COMMENT

IT'S easy to get caught in a snowstorm of emotion when chewing the footballing fat.

Victories can feel joyous; defeats can be chastening.

There's a precarious line between the two and Ipswich Town fans were left experiencing despair, heartache, frustration and anger following Saturday's last-gasp defeat at Blackpool.

I wasn't there.

I was covering Colchester United (equally disappointing) but it sounds a case of 'same old, same old' for the Blues... decent football in the middle third marred by frailties at both ends of the pitch.

It's nothing new and we've been here before, even if the nature of defeat - shipping a late winner - was particularly painful.

But in terms of hyperbole and rhetoric, the significance of this week is monumental.

Even striker Freddie Sears, who scored his first goal of the season at Bloomfield Road, believes the next few days are the biggest of the season so far, with home games against Fleetwood Town tonight and leaders Coventry City on Saturday.

Make no mistake, these are season-defining matches as the stalling Blues look to kick-start their stuttering campaign, having dipped to ninth in the League One table.

They're five points off the play-offs and ten from the top two, having lost five of their last seven.

A season that previously promised so much is in serious danger of collapsing around them and regardless of who you blame - the owner, manager, players or all three - it's undeniably a case of underachievement.

Town have a strong squad for the third tier and should unquestionably be higher in the table.

To be frank, they should be storming it or, at the very least, be entrenched in the fight for automatic promotion.

Now they have to light the blue touchpaper, otherwise even the play-offs will start looking more and more unlikely.

Missing out on promotion will lead to strife - deepening uncertainty, the need for another summer overhaul and, invariably, a weaker squad next season.

I'd fear a period of huge disappointment (if we're not there already).

However, I don't want to dwell on that thought just yet.

There's still time to resuscitate this season.

There are enough games and points to turn things around.

But things have to change soon - starting tonight.

Fleetwood are eighth, three points ahead of the Blues.

They also have two games in hand so anything less than a home win would be a seismic blow.

As I say, I wasn't at Blackpool but hope for better than we saw in the last home match, against Oxford United.

Town should have been out of sight at half-time, yet still went in 1-0 down.

However, they were so poor in the second half and ran out of puff, steam and ideas.

It was another of those down days, as alluded to at the start of this comment piece.

Let's hope fans' frayed nerves are at the other end of the emotional spectrum by 10pm tonight.