Sir Bobby Robson’s old club Ipswich are slugging it out with a horde of fallen giants in third tier

The top of League One is heavy with history and Ipswich cherish their past better than most, with Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Beattie, three club legends cast in bronze to greet visitors to Portman Road.

It makes for an inviting stroll, along the back of the Cobbold Stand, decorated with images of glorious times, to an end of the ground named in honour of Sir Bobby, and where some of his wisest words can be found writ large: ‘What is a club? It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging.’

The quote was pitched perfectly as 29,072, Ipswich’s biggest crowd of the season, pulsated to the rhythm of another thrilling game in the third tier of English football against Sheffield Wednesday, who arrived as league leaders.

Ipswich is a club revived, with a busy pre-match fan zone testament to re-engagement and a run to the last eight of the FA Youth Cup, beating Liverpool along the way, a timely reminder of days when they lured some of the best young players in the country to this corner of Suffolk.

Cameron Humphreys, 19, from down the road in Colchester, has established himself in Kieran McKenna’s midfield this season, although the fightback from 2-0 down against Wednesday was inspired by a brilliant free-kick curled into the top corner by Nathan Broadhead, a £1.5million signing from Everton.

Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday played out a 2-2 thriller in League One on Saturday

The equaliser came from another free-kick from another player costing more than a million, left back Leif Davis, signed from Leeds last summer. The new owners have shown ambition. McKenna is a gifted young coach. Support is fierce. Expectations soar and the football is enjoyable, and yet it guarantees nothing.

Ipswich were roared on but Wednesday regrouped to deny them a winner and McKenna was left to rue Conor Chaplin’s penalty, mysteriously awarded for an off-the-ball clash when the game was goalless, and saved by Cameron Dawson. The draw was a fair outcome and more than 2,000 away fans returned to South Yorkshire relieved to have survived without another goal by George Hirst, son of Sheffield Wednesday legend David Hirst and on loan at Ipswich from Leicester.

Hirst, 23, came through the ranks at Hillsborough. He was a prolific striker in youth football, with a formidable record for England up to the Under 20s, and scored against the Owls while on loan at Portsmouth last season.

Nathan Broadhead struck a freekick to put Ipswich back in the game after going 2-0 down

Ipswich’s equaliser came from another free-kick, through left-back Leif Davis 

This time, he was kept quiet and Darren Moore was left to wonder what might have been if Michael Smith had found the net when clean through at 2-0 in the first half. Smith had headed the visitors into the lead. George Byers added the second. Three would probably have sunk Ipswich. 

‘This fixture could easily have been played one level above,’ said Moore. ‘Such is the exceptional football played at speed, with intensity. The third tier is not what it was like before, certainly when I was playing. Teams are better, they’re better coached.

‘Both these clubs have a massive fan base and an expectancy. Does that give you the right to win promotion? No, it doesn’t, because this level has no respect for your reputation as a club, so we have to continue with a level of consistency, approaching each game one by one and making sure we don’t look too far ahead.’

Plymouth took advantage of the draw here, reclaiming top spot in front of nearly 17,000 at Home Park against Portsmouth, another of the fallen giants cluttering League One. Bolton celebrated their 5,000th league game with five goals at Peterborough and lots of positive vibes about getting back to where they belong.

Bolton celebrated their 5,000th league game with five goals at Peterborough

Derby, like Bolton founder members of the Football League and, like Bolton, fighting back from the brink of extinction, saw their momentum halted at Wycombe. Barnsley, a Premier League club in the recent past, are also making quiet progress, up to sixth.

Huge crowds will flock to another round of midweek fixtures. Expect more noise, passion and that sense of belonging, the very definition of football clubs in the eyes of Sir Bobby.

And don’t look away because, with the Championship becoming a procession for the top two, League One is serving up the best contest in English football.