came in for praise from experienced midfielder Lee Evans, who said: “Bailey at left-back was superb, what a fantastic debut.

“He kept a very good player (Mark Sykes) quiet and got forward to do his work in the final third. 

“He trained a lot with us in pre-season and he’s a really fit boy, so we knew he could get up-and-down the flank. 

“He looked good on Tuesday against Colchester when he came on and he took that into this game and did really well."

Norwood free to leave

Per an exclusive from the East Anglian Daily Times, 2019 signing James Norwood has been transfer listed by the club ahead of the January transfer window.

The 31-year-old has made just two league appearances this season and is very much out of favour with Cook, despite being one of the better players at the back end of last season.

The arrivals of Macauley Bonne and Joe Pigott shuffled the experienced forward down the pecking order though and due to some off-field issues that the hierarchy have not been best pleased with, Norwood is set to exit if suitors come forward at the start of 2022.