Welcome to the one that matters most! A warm welcome to all Town fans and to our visitors from Norwich City. I have no doubt that we are in for a cracking game in front of a big crowd... and I hope that it will be played in a spirit becoming of respect as well as the fierce rivalry that will forever accompany our matches.

For any `neutrals' amongst our largely bipartisan crowd, then you are hopefully to be in for a treat! For the rest of us, it is real edge of the seat, nail biting, stomach churning, agony and ecstasy type stuff... the sort that makes football capture our hearts in the first place. To the victors, it is entertainment; to the losers, endurance... or, if a draw, a begrudging acceptance that bragging rights must be held over until the next time...

However, right now, ahead of kick-off, all any of us is thinking about is... WIN!

Feeling the heat
After our game with Cardiff there was an understandable air of disappointment. However, the point gained still leaves us in the thick of the race for the last Play-Off spot. It was aggravating that we couldn't get the win that we all craved. However, nobody should deny that Cardiff themselves are a good side to be in the FA Cup Final, that they are now nine games unbeaten and that they were never going to be the push-over that some pre-match opinion was suggesting.

Rather as we did against Colchester, we laboured and toiled without taking our chances,... that was, until young Jordan Rhodes so exquisitely opened his account for the Club.

There is no getting away from the tension that surrounds not just us, but all other teams in our position at this time of the year... pressure comes to bear at the business end of the season.

We only have to look at other clubs above us, for example Stoke who have recently recruited several big name players and yet themselves are still struggling for results. We can all talk about the ifs and buts and if onlys... but we have certainly missed our key injured players of late.

I am disappointed that some sections of the local media have chosen to write off our Play-Off chances at a time that clubs below us in the table still believe themselves to be very much in the hunt. Whatever will be, will be this season... but, right now, we must continue to give it our very best shot and I hope that all supporters who love this Club will rally behind Jim and his players today and beyond.

Moving forward
So, while we can still focus on what can be achieved this season, I think it is also important to reflect for a moment on how far we have come. We approached this weekend in seventh and really throughout the season we have been there or thereabouts in terms of challenging for the Play-Offs.

I was asked at the beginning of last summer about my hopes for the season ahead and I was reminded by others this week that, while I had said that I hoped we would challenge for the Play-Offs, which we are, I had also stated that it was most important that we were `seen to be moving forward'. I think it is clear to all that we are.

In two seasons, Jim Magilton has led the very transformation that the old Board wanted and believed he could - from a lower mid-table team to one that has challenged for promotion... and let's not forget that that was before Marcus Evans' investment.

The new players recruited in January and since will stand the team in great stead and even more so next season, when they are all fully acclimatized to the team.
I think we have been very unfortunate with injuries at a critical time, losing David Norris just as he was really getting going in the side... as well as Jon Walters and Richard Naylor when they were playing so well... then losing Shefki Kuqi and Pablo Counago as a result of his sending off. Today Pablo is eligible and some of those injured are close to a return...

So, whatever this season holds, I am confident that next season will be a big one for the Club... and one which supporters can really look forward to with anticipation...

Summer signings
Jim Magilton is making great strides as a manager on a mission - to lead Ipswich Town to promotion. New players already signed will, we believe, come increasingly into their prime as Ipswich Town players, as will our own maturing younger stars like Danny Haynes, Owen Garvan, Jordan Rhodes, Liam Trotter and Chris Casement. The Academy conveyor belt continues to churn encouragingly.

However, perhaps most significantly, there will also be further new signings in the summer. A great deal of research is currently being undertaken on potential targets and, indeed, in new territories - something we were not able to contemplate previously without a budget to back it up.

Let me state quite unequivocally we want to be a Premier League club and I believe it is only a matter of time before we will be again.

Deadline day
Today is deadline day for renewal or purchase of season tickets at the maximum discount rate... and, hopefully, lots of you will have decided to take advantage of these discounts, as well as the fabulous value for families bringing U11s who can buy children's season tickets for ?10 in the family areas.

Season ticket sales are running slightly up on last season and there is still time for last minute decisions with the Ticket Office accepting personal applications today and postal applications tomorrow.
I hope that supporters will make their decision based not on the disappointments of the last couple of games but on the entertainment and improvement that they have seen throughout the season and the prospect of what is to come.

Local success
Next Saturday, 19 April, the FA County Youth Cup Final between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire will be played here at Portman Road, kick-off 3.00pm. It is a tremendous achievement for local amateur youth football as Suffolk have been finalists in three out of the last four years, winning the County Youth Cup here at Portman Road against Hampshire in 2005 and being runners-up last year to West Riding, Yorkshire, at Bradford City. We wish Suffolk FA and their youth team well next week.

I should also like to congratulate Lowestoft in getting to the Final of the FA Vase and commiserate with Needham Market for a valiant but unsuccessful effort in the Semi-Finals.

Congratulations to Owen Garvan on being named in Giovanni Trapattoni's first full Irish squad of 40 players. We are all delighted for him... signalling just how far he's come. We have offered Owen a new two year extension to his current contract which would keep him at Portman Road until 2011, which I hope will be agreed soon.

First things first - THE big `derby' match of the year... to savour... and win! ENJOY!

With best wishes

David Sheepshanks