Jewell keen to keep Andrews
Ipswich manager Paul Jewell has underlined his desire to keep star loan midfielder Keith Andrews at Portman Road.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder grabbed his side’s winner in today’s scrappy 1-0 home victory against Derby, bundling in after goalkeeper Frank Fielding flapped at Aaron Cresswell’s cross.
Andrews’ effort crossed the line before being hacked away and the goal was given by the referee’s assistant.
It was Andrews’ ninth goal of his highly successful loan from Blackburn, which is due to end after Christmas.
Jewell is desperate to keep the 31-year-old and said: “We’ve been delighted with him.
“Keith has scored nine goals now and that’s a terrific contribution from a midfielder.
“Obviously, we’ll be trying to keep him here beyond his loan period, although the more goals he scores the more difficult it’s getting for us.
“He wants to stay and we want to keep him. His agent is meeting with the owner on Monday.”
Jewell was delighted with the victory – bucking an unwanted run of four straight home defeats and marking only the second time they have won back-to-back games this year.
“It was a scrappy game but one we were delighted to get three points from,” said Jewell.
“Derby edged the first half and had the better chances.
“There wasn’t a plethora of chances in the second half, just one or two, but other than that it was a hard-fought 1-0.
“Derby passed the ball around well.
“They were very enthusiastic and energetic and it was always going to be a tight game.
“We were also very pleased to keep a clean sheet.
“It’s obviously been an Achilles heel of ours, but that’s not just down to the back four. We’ve been a bit edgy and loose from set-pieces.”
Andrews’ goal was the highlight of a scrappy contest.
Aside from that, Derby had the better chances and Ipswich were indebted to goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett, who made three saves from Jamie Ward and another from Craig Bryson.
Ipswich had half-chances through Andrews, Carlos Edwards, Lee Martin, Ibrahima Sonko and Jimmy Bullard.
Derby boss Nigel Clough was disappointed with the way his side conceded, but also with the fact the referee’s assistant took so long to signal the goal.
There was a delay after the ball crossed the line, and when asked if he thought it was a goal, Clough said: “I don’t know. I couldn’t see from where we are.
“But I wasn’t happy with it because traditionally, if a linesman thinks it’s a goal, he puts his flag up.
“We must have played on for five seconds, maybe longer.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now, though.
“All we can do is put in our report how poor we thought the officials were.
“That’s our only act of recourse.”
Aside from the goal, Clough was satisfied with his side’s performance.
“We can’t tell whether it was over or not but defensively, after playing so well in the first half, it was disappointing to concede within 30 seconds of the second half,” he said.
“It was a goal we should have prevented and little things like that are the reason we’re not keeping clean sheets.
“We were disappointed with the way we defended it, but I was happy with the way we played, especially in the first half.
“We created some good chances away from home and it was very similar to how we’ve been playing of late.
“But it wasn’t enough to keep a clean sheet or enough for someone to get us a goal.
“Their goalkeeper made three great saves and we had a shout for handball, on the line.
“We thought we deserved a draw.”
