Lambert vows not to give up survival hopes after Ipswich draw with Derby

Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 by PA

Ipswich manager Paul Lambert promised not to give up on his team saving themselves from relegation from the Championship following a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Derby.

But Rams manager Frank Lampard was disappointed with his team after taking an early lead and not going on to win the game.

The draw kept the visitors in seventh spot in the Championship, level on 51 points with Middlesbrough in sixth who lost away to Sheffield United, while Ipswich remain at the foot of the table 10 points from safety.

The opening goal came from former Ipswich player Tom Lawrence in the second minute for the visitors with Jon Nolan replying for the Suffolk side in the 55th minute.

Lambert said of his side’s survival hopes: “As long as it’s possible anything can happen. I thought that we were brilliant bar 60 seconds of the game. I am proud of them, proud of the supporters and we were well in the fight.

“If we play like that and have that desire and fight then I don’t think anybody can point the finger.

“We started well and then you get their first attack and it took a deflection I think, but if you look at our team it was really young and it’s the way forward with the club as well.

“There was only one team going to win it, it was ourselves. We were relentless against a really good side whose resources are better than us but from start to finish I thought that we were really good.

“Nolan pops up with a great goal. There’s a hell of a lot of game left and I will never give up. I have a great desire and hope that that transfers to everybody else.”

Derby took an early lead when Ipswich goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski was beaten for the second time in as many games in the second minute.

Jayden Bogle headed across the penalty area following a cross from Duane Holmes and Lawrence’s shot struck Ipswich central defender Jonas Knudsen on the back on its way into the goal. It was the Derby player’s first goal in 10 Championship games.

Ipswich drew level following a surging run by Huddersfield loanee Collin Quaner. He laid the ball off to substitute Nolan, who had replaced Flynn Downes two minutes earlier, and his powerful right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area found the back of the net.

Lampard said: “After a start like that against a team that are bottom it was the perfect start to go on and control the game.

“But if you give possession away you can’t control the game and we breathed life into their team and hence the result.

“Our quality in terms of possession, we gave it away cheaply far too many times, sometimes under no pressure at all.

“We have aspirations to get in the playoffs and get higher up the league. The team performance was not good enough, generally, we gave the ball away and did not control the midfield.

“Credit to Ipswich the effort was huge from them, they had opportunities and they gave everything and that’s what you do when you are bottom of the league.

“We had so many situations to go on and win the game but we didn’t.”