Ipswich boss Lambert hails his ‘relentless’ side

Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2019 by PA

Paul Lambert hailed his three substitutes as Ipswich left it very late to beat AFC Wimbledon 2-1 at Portman Road.

The Town boss brought Tottenham loanee Anthony Georgiou on at half-time and Alan Judge and Kayden Jackson also made second-half appearances.

Jackson proved to be the hero with a 94th minute winner after James Norwood had headed Town level in the 81st minute.

Nesta Guinness-Walker had given the Dons the lead in the 41st minute with an excellent finish.

Lambert said: “I thought the second half we were relentless. The lads who came on were massive.

“I thought in the first half, we were too passive, we had too much of the ball without really doing much with it.

“Norwood had two good chances I thought he should have scored.

“They had one real chance to score and it gives them something to hang on to.

“I’ve been involved in many games, even as a player myself, where you come up against opposition who make it difficult for you and try to hit you on the counter.

“The changes we made in the second half were good and the lads come on and done great.”

Lambert again praised the support of the home fans following the win.

“The atmosphere, the emotion of the crowd drove us forward as well. It didn’t sound like 18,000 in here, it sounded like a full stadium – incredible noise,” he said.

“I heard the rumblings in the first-half but hopefully they remember the team is young, I’ve said before they’ll make mistakes and we’ll lose games at certain moments but as long as they can be patient.

“But the support since I’ve been here has been phenomenal and that noise is just incredible.”

Lambert was shown a yellow card for celebrating his team’s added-time winner.

Speaking of the card, he added: “It’s rubbish, if you can’t celebrate in the last minute then you’re taking the fun out of football.”

AFC Wimbledon manager Wally Downes was encouraged by his side’s display despite the result.

He said: “Very encouraging for us, it’s important that we don’t become a team that play well and don’t win.

“As long as we rectify the errors and learn from it then I’m sure we’ll be fine.

“We go on to Sunderland now, another great stadium to go to with this young team and I’m sure if we put on another performance like that we’ll be rewarded.”