SHOCKS AND SHARES
Tractor Boys’ flying start has been a big surprise & Hirst says it’s down to spreading goals around
GEORGE HIRST thinks Ipswich are on the up – after spreading the goals around.
The Tractor Boys took advantage of Leicester’s defeat to move level on points with the Championship leaders. Town’s remarkable run of just one loss in 16 league games has seen 15 different goalscorers.
Striker Hirst (right) was one of them after a spot kick in a game the hosts should have buried – but he reckons players chipping in has helped the team.
He said: “We can score from all over the pitch. We’ve got Leif Davis, whose quality is second to none.
“We’ve got Cameron Burgess and myself attacking it, and Jack Taylor’s goal today speaks for itself.
“We’ve got a lot of attacking threats from all over the pitch. It’s a good place to be. We’re not relying on one or two players to get the goals. In this division, you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb every week.
“The fact we’ve done that recently, but still got results, shows the character of the squad. I think it’s a credit to everyone.
“Playing up front on my own, it’s my job. It’s a lot of running, but it’s the same for everyone else.”
Swansea gave Ipswich an early shock when Jay Fulton headed home early on.
It only galvanised the Portman Road side, and Taylor equalised with a rocket of a shot.
The hosts went ahead through Conor Chaplin, with Hirst and Nathan Broadhead both missing further chances.
It looked all over early in the second half when Hirst netted a penalty – his fourth goal this term.
Swansea suffered further woe when Liam Cullen saw red, but if anything they grew in confidence. A stoppagetime goal by the impressive Jamal Lowe made it a nervy last few minutes for the home side.
Defeat for the Swans ended a run of three straight wins on the road, and Lowe felt his side lost their way after going ahead. He said:
“We can’t wait until we’re down to 10 men or two goals down before we step up and take the game to them.
“We need to have the confidence and mentality to play like that all the time.
“We started well and went onenil up, but we did not kick on.
“It should be the other way around, you should go one-nil up and the confidence should be high. We want to be right up there, and we feel we’ve got the players, staff and ideas to be up there.
“It’s just performing consistently.”