Football, like life, is full of little ironies. When Frangi resigned his position as manager after three undeservedly trophy-less years as manager (with the one glorious exception), Slouch and I were left pondering our fate as relatively senior members of both ASB and Frangi's management team. You'd have thought that having the manager's ear would have meant that we got to play in our preferred positions more often than not and might be able to steer tactics to suit ourselves. So surely we'd be the last in line to benefit from a new management team?

But, in one of those little ironies, it is noticeable this season that under a new manager it is the senior guard - more so even than the young pups - who are enjoying a new lease of life. No match has typified this more than the Ipswich game with Slouch, Riz and Jules taking the starring roles in an win reminiscent of ASB batterings of old.

We gathered at Ipswich Wanderers FC on a crisp morning and marvelled at the unashamed glory of Jules' Capri in the car park and the unashamed stench of the turd in the tiny changing room's antique toilet. Barring Sharkey and Heff's late arrival Jordan had a squad impressive for its quality and depth from which to choose the starting XI:

GK : Rob
RB : Orville LB : Frange
CB : Tina & Peewee
RM : Jamie LM : Slouch
CM : Riz & Task
S : Jools & Jordan

There's no other way to say this, but we blew Ipswich away in the first half hour. The crucial third goal arrived so swiftly that Ipswich were having words with each other with barely 30 minutes on the clock, only to go four down not long after. It happened like this...

Some early promising passing moves and swift pressing all over the park quickly established a good platform for us. Jools had the ball in the net early on, but it was ruled out for a fairly obvious offside. Nice move though. Another move down the right earnt us a corner. I trundled over in my usual manner thinking I quite fancied the conditions for corner taking. Nine times out of ten I reckon I can do some damage with my corners but I felt particularly good for some reason on this fine Suffolk morning as I placed the ball in the right corner. One whip of the left boot and one flapping keeper later and we were 1-0 up, the ball having gone straight in from the corner.

1-0 task (no assist)

Ipswich restarted but we were in among them fairly quickly. An unusually subdued Orville quelled an attack down our right and fed Riz who advanced from our half into Ipswich territory. He curled a peach of a ball in behind the Ipswich defence right into the path of former-eco-warrior-turned-Clarkson-wannabe Jools, who held off the centre back with ease to finish into the bottom corner of the net with aplomb.

2-0 Jools (Riz assist)

The Riz / Jools axis very quickly attempted to repeat the trick minutes later in strangely similar circumstances. Jools found himself second time round with more space and time but admittedly further out and saw his decent effort rebound off the Ipswich bar to safety. Not to be outdone, Frangi curled a lovely ball up the left flank into Jordan's path. What looked initially like an excellent clearance was turned into a juicy assist as Jordan cut in, beat a couple of defenders and rifled home diagonally from the edge of the box.

3-0 Jordan (Frangi assist)

Ah, the crucial third goal. Too often this season we've got stuck at two and kept teams in games that we should have killed off. It seems like 3-0 is when IFA teams really start to give up. However Ipswich weren't given the luxury to reflect on this for too long as we were swiftly 4-0 up thanks to a comedy goal. On a rare sortie into our half, Ipswich were putting us under enough pressure for Riz to have to put his foot through the ball and welly clear. With a bit more intent either Jools or Jordan might have been able to get on the end of the hoof. Ipswich's defender in the retro strip was a much quicker thinker than either however and seizing the initiative in a most beautiful way managed to bypass his 'keeper for a comedy own goal. As if we needed it confirming, this was truly the nail in the coffin for Ipswich.

4-0 OG no assist (don't even try to claim it Riz)

Prolonged pressure around the Ipswich area had ASB attackers loitering with intent. Jordan fed the ball infield and it ended with Riz breaking forward into the area and holding off the defender to scuff home as he was forced to ground. Not the most glorious finish in the world, but our man in the middle did well to convert when under a decent amount of pressure.

5-0 Riz (Orv assist)

More siege work, more pressure, another goal. The build up to this one is a bit hazy in my mind, but Jamie's composure as he took his time to gather the ball in a bit of space and time in the box is crystal clear. As defenders threw themselves at him and the ball in desperate last gasp attempts to block, Jamie steadied himself and rammed the ball home from short range for a scoreline as emphatic as the finish. The final ball may well have come from Riz as he attempted to become a fully paid up member of the league of extraordinary assisters. He certainly claimed a bunch of assists later and I can't give him credit on the other goals so this will have to do.

6-0 Jamie (Riz assist)

Half-Time Ipswich 0 ASB 6 - a complete first half performance.

The message from manager at half time wasn't difficult to anticipate - more of the same please; keep the intensity up, keep passing, goals matter. Jordan changed personnel and formation so that ASB lined up in a new 3-4-3 formation.

George
Peewee Woody Heff
Frankie Jamie task Slouch
Rio Jools Sharkey

Disappointingly ASB failed to match the intensity, effort and quality of the first half as the game reached a bit of a stalemate. 6-0 up away from home is the perfect time to try a new formation. That things didn't work as well was more down to the effort and application we put in as a team, than having a few players out of position and trying a new formation. After such a sterling first half performance, we let ourselves down a bit in the second.
 
There was one exception to this rule of lethargy and we managed a cohesive move that produced our first goal of the second half. Peewee marauded down the right and fed a lovely long pass down the inside right channel. Sharkey gave the excellent pass the excellent finish it deserved, instinctively reaching out with his right foot to guide the ball sweetly home and into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.

7-0 Sharkey (Peewee assist)

We returned the earlier favour of a soft goal with some poor team play that gifted Ipswich a consolation after a very basic screw up at the back. A shame as it ruined our run of clean sheets, but a moment that's not worth dwelling on or pointing the finger.

7-1

3-4-3 didn't work because we failed to track back as a team, or put in the movement off the ball that had helped ensure our first half dominance. The game was very stretched as a result and it felt pretty lonely in midfield as our passing game deteriorated. People were hanging around fairly static up front, not pushing up from the back and not sticking to positions in midfield. Consequently we were pretty disjointed.

Credit to Jordan - he was quick to shake things up again to get us out of our slump. We reverted to 4-4-2 and showed the flexibility that is an ASB hallmark with Frankie shifted to left back and Sharkey to right mid. Some choice words were spoken and as we reapplied ourselves our passing game and dominance returned. Rio's pace was starting to influence proceedings more up front as he began to impose himself on his debut. Some nice interplay between Slouch and Rio came to nought, but minutes later another marauding run from our left winger drew Ipswich's centre half and teed Jamie up in a nice position through the middle from which he scored with aplomb, in a manner entirely reminiscent of his finishing last season

8-1 Jamie (Slouch assist)

Like the first half, what goals we scored in the second were notched in quick succession. A mere two minutes after Jamie's goal, Jools latched on to a deftly chipped ball from Rio and got in behind the Ipswich defence. Cutting in from the right hand side of the goal, Jools buried the ball past the 'keeper into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

9-1 Jools (Rio assist)

Riz returned to the midfield after this and proceeded to tart around up front in search of another goal or assist while Frangi came on in an Ipswich shirt and started playing for the opposition for some reason. Chances came and went with ASB unable to convert inspite of a number of opportunities, not least the close range free kick I managed to slice wide. The game petered out in the final stages and the final whistle put Ipswich out of their misery.

So, little ironies... An excellent first half with the old guard dominating in a team performance reminiscent of past glories. Riz and Slouch dominated nominations for man of the match, Slouch nicking it for consistent excellence over 90 minutes with a performance that merited more than a single assist. We need to make sure we get Slouch to warm up properly every week.

Task.