Key events
16 min: Sam Morsy lets fly from all of 35 yards! It’s swerving viciously, possibly heading for the left post rather than the net, but Covolan takes no chances. The resulting Ipswich corner is overhit, resulting in a collective sigh from the home faithful.
14 min: Hutchinson clearly enjoying himself on the right wing. A lovely effort swung in from the edge of the box, swerving hard but a little close to Covolan who has a straightforward though eye-catching diving save on his highlights reel.
12 min: 82% possession to Ipswich so far but Berkeley-Agyepong sends Maidstone on their first foray forward down the left. His cross towards Duku comes to nought but all talk of one-way traffic can at least cease for a moment.
10 min: Now Ipswich work it all the way from Christian Walton. It’s gorgeously manoeuvred through midfield, the ref plays a good advantage, and an Aluko through-ball frees Broadhead to the left of the Maidstone area – Covolan saves well with his left leg. Feels ominous for the visitors here.
8 min: Maidstone try and go long but Ipswich sweep up and straight away the Stones are on the retreat. It’s back on the right wing with Hutchinson and after he beats a couple of men he swings and … POST AGAIN! This time his effort deflects off Sam Corne’s back on to the right stick.
5 min: POST! Sarmiento sends a viciously bounding right-footed effort towards the bottom left of the Maidstone goal, but that tap off the grass spins it on to the post. Cavagnari Covolan then saves well from Hutchinson on the follow-up. It’s all one-way for now.
2 min: Early pressure from Ipswich, with Cameron Humphreys getting early touches on the left wing. The visitors have a decent looking line at the back but an arcing ball in from Hutchinson is pulled back from Humphreys, and the home side are unlucky to see the ball deflect out for a goal kick.
Peep! Anthony Taylor is this the man with the whistle, and Sone Aluko kicks things off for Ipswich.
Incidentally, the BBC are predicting a 4-3-3 formation for Maidstone, consisting of …
Covolan; Hoyte (capt), Fowler, Appiah, Kyprianou; Berkeley-Agyepong, Bone, Corne; Sole, Duku, Reynolds
It looks a fine, cool and crisp ol’ day at Portman Road. Ipswich will be thrilled to be at home for this, with Maidstone playing on a 3G surface at the Gallagher Stadium.
Immanuelson “Manny” Duku is of huge interest today – he arrived earlier this week from Gibraltan side Manchester 62, having been at York City last season, and has been thrown straight in by his new manager George Elokobi.
Duku has 20 clubs to his name, including several to thrill non-league aficionados – Chesham United, Hemel Hempstead Town, Kings Langley, Banbury United, Hayes & Yeading …
Lovely touch from Ipswich in the lead-up to kick-off. As a child of a dementia sufferer, it’s a checklist all too familiar.
The Stones entered this year’s tournament in the second qualifying round … to date they have had to see off Steyning Town, Winchester City, Torquay, Chesham and Barrow before their raucous 1-0 victory over League One Stevenage through a Sam Corne penalty.
A big upside to promotion from League One was that Ipswich joined affairs in the third round this time around – they entered the fray at the first-round stage last season. Earlier this month they defeated League Two AFC Wimbledon 3-1 – a Josh Davison own-goal was followed by an effort from former Manchester United graduate Axel Tuanzebe and Jack Taylor’s 90th-minute clincher.
Maidstone midfielder Bivesh Gurung is on the bench today … but he has a fine tale to tell. In the run-up to today’s game Will Unwin caught up with him.
No one would have expected us to get to the fourth round but we believed in the camp. There is a real buzz going around the place. On Saturday one of the pickup points before the game was the ground and you could see all the people queueing up to buy their tickets for the Ipswich game – the queue did not seem to stop. The support has been surreal.
Always a nail-biting moment for fans of teams facing relative minnows … Ipswich have made 10 changes from the side that drew at Leicester on Monday, including between the sticks. Christian Walton comes in for his third appearance of the season, having featured against AFC Wimbledon in the last round.
Maidstone are captained by Gavin Hoyte, a one-time Arsenal prospect who had spells at Brighton and Watford, and among five changes from last time out they welcome back lively midfielder Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong, the Grenada international who was felled for the decisive penalty that saw off Stevenage in the last round.
Teams
Ipswich
Walton; Ball, Tuanzebe, Edmundson, Humphreys; Morsy (capt), Taylor; Hutchinson, Aluko, Sarmiento; Broadhead
Subs Slicker, Clarke, Woolfenden, Davis, Burns, Travis, Harness, Chaplin, Buabo
Maidstone
Covolan; Hoyte (capt), Fowler, Bone, Appiah, Kyprianou; Duku, Berkeley-Agyepong, Sole, Corne; Reynolds
Subs Ezennolim, Greenidge, Earle, Court, Smith, Gurung, Iandolo
Preamble
Proper! Welcome to what will variously be described as good-old-fashioned and romantic, but what we hope will simply be a cracking game between two sides currently separated by 99 places in the football pyramid.
Ipswich host, in a markedly different era from the Bobby Robson-helmed days that brought them the FA Cup in 1978 and the Uefa Cup three years later. They are, however, second in the Championship and as they chase a second successive promotion, have two 1-1 draws against that division’s leaders Leicester among a run that has only seen them beaten once since 25 November.
Sixth-tier Maidstone have lost to Havant & Waterlooville and Slough this month, but their manager George Elokobi won’t be too worried about that, and will instead be harnessing his experience as a top flight centre-back in pointing out that plenty of sides have shut the Tractor Boys out recently. Ipswich have five wins since the start of December, but also five draws.
Anyway, league form be damned. Cup!
Team news is imminent. Kick-off at Portman Road is at 12.30pm GMT.