ANGUS GUNN knows more than anyone what can go wrong in the ‘Old Farm Derby’ for a keeper.
For his dad — Norwich legend Bryan Gunn — once gifted Ipswich a late winner with his infamous air kick that is written into football folklore.
Angus Gunn knows more than most what the derby means to NorwichGetty
GettyBryan Gunn, 60, is a Norwich legend but would probably prefer to forget about his performance in the 1996 derby[/caption]
Bryan Gunn’s air-kick led to Ipswich taking the lead in the clash
Angus’ dad could only watch in horror as the ball trickled into the net
With the scores 1-1 at Portman Road in 1996, Rob Ullathorne played a straight-forward back-pass to the Canaries keeper.
But the ball bobbled as he prepared to launch it long, it ran under his foot and into the net.
Gunn, 28, said: “I’ve seen it hundreds of times. He looks back at that as a low moment of his career but can laugh at it now.
“Dad always turns around and blames the defender who passed it back to him — and it doesn’t stop there either.
“He also blame Mike Milligan for passing it to Ullathorne in the first place!
“I find it very funny too although you wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.
“The pitches now are better so I should be alright to deal with a back-pass like that.”
Gunn has not yet performed a clanger anywhere near to that magnitude although he accepts every keeper is going to look foolish a few times in their career.
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But he added: “When you do suffer something like that, it’s how you bounce back. You move on.
“I’m always unhappy whenever I concede — even a 25 yard screamer which people say gave you no chance. I’m always thinking, ‘Could I have moved my feet earlier to push off the ground more.’ Luckily I’ve not had too many low moments.”
Gunn has been consistent for Norwich and is rated as one of the Championship’s finest keepers.
But he knows he and his team-mates are going to have to be at their best at Carrow Road to maintain their 13-match unbeaten derby record against the Tractor Boys, who go into the game top of the table.
Ipswich have not registered a win against their foes since 2009 — a 3-2 thriller at Portman Road which a 13-year-old Gunn watched distraughtly from the stands.
Bryan Gunn made 478 appearances for Norwich between 1986 and 1998 — and his son was naturally brought up as a Canaries supporter.
He said: “I was so gutted, it was my lowest point as a Norwich fan. Thankfully the 13 games since have erased those memories somewhat.
“But Ipswich have had an outstanding season. What the manager Kieran McKenna has done there has been incredible, bringing them up from League One and now top of the table. It’s impressive.
“You look at Leicester and the quality they have on and off the pitch.
“They had Jamie Vardy as a sub in both games against us — and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the first one. If you’ve got that calibre of player coming off the bench, you’ve a great chance of getting promoted.
“But Ipswich, with the squad that they have coming up from League One, to maintain the performances and level that they have has been the most impressive in my view.”
Norwich are currently sixth and in the final play-off spot with a four-point cushion over seventh-placed Coventry — while Ipswich only have a one-point lead over Leeds and two over third-placed Leicester, who have a game in hand.
And Gunn believes the Canaries have as much chance of getting promoted than Ipswich — with there still being a huge chance of the East Anglian rivals clashing in the play-offs.
They both met in the 2015 semi-final with Norwich prevailing 3-1 at Carrow Road after a 1-1 draw at Portman Road on their way to promotion.
He said: “That would be cool to get into the play offs and get Ipswich in the semi or the final would be even bigger.
“That’s something we’re not scared of. It’s something we’ll embrace and hopefully we can make it happen.
“Whoever misses out on automatic promotion are going to be feeling pretty low — so hopefully that will work in our favour.
“But we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a huge derby game this weekend.
“Ipswich were flying when we went into the last game at Portman Road but dealt with that well in terms of managing the atmosphere and the fact they were so desperate to beat us.
“We drew 2-2 but easily could’ve won. I feel we’re better going into this one. Our performances have stepped forward and we’ve got so much confidence in each other with the way we play.
“Hopefully we can show that this weekend.”
Gunn will be playing in his fourth East Anglian derby and has one win and two draws so far to his name.
His favourite was his first, a 1-0 win at Portman Road in 2017 while on loan from Manchester City, with James Maddison scoring the winner.
But he added: “The return at Carrow Road was also great because Ipswich thought they had won with an 89th-minute winner only for Tim Klose to level six minutes into added time. We kept that unbeaten run going.”
Rivalries aside, though, Gunn would like to see BOTH teams go up to set up the first East Anglian derby in the Premier League since 1995 when the two clubs were relegated.
He said: “We’ve not had many derbies with Ipswich in recent years because we’re usually playing in a higher division — so it’d be pretty nice to have this game in the Premier League.”
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