Counago double leaves Yorath on brink

Ipswich Town 2 Sheffield Wed 1

Fear that the wheels were about to come off Ipswich's rickety tractor were allayed by the brace of first-half goals claimed by Pablo Counago, who lifted his total for the season to nine. The Spain Under-21 international has seized his chance since Marcus Stewart left for Sunderland, but the home side lost their way in the second half and Wednesday missed two fine chances to equalise in the dying seconds.

Tony Mowbray, the assistant manager who now becomes caretaker in the wake of George Burley's surprise sacking on Friday, will be grateful for the points which have helped lift the club towards a more respectable place in the table. But he will not need telling that Ipswich's failure to close out this match needs urgent remedy.

Whether he will be the one to administer the necessary dosage may not be clear for a few days in the swirling aftermath of Burley's reign of almost eight years. All sorts of names are in the hat, most of them propelled there by the hot air of wild speculation which always accompanies such firings.

In addition to the familiar, dog-eared application-slips bearing the names of George Graham and David O'Leary, there is a clutch of former Ipswich personalities such as Brian Talbot, manager of Rushden and Diamonds, Paul Goddard of West Ham and Bryan Hamilton. The local evening paper was floating the name of Bruce Rioch, who has a string of management jobs to his name and, more importantly perhaps, lives locally. But the loudest noises were coming from Rotherham, where officials last night said an approach had been made by Ipswich for Ronnie Moore. Ipswich firmly denied any such move.

Mowbray himself said he had been promised by the chairman, David Sheep-shanks, that he would be part of the interview process. That seems to be a better position than Wednesday's manager, Terry Yorath, finds himself in. With only one win now in 13 games, Yorath had been told that if results did not improve he could find himself on the wrong end of some changes.

Insisting that his team had played well, he said: "I can go home and take a bit of satisfaction from that performance." He agreed it was the sort of display which could save his job.

But, as Yorath has witnessed at Ipswich, these things can happen with frightening speed. The Burley dismissal came so suddenly that his thoughts about yesterday's game appeared in the programme. "It has been a difficult time but we are determined to keep working to get it right," he wrote. Getting it right devolves on to the shoulders of Mowbray, at least for now. The crowd seem to back him, offering a standing ovation as he strode to the dug-out at kick-off.

The thread by which these jobs hang was starkly illustrated in the opening and closing minutes here. A careless pass by Jermaine Wright was picked up by Steve Haslam and his short ball to Simon Donnelly was invitingly close to goal. The shot came back off the underside of the bar. Then, in injury-time, both Gerald Sibon and the substitute Paul McLaren should have equalised with headers.

Wednesday's defence was in all sorts of trouble against pace in the first half and, in trying to fend off Marcus Bent, Leigh Bromby was inches away from putting the ball in his own net. The ability of Mark Venus to bend it like Beckham at free-kicks almost brought an early goal for Ipswich, but Wayne Brown headed one of them wastefully over. There were bellows for a penalty as Chris Makin fell under an Alan Quinn tackle, but referee Phil Prosser declined to award one.

Sheffield's habit of conceding free-kicks was bound to cost them, though, and they were punished on the half-hour. Venus's curling set-piece found the head of Thomas Gaardsoe and Kevin Pressman brought off a fine diving save to his left. He could not retain the ball, however, and it was driven high into the net by Counago.

Five minutes later, the Spaniard struck again. The move was started by a fine, deep cross from the right by the excellent Matt Holland. Ian Hendon had plenty of time to get into position to deal with it but the ball dropped over his head, setting up Jamie Clapham for a low cross which left Counago with the simplest of tap-ins.

Yorath's introduction of Lloyd Owusu at the start of the second half pepped Wednesday's efforts and, just short of the hour, he got away on the left for a cross which Donnelly met with a fine downward header. Owusu himself had the ball in the net soon after but was clearly offside and when he escaped again his stabbed shot rolled just wide.

Then Sibon's header bounced over the bar and McLaren's effort was saved by Andy Marshall. They were misses which could cost Yorath his job.

Ipswich Town 2 Sheffield Wed 1
Counago 30, 35, Donnelly 58

Half-time: 2-0 Attendance: 23,410