Town and Nottingham Forest will be ball number eight in this evening’s draw for the sixth round of the FA Cup.
The draw is live on BBC One following the fifth round tie between Manchester United at Fulham which kicks-off at 4.30pm.
Former Red Devils defender Denis Irwin and ex-Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy will be selecting the ties. Sixth round ties, the quarter-finals, will take place over the weekend of Saturday 29th March.
Town will be aiming to reach the sixth round for the first time in 32 years when they take on Forest at the City Ground on Monday evening (ITV4 KO 7.30pm).
FA Cup Sixth Round Draw
1. Preston North End
2. Aston Villa
3. Crystal Palace
4. Manchester United or Fulham
5. Newcastle United or Brighton & Hove Albion
6. AFC Bournemouth
7. Manchester City
8. Nottingham Forest or Ipswich Town..
Ipswich Town: Northstander on Matheus Cunha’s red card for Wolves..
Ipswich Town take on Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup fifth round tie, at the City Ground, tomorrow night. Long-standing supporter and former EADT editor Terry Hunt gives his thoughts.
When I left Old Trafford last Wednesday night I was pretty much convinced that our team will be playing Championship football next season.
I know, I know – there are still 11 games left, 33 points to play for, lots of things can change. Of course that’s true. But where are the points coming from?
The second half at Manchester United was a sorry sight. For the first time this season, we looked bereft of belief. We had such a huge opportunity against the worst Man Utd team in half a century.
Jaden Philogene and Joshua Zirkzee battle for the ball during Ipswich Town’s 3-2 midweek defeat at Manchester United.
Jaden Philogene and Joshua Zirkzee battle for the ball during Ipswich Town’s 3-2 midweek defeat at Manchester United. (Image: PA)
But we lacked the confidence to try the killer pass, or to take on our man. Instead, against 10 men, we simply played the ball from side to side. It was so comfortable for the home team.
I wouldn’t have minded if the home keeper had made a series of brilliant saves. But in the whole of the second half, he only had to make one routine save. Simply not good enough.
So, I have come to the sad conclusion that we will be relegated. Sorry to be negative, and I really hope I’m wrong, but I just cannot see us getting enough points, given our dreadful form over the last couple of months.
A series of batterings seem to have drained the confidence from the effervescent team we were enjoying earlier in the season.
Omari Hutchinson faces a spell on the sidelines after being hit by a reckless tackle from Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu.
Omari Hutchinson faces a spell on the sidelines after being hit by a dangerous tackle from Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu. (Image: PA)
Injuries haven’t helped either. It now looks as though Omari Hutchinson will be missing for a few weeks. We really haven’t had a lot of luck with injuries, at a time when we needed everything to go our way.
Enough misery. It’s important to keep things in perspective, and to look at the bigger picture.
Remember those long, dreary, dismal seasons when we were stuck in the middle of the Championship, going nowhere fast? What about those dreadful years in the third division, our first at that lowly level for six decades?
At that time, anyone unlucky enough to spend time with me would hear me say that our “natural” position in football’s pecking order was either near the top of the Championship or close to the bottom of the Premier League.
So, we were underachieving by a long way, and returning to our “natural” position would be brilliant, the argument went. That’s exactly what our American owners, Mark Ashton and Kieran McKenna have done.
So, while of course it will be hugely disappointing if we go down, our club is unrecognisably improved in just about every respect compared to those dreadful years of the Marcus Evans era.
We will be well equipped to bounce straight back, and everyone at the club will have experienced a very steep learning curve in the brutal classroom that is the Premier League.
As I said right at the beginning, there are still games to play and points to be fought for. Lots can happen, and on Saturday night a straw came along for us to cling to in our desperate situation.
Wolves forward Matheus Cunha was sent off for head-butting Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez.
