Doherty back on target and relishing derby day

Published: 10:48 AM April 14, 2009 Updated: 10:52 PM October 10, 2020

Ciy skipper Gary Doherty sealed a vital victory over Watford - and now can't wait for the trip to Portman Road next weekend for one of the most important derby day clashes ever.

"I know Ipswich are under a bit if pressure as well so it's one we have to look forward to," said Doherty, whose 83rd-minute header put the three points firmly in the bag for City.

"They will be out for revenge because we turned them over here but we are all looking forward to it to be honest - it would be nice to get a win and I think back-to-back wins are massive in this league. If we can go there and pull off a result it would be great for us."

City will walk out at Portman Road knowing exactly what they have to do, with all their main rivals having played the previous day.

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"If they lose it's a great position, but if they get decent results it's going to pile a lot of pressure on us," he said. "But now we have a week of happiness going into the game and we can watch Saturday and see how the other teams get on."

Doherty's goal - his third of the season - came after Jason Shackell's downward header had bounced up and crashed off the crossbar, cruel luck on a player who had already seen an effort cleared off the line by Jon Harley.

"It was lovely," said Doherty. "I watched Shacks' header on to the bar and I thought I have just got to dive at this and power it in and I'm delighted, I haven't scored for a while. The goal was at my mercy but I thought I can't just tap it with my head, because they might have got back, so I thought, 'right, I'm just going to try and power it as much as I can and just hope it flies in the net', and luckily enough it did."

Shackell - back on loan at City from Wolves - is a menace in the opposition area, but was a rock alongside Doherty in central defence.

"He has been terrific since he came back, a real key signing for us and probably turned our season around, definitely turned our defensive record around because it was pretty appalling until he turned up," said Doherty.

And while he deserved a goal of his own he wasn't alone: Alan Lee also hit the woodwork in a performance which earned him even more fans.

Doherty is one of them.

"He has added aggression, he has added power because when he gets going he is pretty unstoppable," said Doherty.

"It was tough for him being an ex-Ipswich player, but I think the fans have really taken to him because I have never seen a player work that hard in my life - he really is 110 pc and that's what you need up front."