Eng. Championship
2012-11-03 - Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Saturday 3 November 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
Birmingham City
There have been some signs that Birmingham City could be turning things around for Lee Clark, a manager that did a lot to turn around a Huddersfield Town side that earned promotion last season. Recent results are the kind of tonic Clark needed with rumours that his job was under threat.
The good set of results has seen Birmingham move up to 17th in the Championship, although there are only 4 points between them and Sheffield Wednesday in the final relegation zone, an indication of the work still to be done. The side are 2-2-2 at home this season, scoring 5 goals and conceding 9 in those games.
Birmingham are now unbeaten in their last 3 games, showing some character in winning at Leeds United while also fighting back from 3-0 down at Millwall to earn a draw there. However, the form at St Andrews has not been great in recent weeks and Birmingham have failed to win any of their last 3 here, including back to back losses before the draw with Leicester City last time out.
Ipswich Town
Mick McCarthy was given the call to take over from Paul Jewell at Portman Road and the Ipswich Town fans will be hoping he can have an immediate impact. McCarthy has shown his credentials at this level with Wolves previously, although promotion is not on the agenda this season as he looks to preserve Ipswich's status at this level.
McCarthy comes in to Portman Road with Ipswich bottom of the table and having picked up just 7 points so far this season, leaving them 5 short of those sides in the safety spots. The biggest concern will be that Ipswich get cut off at the bottom of the table so picking up results asap is essential. They have a 1-2-3 away record, scoring 4 goals and conceding 12 in those games.
Ipswich have suffered 4 consecutive defeats, but 3 of those came after conceding goals in the final 2 minutes of games. The team have not won any of their last 6 away games in all competitions, although they have only lost half of those games. Ipswich conceded a late winner at Hull City to lose their last away game after drawing back to back games before that.
Head to Head
Talking about late goals, it took a 90th minute goal last season for Birmingham City to beat Ipswich Town 2-1 here at St Andrews.
Birmingham have won 3 of their last 4 home games against Ipswich and they have extended their run to 12 home games since they last lost to the Tractor Boys.
Prediction
I actually think Ipswich Town have been really unfortunate not to have put more points on the board in recent weeks and I think that is down to Paul Jewell just having the kind of luck that a manager under pressure gets.
With that in mind, these are the type of teams that see their luck turned when a new voice enters the dressing room and I do think there is every chance that Ipswich can pick up a result here at Birmingham City.
Lee Clark is beginning to get better results at Birmingham, but they have failed to win any of their last 3 here at St Andrews and they still seem a side that won't score a lot of goals with the exception being the 3 they got at Millwall.
You can pick up Ipswich at 2.00 to avoid defeat here and I think that looks a decent shout as I think Mick McCarthy is the kind of manager that will motivate players and they should really have been avoiding defeat in 3 of their last 4 games.
The Pick :
Birmingham City 1-1 Ipswich Town
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Ipswich Town + 0.5 Asian Handicap @ 2.00
