#tractorboys

Ipswich Town have added talented striker Chuks Uzor-Greey to their youth ranks after a successful trial according to TWTD and confirmed on the players official Instagram account. The youngster had been on trial with the club as revealed by the publication in April and has subsequently appeared for the youth team. He is the latest in a line of signings with the highly rated London based Kinetic…

Wouldn’t it have been good to look inside the Ipswich Town dressing room at half-time against Lincoln City?

As they often do when they televise potential ‘giantkilling’ FA Cup games, the BBC had cameras inside non-league Lincoln’s camp, but not Ipswich’s.

Why is that? I’m sure viewers would have been more interested to hear what Mick McCarthy had to say to his players after a totally inept first-half performance.

Sadly for Ipswich, the second half was even worse, and they lost 1-0 thanks to Nathan Arnold’s last-gasp winner.

Ipswich defended for 90 minutes, appeared to have no game plan, and were well-beaten. All against a team three leagues lower than them.

I wonder if Town’s owner, Marcus Evans, watched that game? And when can we expect the Delia Smith-esque ‘where are you?’ rallying cry to supporters.

Defeat to Lincoln was inevitable, and I’ll hold up my hands and admit that I predicted a 3-0 win for the National League side beforehand.

Hefty striker Matt Rhead battered the Town defence - and Tom Lawrence aside, looked more effective than anyone Ipswich could offer.

I liked watching Lincoln, I liked watching Rhead, and I particularly liked watching former Braintree Town boss Danny Cowley.

Cowley was managing in the Essex Senior League (four steps of non-league below Lincoln) nine years ago, now look at him, leading his table-topping team to a deserved win over Championship Ipswich.

Cowley has worked miracles wherever he has been, and I particularly liked his class and composure in the celebrations when Lincoln got that injury-time winner.

His post-match talk to his players in the dressing room, captured by Lincoln City cameras was most enjoyable to watch (I wonder what McCarthy’s was like).

In my opinion, Cowley is destined for big things in the Football League very soon, his success and rise through the leagues is no surprise to me, and is someone I believe Ipswich should take a gamble on at some point. Maybe even this summer!

I watch a lot of non-league football, and I have to say that, in the higher levels of the grassroots game, I consistently see more talent there than I do when I go through some of Ipswich’s squad.

Some of Ipswich’s players do not know how easy they have it, and I can assure you that no non-league player I have seen has ever received treatment for getting hit in the face by the ball, unlike Town defender Jonas Knudsen against Lincoln. Not many wear gloves like Leon Best either.

I was at Victory Road, home of Leiston FC, on the Tuesday Lincoln beat Ipswich, a non-league team playing in the Ryman Premier Division (two leagues below The Imps).

They won 4-0, to take their goal tally to 19 in four 2017 games, a young lad by the name of Byron Lawrence scored a great goal and received the man-of-the-match accolade, and it was refreshing to see that the first long ball in the game didn’t come until the fifth minute.

It took less than five seconds for Ipswich skipper Luke Chambers to pump one up towards Best’s gloves at Sincil Bank.

In charge of Leiston is Glenn Driver - another bright up-and-coming manager who has got the team playing some very attacking and entertaining football. A trip to Victory Road really is great value for money (£10 admission for adults, under 16s go free).

And Leiston are just one example of a very good local non-league team in the region that would welcome more support. #JustSaying.