Bristol City star Danny Haynes insists he will be owed more than a little luck when he returns to play against his former club Ipswich Town tomorrow. The forward will be going back to Portman Road for the first time since his summer switch to Ashton Gate. Haynes struck the goal frame twice when the teams drew 0-0 in Bristol last December. Haynes said: "I hit the post twice and was a bit unfortunate, but hopefully my luck should be in and I will get another goal. To score would be a dream." But would the London-born forward celebrate if he was to get his fifth City goal in Suffolk? "Everyone asks me that question and I can't give you an answer," he admitted. "I don't know if I should celebrate or not out of respect."
Bristol Evening Post
Keith Millen freely acknowledges Bristol City must improve their away form if they are to achieve anything this season. Sunday's surprise win over West Bromwich Albion has revived talk of a late run to the play-offs. But that will only be remotely realistic if City can arrest an alarming sequence of results on the road. The Robins have triumphed just twice away from Ashton Gate this term - at Barnsley in October and at Leicester in December. Tomorrow City visit an Ipswich Town side who, despite being 19th in the table, cannot fairly be described as struggling. After their worst ever start to a campaign, Roy Keane's side have improved markedly. While City have won away twice, the Suffolk club has only lost at home twice since the season began. "We have to be solid but we have to do better away from home," said assistant boss Millen, who was standing in for unavailable manager Gary Johnson at yesterday's press conference. "Our home form has been decent - we have drawn too many with too many late goals - but it is our away form we have to pick up on if we are to do anything this year."
Bristol Evening Post
Bristol City manager Gary Johnson is surprised to see Ipswich still facing a relegation battle ahead of Saturday's clash at Portman Road. Roy Keane's side are just four points above the drop zone having won only seven league games all season and played out 16 draws. The Tractor Boys made a dire start to the season but they have gradually found their feet and have lost only twice in their last 10 games ahead of the visit of the Robins. Johnson said: "I'm still surprised (to see Ipswich struggling), I think they've got a decent team."
Teamtalk
Danny Haynes is expecting a decent reception from the Portman Road crowd tomorrow - and he is likely to get one. The winger left Ipswich Town for Bristol City in the summer, with many memorable moments in tow. He was one of the first to be shown the door by manager Roy Keane, who took over last April. But it hasn't stopped Haynes from shining in the Championship this season.
Gazette News
Roy Keane is relieved to be back on home turf tomorrow after four consecutive away games. The Blues play hosts to Bristol City - three weeks after last running out at Portman Road. Since then they have been busy on the road and pocketed seven points from 12 against Queens Park Rangers, Peterborough, Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe. But Keane is pleased to be on familiar territory tomorrow and admits recent fixtures have been a major test for his troops. "Playing four away games in a row has put a big demand on the players," said the Town chief.
Gazette News
Wolves striker Chris Iwelumo is determined to use his Scotland recall to crowbar another Premier League chance and end his 'rut' at Molineux. Iwelumo is currently on loan at Bristol City to get sharper after struggling to pin down game time with Mick McCarthy's men. The much-travelled target man has already matched his three starts with Wolves this season in two weeks at Bristol City after finally regaining fitness, following an injury nightmare with damaged medial knee ligaments then a twice broken foot. It hasn't taken him long to get among the goals again either, after scoring his first since March in Sunday's 2-1 win over Albion. The 31-year-old was back at Compton this week to receive another boost with an international recall for Craig Levein's first game in charge of Scotland for Wednesday's friendly against the Czech Republic at Hampden. Iwelumo now plans to use his international return to help Wolves beat the drop. He said: "It's great for me to be in Craig Levein's first squad. Hopefully my loan is about helping Bristol City move out of the rut they were in and helping me out of the rut I was in."
Express and Star
John Akinde's spell at Brentford is far from over - despite him being missing completely from the squad at Walsall last weekend. With the Bristol City striker having failed to score so far for Andy Scott's men, and his loan spell ending on Saturday, many Bees fans feared they had seen the last of Akinde. But Scott revealed that the former Ebbsfleet striker was only absent from the 2-1 defeat at the Bescot Stadium due to an injury to reserve keeper Simon Moore.
Hounslow Chronicle
He was one of the driving forces behind Celtic's dramatic comeback to win the SPL title race two seasons ago. And Bristol City midfielder Paul Hartley believes his former club must win at Ibrox this weekend to have any chance of repeating that feat. Hartley and his then Celtic team-mates were a potential seven points behind, with Rangers having games in hand, as they prepared to face their Old Firm rivals in a double-header at Parkhead - two crucial games of just six that remained of the campaign. Gordon Strachan was then dealt a serious blow when Scott Brown was ruled out for the rest of the season. In hindsight, Brown's absence proved to be a major factor in the Parkhead club actually going on to win the championship. The introduction of Hartley in the middle of the park, along with Barry Robson, formed an uncompromising partnership which proved to be the catalyst for a remarkable recovery. A hard-fought 2-1 victory at Parkhead, when Dutchman Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink netted the winning goal in the 90th minute, followed by a 3-2 win a week later, sent Celtic on an unbeaten run, which culminated in them lifting the SPL trophy aloft at Tannadice on the final day. Hartley, of course, recalls those crucial Old Firm victories vividly and says Tony Mowbray's men are in a similar position this season to that his side found themselves in before the first of their Old Firm double-header. "It was a must-win game for us," said the Scotland international.
Glasgow Evening Times
