Soccer: U's on wrong end of class struggle

In the end it boiled down to a question of class.

With a healthy serving of local pride at stake, Ipswich simply overwhelmed their East Anglian neighbours with a slick, polished display of football.

From the moment Fabian Wilnis fired them into an early lead, it became obvious from which side of the Essex/Suffolk border the victors would emerge in this neighbourly battle.

Marcus Stewart doubled the advantage and David Johnson headed a third after the break to settle any lingering doubts about the outcome.

For Town the triumph represented their fourth win from four pre-season friendlies as they exerted further evidence of their Premiership pedigree.

They also recorded their fourth consecutive clean sheet, a statistic threatened at times by the blistering pace of Colchester's Lomana Tresor Lua Lua.

The Zaire-born teenager was by far the U's most potent threat and his form, at least, gave home followers something to celebrate.

More than 4,000 fans flocked to Layer Road to see George Burley's Premiership stars in town. In fact, with season tickets for Portman Road oversubscribed by several thousand, Friday's friendly may prove to be the only chance many would-be supporters have to see them in action this season.

Autograph-hunters among the Layer Road crowd were not to be disappointed as Richard Wright, Jim Magilton, Matt Holland, Gary Croft and Martijn Reuser all featured in a classy Ipswich side.

Add to that the extra spice of Burley's return to the club he deserted in 1995 and the fact four former Town players started for the U's and it's easy to see why the turnstile operators were kept so busy.

Ironically it was U's midfielder Gavin Johnson - who scored Ipswich's first ever goal in the Premiership in 1992 - who made the mistake which handed Town a fifth-minute lead.

He was guilty of losing possession to Wilnis and the Dutchman let rip with a curling left-foot shot from just inside the box.

Goalkeeper Simon Brown got a glove to the ball but was unable to stop it flying into the net.

A minute earlier Holland had seen his well-placed header from Croft's cross rattle the post.

Lua Lua came close to restoring parity but rifled his shot into the side-netting after jinking into the box before Town doubled their advantage.

This time Wilnis turned provider, whipping a cross in from the right for Stewart to bury a left-footed volley past Brown into the bottom corner of the net.

England keeper Wright underlined his value with a fingertip save from David Gregory, another player who turned out for Ipswich during their last spell in the Premiership, before David Johnson made it three.

A smart backheel from Magilton allowed Stewart to plant a cross on to the head of last season's Town top scorer who made no mistake from six yards.

Steve McGavin and Tony Lock squandered chances to register a consolation for the U's while appeals for a penalty, when Lua Lua appeared to be pulled down by Titus Bramble, fell on deaf ears.

Town also had claims for a spot-kick ruled out when Simon Clark, wearing the captain's armband, was alleged to have fouled Stewart as he burst into the area.

The closest the U's came to beating Keith Branagan, who replaced Wright in the visitors' goal midway throught the second half, came in the final minute.

Aaron Skelton's free-kick picked out Lua Lua, and although he produced a header of commendable force at the far post, the ball ended up in the side netting.

U's: Brown, Dunne, Johnson, Clark, Skelton, White, Stockwell, Gregory, McGavin, Duguid, Lua Lua.

Town: Wright, Wilnis, Croft, Thetis, Bramble, Brown, Magilton, Holland,

Johnson, Stewart, Reuser

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.