The agony and the. Er………

I’ve just realised what that insistent little voice coming deep from my subconscious was trying to tell me when I sat chortling over yet another ninety fifth minute equaliser often followed by a ninety sixth minute winner. Those mis hit free kicks that somehow ended up in the back of the net. The dodgy penalties. That voice was saying “You do realise there will be a payback for all this don’t you?”

Now, and you don’t need me to tell you this, all those chickens are coming home to roost. This was no better illustrated than by last nights cup replay at Sincil Bank where City took the game to their illustrious opponents and for my money played really well for most of the game. The neutral would certainly not have been able to separate the princes from the paupers. Yet in the end it was the same old story, the Imps laid siege to Ipswich’s goal but, once again, through a combination of bad luck, an inspired goalkeeper and out of form Imps, City exited the FA Cup with the jubilant roars of Tractorboys assaulting their ears. How the mighty (relatively) have fallen. For the musically minded, in the words of The Cure, It used to be me. As one of our party ruefully said at the end, now we know what it feels like. We’ve done the jubilation, now it’s time to roll with the punches.

I can’t honestly blame the team. Once again the incoming players acquitted themselves well. Harry Anderson surely is playing his way into the starting eleven. Talking of bad luck there’s no game this Saturday. If there was, he’d be in wouldn't he?. At the risk of ruffling a few feathers I thought John Akinde justified a start and yet (before you say it) a combination of, again, bad luck, timidity and, well, sheer lack of any kind of form, not just him, that goal remained unbreached.

So, with a kind of inevitability, as we were contemplating extra time and wondering why Akinde had come off given the certainty of penalties, Ipswich Town saved us the bother.

I suppose we’ll do some early Christmas shopping this weekend, can’t be any worse than this torture. On second thoughts though, wonder if the Whites are at home on Saturday?