Four words beginning with P sum up this latest black day for Ipswich Town.

Poor in the goalkeeping department, devoid of pace in defence, lacking penetration in midfield and missing punch up front.

Bar a ten-minute spell in the second half, Tony Mowbray's side never looked worthy of salvaging a point on their debut at the Madejski Stadium.

The truth is that Darren Ambrose's stunning 30-yard free-kick was the obvious and only bright spot for Town.

Then came two more bolts from the blue - in the space of as many minutes - to leave the visitors wallowing in the doldrums again.

First, Pablo Counago was rightly given his marching orders for shoving Adrian Williams.

That was a body-blow for Ipswich but nothing compared to Forster's hat-trick strike, an angled effort across goal after a neat pass by James Harper.

Earlier Forster was given a generous hand by the visiting rearguard to claim his first goal for the home side.

Marshall scampered off his line to claim a free-kick from the right. However, he was beaten to the ball by Forster, who sent a looping header into an empty net.

Five minutes before the break it was 2-0.

A diagonal pass from Williams found the lively striker in space wide on the right.

Then, from a position yards outside the area, he unleashed a venomous shot which arrowed into the far corner.

Published Monday October 21, 2002

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