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Against Birmingham on Easter Monday, Kasey McAteer gave Ipswich supporters something to talk about other than Nigel Farage – namely the growing prospect of a return to the Premier League at the first attempt. In their first game since the Reform UK leader had been allowed to parade with a “Farage 10” Ipswich shirt at the stadium and linked himself with Kieran McKenna’s job, the hosts moved into the automatic promotion places.
Farage’s visit on 23 March has divided the fans, even driven some of them away. The chair, Mark Ashton, has apologised “for any hurt, pain or distress that’s been caused”, while the club said they “remain apolitical and do not support any individual party”. A handful of club officials are understood to have known about Farage’s visit beforehand but Ipswich deny that he was invited. In a video posted on Reform’s X account, Farage appears to address a message “To Mark” when signing an Ipswich shirt. Supporters have been left to make up their own minds and there is a feeling among some that they are being lied to.
The only mention of Farage’s visit in Ashton’s programme notes here was a reference to “a challenging international break off the pitch”. Ipswich Women, who usually play at Colchester, faced Southampton in front of 9,000 at Portman Road at the end of March. The cover artwork for that matchday programme was hijacked in a social media post by Reform, who replaced the main image of the women’s team with one of Farage holding up his No 10 shirt.
Instead Ashton called for “unity and togetherness” ahead of the men’s return to action – they did not play on Good Friday owing to Southampton’s involvement in the FA Cup. The atmosphere was buoyed, perhaps reluctantly, by Norwich’s win over promotion rivals Millwall in the early game and reflected the desire from some supporters to simply get on with the football. An up-for-it Ipswich were almost ahead inside a minute as Marcelino Núñez fed the ball out to McAteer, whose shot from the edge of the box flashed over the crossbar.
McAteer should have scored on the half-hour and Ipswich were punished immediately. The on-loan Leicester forward ran on to a flick-on, touched the ball past a defender and found himself clean through but his unconvincing low finish allowed James Beadle to save. Birmingham raced up the other end with Jay Stansfield, whose low ball into the box was toed on but not away by Dara O’Shea. The Spaniard Carlos Vicente hit a sweet first-time finish low into the far corner.
Birmingham’s hopes of doing an Ipswich and winning back-to-back promotions to the Premier League from League One have faded. Five defeats in their last seven games have left them well adrift of the playoff places and their lead here was wiped out before half-time. Ipswich’s full-backs hauled them level, with Darnell Furlong’s cross from the right landing at the feet of Ben Johnson, whose scuffed volley bounced over Beadle and crossed the line before Phil Neumann could hack it away.
A flowing move that involved Jack Clarke and George Hirst then set up McAteer, who shot low again but this time the ball slipped under Beadle. This was McAteer’s first goal since joining the club last summer. After a spell out of the team, McKenna has shown faith in the 24-year-old – this was his second successive start.
Birmingham were braver in the second half and the substitute Ibrahim Osman made a difference. The winger was perplexed by the decision to disallow an equaliser after his cross from the byline was turned into his own net by O’Shea. The ball was ruled to have gone out of play before Osman crossed it when replays suggested otherwise. There were more nervy moments to come late on as Osman drove low, forcing Christian Walton to tip his shot on to a post.
McAteer, his drought over, was given a standing ovation when replaced with a couple of minutes to go. To the relief of most at Portman Road, it is his name that will make the headlines. Ipswich go second on goal difference above Millwall, with Middlesbrough playing in the evening game.
