DE.

The shot itself was a fluke but the goal came about due to a lack of closing down and our insistence on allowing Ipswich into our half for the last fifteen minutes. If we aren't fit enough to see out the 90 minutes then there's still work to do, although the heat may have played a factor.

I thought the format of the show itself was fine. Bare bones but all I want is highlights of the goals, a few manager interviews and a little analysis if anything interesting happens. In that sense it was pretty much spot on. Shame about the picture quality but maybe next time I'll watch it on my old CRT and it'll look better.

Downing was an MK Dons backup player brought in as emergency cover due to Lenihan's long term injury. Signing him on a permanent was a mistake, although he had enjoyed a decent few months prior to January. He's nowhere near Championship standard so I can only assume he was signed on the off chance we didn't get promoted. I'm more annoyed about Caddis being given a two year deal tbh.

Calling them water-carriers would have been too polite. Most of them were bloody useless.

Says more about WBA than Bolton imo. Still think we'll finish above them, but expect Preston and Wigan to end the season a few places higher than us. Wigan have a less cowardly attitude when it comes to maintaining a lead and Preston are unfortunately just a better overall unit. We like to pretend it's just good luck or other teams making silly mistakes against them, but the reality is they're just a decent, gritty Championship team. Not too dissimilar to us under GB in the first couple of seasons.

Whilst this would have been accurate for the past five seasons or so when Ipswich were managed by Mick McCarthy, there's a lot more uncertainty with Paul Hurst in the dugout. A McCarthy team beats us comfortably yesterday imo. No way Dack is in acres of space for the goal he scored if Mick is in charge. Ipswich are tipped by many to go down so all it's proven so far, imo, is that we're at least equal to a fellow relegation rival.

Yep, and we also regularly conceded two or more goals, so we're right back on track with that as well.

Without any decent additions I think we will be too. I'm talking better additions than Armstrong, for the record. At the very least we need a pacy, tricky winger, somebody better than Smallwood and a decent backup to Graham for when he tires at around the 60-70 minute mark. Would need to be significantly better than Samuel, who should be nowhere near our starting eleven.

I have to say for all the hype Palmer was getting his cameo was pretty disappointing. I hope it's just a lack of fitness or settling in period.

Tipped for relegation by quite a few people. They've bought exclusively from League 1 and 2, even down to the manager. They don't have players anywhere near the ability of Dack, Mulgrew or Graham. Edwards looks like he'll be their best player this season, he gave us a torrid time today. Made our players look drunk at times when he ran at them.

I'm not. Idiotic decision to keep Moore on and if they don't rectify it soon they'll pay the price and may be stuck in the Championship for a long time.

A real shame that Rotherham came up instead of Shrewsbury. Looks like they're in for another season of being the division's whipping boys. At least Shrewsbury would have been interesting.

I'm mainly disappointed that we didn't go for it in the second half. Ipswich had very little quality outside of Edwards yet we fell into the same cowardly mindset that got us relegated last time. There's no point going defensive because we can't do it. There's a way to play defensively and it's not throwing everybody back into defence and giving the ball away constantly. That said it would have been so different if Palmer had put away the easiest chance of the match. No way Ipswich are coming back from 3-1 down.

Hopefully we get in two or three signings before the deadline. Conceding two against that Ipswich team should be ringing alarm bells across the management team imo.

Got what we deserved. Sat back against a terrible Ipswich team and that's the end result. A draw isn't the end of the world but it should have been a win. Palmer's miss has cost us massively today.

Smallwood and Evans have done well breaking up most of the stuff going through the middle. All Ipswich's attacks have basically come through Edwards (and one suicidal Nyambe through ball). Samuel hasn't really been involved.

Edwards is Ipswich's main and only threat. Keep him quiet and this one is ours.

Superb goal. Dack and Graham already off and running!

Let's use this as a confidence boost to go on and win this. Great for DG to be off the mark already.

Just a reality check. We aren't playing in League 1 any more.

A lot of people said our L1 team last year would be able to compete in the Championship. Time to find out.

I'm far from convinced Lampard will be a success at Derby, but to be honest part of me hopes he is, if only because it might help assure other clubs that you can take a chance on inexperienced managers and succeed. Obviously if there's an experienced, recently successful manager available then that should always be the club's first choice, but if Lampard being a success helps break the merry-go-round of failed managers like Coyle taking post after post then I'm all for that.

I remember a few years ago when pretty much any mention of a certain JA in a negative context ran the risk of legal action for the site. Even more galling when we know most of those accusations were probably true. Still, with our current setup and management team I imagine agent preferences are the same as any other club. Most managers probably have agents they prefer to do business with and defer to for advice on availability, etc. It's only when it goes above the manager/DOF's head that it potentially becomes problematic.

My parents called earlier to let me know they were staying in the same hotel as the Rovers team. Unfortunately they didn't recognise any of them except Tony Mowbray my dad said he had a chat with a player who had "wavy black hair" and a Northern accent, I'm guessing Danny Graham, and said he was a top bloke. Sadly by the time they called me they were already back at their room, so I couldn't get them to ask anybody anything useful! A win today would be a huge boost in momentum going into the new season. I really think we have a chance today to put a marker down and show what we're about. Much like in previous seasons Ipswich are nothing to fear, especially now that McCarthy is gone. There will be no better time, imo, to take three points from Portman Road. Fingers crossed.

Very possible Dack will move on if he has another good season. Mulgrew's age and injury proneness will make him less likely to move on, imo. Will be interesting to see how he handles this season. Last time we were in the Championship Mulgrew struggled for fitness, so we'll see whether last season was a one off due to lesser demands or whether he genuinely is holding up better. I'd be surprised if Armstrong has such a good season that he'll be ready to move on by next season. I imagine he'll be here for a couple of years at least, he still has a lot to prove at this level, let alone any higher.