Leggi Looks At: Sheff Utd
By Leggi
March 2 2008
STB message boarder Leggi is back giving us an insight into Town's opposition on Tuesday it's Sheffield United at Portman Road in The Championship.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Tuesday 4th March, Portman Road, Kick-off 19:45
Founded in 1889, The Blades travel down from their 32,609 capacity Bramall Lane stadium looking for their first away win since December 1st.
Now managed by ex-Leeds and Luton boss, Kevin Blackwell, after the departure of Bryan Robson, The South Yorkshire club have endured a terrible season in The Championship, following last year demise from The Premiership, and currently sit in lowly 18th place in the table, 12 points from 6th placed Town and only 4 points from the drop zone, with Blackwell still searching for his first win in charge. The Blades beat Town back in November 3-1 at Bramall Lane, Jon Walters the Ipswich scorer.
Possible line ups:
Ipswich Town:
Bywater, Wright, Naylor, De Vos, Sito,
Walters, Sumulikoski, Miller, Norris,
Haynes, Counago.
Sheffield United:
Kenny, Morgan, Kilgallon, Armstrong, Geary
Speed, Tonge, Gillespie, Cotterill,
Beattie, Sharp.
MATCH FACT: Sheffield United haven't won at Portman Road in their last 17 visits which dates back to 1975.
Form Guide:
(6th) Ipswich Town P6 W3 D1 L2
(19th) Sheff Utd P6 W0 D5 L1
OUR LEAGUE RECORD AGAINST THE BLADES AT PORTMAN ROAD
Played: 26
Won: 13
Drawn: 10
Lost: 3
Goals:
For: 40
Against: 20
Our biggest win came in 2004, Goals from Shefki Kuqi(2), Tommy Miller, Richard Naylor and Ian Westlake helping Town to a 5-1 victory.
All Sheffield United's 3 wins have been by one goal to nil, the last being 33 years ago. The highest attendance of 26,151 saw an Ipswich 3-2 win in 2003, Darren Bent (2) and Darren Ambrose with Town's goals.
The lowest gate (9,630) watched a 1-1 draw in 1995, a David Tuttle own goal gave Ipswich a point.
Ray Crawford is once again our leading all time Scorer against The Blades with 7 goals, James Scowcroft netted 5 times whilst, Darren Bent, Neil Gregory and Shefki Kuqi each got 4.
15 players have represented both Teams, they include, Marcus Bent, Brian Gayle, Gus Uhlenbeek and our new signing Alan Quinn.
Leggi's player to fear: is 30 year-old FATBOY Striker James Beattie, who became United's record signing last summer costing a whopping £4 million from Everton. He made his League debut for Blackburn in the 1996-97 season before really making a name for himself at Southampton where he scored 76 goals in a 7 year stay. He moved to Everton in 2005 but only managed 12 goals in a 2 year stay. He is currently The Blades' leading scorer with 13 goals including 2 in the 3-1 win over Town in November.
Leggi predicts: Before I start can I just say I'm not one of Sheffield United's biggest fans and cannot stand Paddy Kenny and The mouthy Chris Morgan!
I was really disappointed with Town on Saturday(again) when we should have beaten a deflated Saints side, we didn't and we have to move on, but we can't keep throwing these games away, Not too many games left now (only 2 on a Saturday at Portman Road) so we've got to start turning these draws into wins. Sheff Utd are surprisingly in the battle to stay up, They will give us a very physical test and the quality and experience of Gary Speed will be a great advantage in their fight to stay in The Division. The Blades have a poor record at Portman Road, winning just 3 times and I can't see them adding to this on Tuesday. Town will win 2-0.
Leggi is confident as ever, how are you feeling ahead of Tuesday nights game?