Unbeaten Leeds United headed to Suffolk this afternoon to take on Ipswich Town - a side that they hadn't beaten for 12 years away from home.
Brian McDermott's men ended that record and continued their fine start to the season by coming from behind to win 2-1 on a drab afternoon in East Anglia.
Read how it all unfolded at Portman Road in our minute-by-minute updates below.
Afternoon all! This promises to be a real battle as two hard-to-beat sides face off at Portman Road. First things first, the teams...
IPSWICH XI: Loach; Hewitt, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell; Edwards, Skuse, Hyam, Tabb; Murphy, McGoldrick
LEEDS XI: Kenny; Peltier, Lees, Pearce, Warnock; Green, Murphy, Austin, Varney; Hunt, McCormack
McCarthy has stuck with his favoured XI while McDermott makes one change to the side that drew with Wednesday last week as Noel Hunt returns in place of Dominic Poleon.
SUBS: And the two benches this afternoon:
Ipswich: Gerken, Berra, Veseli, Anderson, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Nouble
Leeds: Ashdown, Diouf, Drury, Tonge, Wootton, Smith, Poleon
Ipswich: Gerken, Berra, Veseli, Anderson, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Nouble
Leeds: Ashdown, Diouf, Drury, Tonge, Wootton, Smith, Poleon
As mentioned above, Leeds's record at Portman Road is not a good one. It's 12 years since they last won in Suffolk in the year that they reached the Champions League semi-finals. Oh how times have changed.
Ipswich journalist for the East Anglian Daily Times, Stuart Watson, on Twitter: "STAT: #itfc won last 4 successive home games against #lufc. Visitors had a man sent off in every one (Lees, White, Bruce, Nicholls)."
REFEREE WATCH: The man in charge of this one is Mike Dean. Will he be sending a Leeds player off?
As it stands, Leeds sit ninth with five points while Ipswich are down in 15th on three after a win and two losses. The Tractor Boys' victory came at home against Millwall while their two away games have been arguably the two toughest trips of the season to Reading and QPR.
PREDICTION TIME! Just 10 minutes until the off at Portman Road so it's time for my thoughts on the match ahead. Both should be stingy in the way they play but I'm siding with Ipswich to edge it by a single goal. 1-0 or 2-1.
Leeds's narrow formation should allow Ipswich full-backs Elliott Hewitt and Aaron Cresswell the chance to overlap and outnumber their opponents when going forward. However, if the ball stays in the middle then Leeds could dominate possession.
@LUFC on Twitter: "The teams are coming out at Portman Road. Rain seems to have all but stopped now. Expect the surface to be quite greasy."
McCarthy and McDermott shake hands ahead of kickoff. Both men will be expecting a top-half finish at least come May. We're almost ready to go!
Not great from highly-rated left-back Cresswell as he overhits a cross with no-one particularly close to him.
DISALLOWED GOAL! Tabb puts the ball in the net after a fantastic cross from Cresswell was hit goalwards by McGoldrick at the back post. The linesman's flag goes up and it's hard to tell if it was the right call. If he'd left it alone then it may have gone in anyway.
GOAL! IPSWICH 1-0 LEEDS (MCGOLDRICK)
They nickname him McGoaldrick and that's exactly why, fantastic finish from the frontman puts Ipswich ahead. Loach sent a long kick forward that was flicked on by Murphy before McGoldrick put Lees on his backside with a drop of the shoulder before firing low into the corner from the edge of the area. Great finish.
They nickname him McGoaldrick and that's exactly why, fantastic finish from the frontman puts Ipswich ahead. Loach sent a long kick forward that was flicked on by Murphy before McGoldrick put Lees on his backside with a drop of the shoulder before firing low into the corner from the edge of the area. Great finish.
They nickname him McGoaldrick and that's exactly why, fantastic finish from the frontman puts Ipswich ahead. Loach sent a long kick forward that was flicked on by Murphy before McGoldrick put Lees on his backside with a drop of the shoulder before firing low into the corner from the edge of the area. Great finish.
They nickname him McGoaldrick and that's exactly why, fantastic finish from the frontman puts Ipswich ahead. Loach sent a long kick forward that was flicked on by Murphy before McGoldrick put Lees on his backside with a drop of the shoulder before firing low into the corner from the edge of the area. Great finish.
JUST OVER! Almost a horrible moment for Leeds as Edwards's corner somehow makes it all the way into the six-yard box and hits Lees on the head before flying over his own crossbar.
Lovely interplay on the edge of the box from Ipswich, they're all over Leeds at the moment. Hyam with a neat one-two with McGoldrick before seeing his shot blocked.
Almost brilliant from McGoldrick. He gets the ball on the edge of the box before feinting past one and then pulling off a reverse pass that's just ahead of Murphy with all the defenders around him expecting a shot.
Skuse brings down Green and Leeds have the chance to swing in a free kick. It's a good delivery from Austin but headed away by a blue shirt at the back post.
Warnock's corner to the back post is met by Pearce but he can't keep his header down.
OFF THE BAR! Sensational strike from Cresswell as he has a go from a long way out that dips and swerves before crashing into the angle of post and bar and dropping down. Tabb is played in from the loose ball and fires into the side-netting.
Brilliant defending from Ipswich youngster Hewitt as he manages to head out McCormack's vicious cross from near his own goal.
GOAL! IPSWICH 1-1 LEEDS (VARNEY)
They don't deserve it, but Leeds are level. It's a fortuitous equaliser for the visitors as McCormack's shot from range is blocked and ricochets perfectly for Varney, who takes a touch before lashing into the roof of the net.
SHOT! Brave stuff from Tabb as he goes in with his head to beat Austin to the ball and put McGoldrick one-on-one with Pearce. He puts the ball onto his left before firing goalwards, but it's too close to Kenny who holds well.
UPDATE: Odd news coming from The Valley as Charlton's game with Doncaster is suspended because of heavy rain. The visitors were 3-0 up!
Tabb's corner is met at the back post by Smith but it's a weak header that trickles wide.
You have to congratulate Leeds for their fantastic support. They're easily out-singing the home fans at the moment.
Yet again it's Cresswell running down the left who has plenty of space to deliver. Another great cross from the youngster that's well defended by Lees with McGoldrick lurking.
After an upbeat start to the match, the game has fizzled out since Leeds equalised. Almost half time now.
MIX UP! Leeds almost gift Ipswich the lead as Pearce, under pressure from McGoldrick, collides with Kenny and Murphy can't quite get a shot away.
HALF-TIME: Ipswich 1-1 Leeds
A good half of football at Portman Road there. Ipswich dominated the opening 25 minutes and were a goal ahead when Varney equalised for the visitors. Since that goal, the final 15 minutes of the half wasn't as special and there's little to mention from the closing stages.
Wingers are something that Leeds are short of and Ipswich have taken advantage of that by getting the full-backs forward whenever possible. Cresswell, in particular, has demonstrated why there are Premier League clubs linked with his signature. Similar playing style and technique to Leighton Baines.
STAT ATTACK! Looking at the half-time numbers, it is Ipswich who have threatened more. They've had seven shots to Leeds's four and got four of those on target. The visitors only shot on target was the goal. Possession-wise, it's pretty even - 51%-49% in Ipswich's favour.
That game over at The Valley is back underway but it's not looking good. Charlton tweet: "Bias aside, this pitch is unplayable."
In terms of what is on offer from the bench, Leeds can bring on rapid young striker Dom Poleon or El-Hadji Diouf for some more creativity going forward. From Ipswich we're likely to see Paul Taylor and Paul Anderson come on at some point.
The two teams are back out at Portman Road. No half-time changes from either manager.
KICKOFF! We're back underway as Leeds kick the second half off.
GOAL! IPSWICH 1-2 LEEDS (MCCORMACK)
It's that man again for Leeds. A deep cross is picked up by the number 44 who works a yard of space before hitting a low shot goalwards from 25 yards. It takes a slight deflection on the way through but still shouldn't get past Loach, with the ball skidding under the Ipswich keeper.
He's been the subject of numerous bids from Middlesbrough but it's vital that Leeds hang on to McCormack. That's his third goal in four league games.
CHANCE! Ipswich almost draw level quickly as Tabb's cross is just too far ahead of Hyam, who can only glance his header wide of the far post.
YELLOW! Reckless challenge from Austin and, to be honest, he's lucky not to be sent off. Perhaps the greasy conditions giving Mike Dean a reason to just issue yellow.
Surely McCarthy will be thinking about a change soon to freshen up the Ipswich attack.
Cresswell's free kick is a good one and it's flicked out for a corner off Pearce's head. Nothing comes of that though as the delivery goes out of play for a throw-in on the far side.
Excellent ball inside the full-back from Skuse plays in Hewitt, who dinks a volley to the back post where Murphy goes down under challenge but no penalty.
Good cross from McCormack picks out Varney at the back post but he can't keep his header down.
IPSWICH SUBS: A pair of changes in the home side's midfield as Anderson replaces Edwards and Tunnicliffe comes on for Tabb.
Today's attendance at Portman Road is 18,332 with 1,950 noisy Leeds fans.
Aimless ball forward from Hewitt draws groans from home fans. They've got 20 minutes to find an equaliser.
OFF THE LINE! Anderson's corner is met powerfully by Smith, who directs his header to the corner but there's Hunt to keep it out with his chest. The corner came after Murphy's cross had hit Lees on the hand but there was no distance between the two so it would have been very harsh.
Dodgy stuff from Austin as he hoofs a ball in the middle of the park back to Kenny. It was a 50-50 challenge but for me that was an intended backpass and Kenny should be penalised for picking it up.
Green bundles into Skuse and Ipswich have a free kick 25-odd yards out. Dead centre. McGoldrick scored a great one in pre-season from this sort of range and he's eyeing this one up...
It's Cresswell who takes but it's into the wall. The left-back gets the ball back and lays it off for McGoldrick, whose shot is high over the bar.
SUBS: A change from both managers as Frank Nouble comes on for Murphy for Ipswich while Poleon replaces Varney for the visitors.
Poleon skips past Hewitt with his first touch and has his shot blocked across goal. It falls to McCormack but he can't get it under control quick enough and Ipswich are able to clear.
Good chance to break for Leeds as Hyam gives it away in the middle but they don't take advantage of it and Ipswich get men back to stop the threat.
Hunt collects inside the area and fires off a snapshot that Loach keeps out at his near post.
SIDE-NETTING! Peltier picks out a charging Green in the middle with a throw-in and the number seven's volley has Loach sprawling to his left before it hits the side-netting. The Leeds fans think it's gone in but not quite.
SIDE-NETTING! Ipswich threaten down the other end as Tunnicliffe's run into the box earns a corner that is headed out to Hyam, whose shot doesn't have much power as Kenny sees it wide of the post.
BREAKING news from The Valley as Charlton's match with Donny is postponed because of heavy rain! The Addicks were 3-1 down. Lucky for them!
Good pressure from Cresswell down the Ipswich left earns the Blues a throw but they just can't manufacture a chance and the minutes are ticking away for them to level.
LEEDS SUB: Michael Tonge is brought on for Hunt as the visitors look to lock down this result.
Ipswich are offering very little here as Leeds look set to secure a massive away victory at a ground that they've historically done poorly at.
Skuse's shot is deflected and Ipswich have a corner...
Hewitt meets it but it's into the turf and over the bar. We're into THREE minutes of added time.
Anderson's deep cross picks out Hewitt whose header loops a yard or so wide. Just 90 seconds left at Portman Road.
FULL-TIME: IPSWICH 1-2 LEEDS
Ipswich had a pair of corners at the end but couldn't make anything of them. Leeds win in Suffolk for the first time in 12 years.
It's tough on Ipswich, who were excellent in the opening 25 minutes before Varney equalised against the run of play. Since that moment it was a stale game with McCormack's deflected strike settling it.
Ipswich will feel hard done by as they had more shots and chances, with Leeds getting only two shots on target, two of them goals. To be honest, the Tractor Boys didn't do enough in the final third once they were chasing the game. Lack of creativity in the middle.
Defeat drops Ipswich to 17th in the table, while Leeds climb into the playoff places and fifth.
That's all we've got time for here on Sports Mole. Make sure you stick around on site for plenty of reaction and analysis to all the day's footy.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
