He does an engaging line in self-deprecating humour but knows that having turned 24 last week
He does an engaging line in self-deprecating humour but knows that, having turned 24 last week, and after spells at Tottenham Hotspur, Queen’s Park Rangers, Portsmouth, Aston Villa, and on loan to Norwich City, before moving to St Mary’s last summer, it’s time for his career to get serious. “Bill Shankly used to say, `You’ve got the recipe, now go and cook the meal’ But if you haven’t got the ingredients then you struggle. “It’s easy to say, `You’re playing for your country…’, `once you pull the shirt on…’ and all that, but we’re all a bit wiser than that. Sheffield started the second half in the same way they had ended the first, Gray drawing another good stop from Davis within seconds of the restart.Soon afterwards Davis was at full stretch to tip away a clever, curling effort from Tonge, by now at the heart of all his team’s best moves.Ipswich were still a threat on the break, though. When a corner was only partially cleared, Ian Westlake’s shot was deflected into the path of Kuqi, eight yards out.
As the Sheffield defence appealed for offside, he had plenty of time to control the ball before slipping it past Kenny.Warnock introduced extra forwards in the form of Liddell and Ashley Ward, changing his side’s formation in a bid to salvage a point.It made no difference and a return to cup action cannot come quickly enough for the Blades.. Better not buzz too loudly, however, as John Toshack will almost certainly be looking to splatter even the slightest sound of discord as the Welsh manager’s squad assemble for his first match in charge, a right bluebottle of a friendly with Hungary at a depressingly empty Millennium Stadium on Wednesday.
“When people ask what sort of manager I am, I use a Spanish phrase that means, `That man, he don’t marry anybody’,” said Toshack as he cast his eyes down a squad list that was increasingly resembling the register at a naughty boys’ school. From the resulting Jon Harley corner, Phil Jagielka headed over from six yards.All this was within the first 10 minutes as Ipswich struggled to match their hosts’ early intensity. Accordingly, it was entirely against the run of play when the visitors went ahead midway through the first half.Shefki Kuqi held the ball up long enough for Unsworth to come thundering past him and be able to receive a neat ball into his path. The former Everton defender shaped to cross and, as Paddy Kenny crept across his goal to anticipate the delivery, smashed the ball into the roof of the net inside the keeper’s near post.United, to their credit, responded well, but there was a developing theme of Ipswich using their limited possession economically.
A dipping drive from leading scorer Darren Bent almost caught Kenny out from one break, while Kuqi was a persistent nuisance to Sheffield’s back three.Just before the break, United wasted their best chance. Michael Tonge’s free-kick cleared everyone apart from Leigh Bromby at the far post, but the defender directed his header the wrong side of the post from close range. Sheffield’s next game is a week today, when West Ham will be the visitors in a fourth- round Cup replay. The winners will earn a trip to Highbury to play Arsenal.But despite their continued excellence in cup competitions, manager Neil Warnock has found it hard to coax consistent performances out of his side in the League.
