Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to look at games in isolation. The ever-growing supremacy of League over Cup meant that City v Ipswich was the second-least important of our season so far – whether we like it or not, it requires a journey to the latter stages of either Cup for a game to outrank a Championship fixture in importance.

But let’s forget all of that, and look at this match for what it was: a decent game of football in which the Tigers fielded a mixture of reserve and first-team players, treated us to some excellent football, then a bit of anxiety, then a happy ending. All for a tenner. For the first time in a little while, the FA Cup has smiled upon us.

Managers always promise to play strong sides in the Third Round, and invariably do the opposite. City therefore had three players making their first starts of the campaign – though you could argue that Mannone has an excuse for not making his seasonal debut by playing for another club, I suppose. Thus, on a grey and breezy afternoon in East Yorkshire, City’s about-to-be-appointed-permanent-manager Nick Barmby carded: Mannone; McShane, Hobbs (c), Cooper, Dudgeon; Stewart, Cairney, McKenna, Brady; Mclean, Garcia.

Seven changes to the side that limped to defeat against Derby five days earlier, and with seven subs still allowed in the Cup, there was space for Peet (GK – no, us neither), Dawson, Chester, Olofinjana, Evans, Simpson, Cullen.

If City’s alterations were influenced by us looking up in the League, Ipswich’s can be traced to them increasingly peering downwards. Paul Jewell is a deeply uninspiring manager whose continuing ability to get jobs at this level remains an impenetrable mystery. His Town side are two places and three points clear of the bottom three, and it shows. He made four changes to his side. Jimmy Bullard had already cried off with ’flu, a chortlesomely disbelievable notion, but there was space for a pair of ex-Tigers in the Ipswich side – the returning hero Damien Delaney and the laughably inept Ibrahima Sonko. One wonders if Liam Cooper had any words for him – Sonko was of course the clown who guided Liverpool to a 6-1 win against City at Anfield in 2009, doubtless a traumatic experience for young Cooper.

The match kicked off with City attacking a moderately well-populated North Stand, initially made up with about 700 Ipswich fans and the reappearing Ulltras at the western extremity of the stand – for reasons known only to the jobsworth stewards, they were shooed a block along further along despite netting and many hundreds of seats already separating them from one of the country’s more placid travelling fans. Pointless. The Ulltras seemed to be enjoying themselves though.

A formless start on the pitch too, with unfamiliar line-ups taking time to settle down. Things improved fairly rapidly though as both sides actively sought a replay-avoiding victory. Carson nearly converted an excellent low cross from the Ipswich right by Murphy, Stewart had a shot blocked and an over-hit Mclean crossed required tipping over by Lee-Barrett. Need we report that City didn’t score from the corner?

City nearly did score midway through the half, and a great goal it would have been. Stewart showed pace and tenacity to avoid a brace of challenges on the left, tore towards the goal-line before cutting it back for Garcia at the near post. The Australian international attempted a back-flick that beat the Ipswich keeper but bobbled a yard wide. No matter, for three minutes later we led.

A strong run in the centre of midfield by the green-booted Brady saw him carry the ball thirty yards into the Ipswich half before playing a reverse pass sort of into the path of Mclean. We say “sort of” because although the run and pass were good ones, Sonko had it covered. Except that it’s Sonko, and he’s gloriously awful, and Mclean – giving away probably eight inches in height – muscled him off the ball and stabbed a low shot under Lee-Barrett. We celebrated and guffawed at once.

Damien Delaney was subbed immediately after this, appearing both injury and gravely unhappy about something – he was warmly applauded from the pitch as Tommy Smith replaced him.

Five minutes later the lead was doubled with a goal of outstanding vision. Cairney fastened onto the ball about 25 yards from goal and under pressure – in one liquid motion he shifted it to the side and sent an exquisite chip goalwards, far too good for any keeper in the world and the ball landed gracefully in the net. Wonderful stuff.

Ipswich looked punch drunk at this time, and if one can possibly level a minor criticism at the Tigers, it’s that they seemed to sit back a little to admire their own handiwork instead of applying a third goal from which no comeback would be possible. Yes, that’s a mite churlish, and of course City’s passing football is an absolute joy to behold, but you can never show too much killer instinct. As it was, the half ended with City in silky control and the thankfully-in-five-figures crowd (mostly) happy.

As long-time doubters of his, we suspect Paul Jewell’s half-time teamtalk was short on subtlety and rather long on belligerent oafery – however, we must concede that it had a noticeable effect. The Ipswich fans had long since put away their “Up For The Cup” and “Spirit of ’78” banners (twee, but I quite liked them) and settled in for another glum afternoon, yet the opening period of the second saw them stage a real recovery.

Jason Scotland had come on for Nathan Ellington and this appeared to invigorate the visitors. McShane untidily upended Leadbitter at the cost of a caution, who took the free-kick himself – it was deflected wide for a corner that City cleared, and shortly afterwards Carson had a meatily-struck shot that was blocked by McKenna. However, a goal looked possible, and it arrived on 57 minutes.

It’s fair to say that it wasn’t wholly unpreventable, either. A long-range shot from Emmanuel-Thomas wobbled in the air and was clumsily shovelled back into play by Mannone straight to Scotland, who applied a cool finish to halve the lead. Hmm. For goodness sake City, don’t make us trek to Suffolk on a Tuesday night.

Chances continued to arrive, though the balance of play now favoured Ipswich. Mclean had a chance to make it 3-1 after being intelligently fed by Garcia, but his shot blazed wide at the near post. Ipswich had a few opportunities – Emmanuel-Thomas headed wide then had a shot blocked by Hobbs, before the recently-introduced Michael Chopra flayed a shot over Mannone’s crossbar.

City brought on Seyi Olofinjana for his first outing in black and amber since 2009/10 in place of Paul McKenna, then Mannone pulled off a superb flying save to reach and parry to safety a long-range shot by Carson. A replay seemed a real danger at this stage.

Richard Garcia was withdrawn to affectionate applause in favour of Corry Evans as Nick Barmby strove to shore things up, however the closer to full-time we got the more Ipswich’s earlier industry seemed to wane. Mclean manfully shrugged off the attentions of his bewildered marker to latch onto a long ball from the back and sent a shot across goal and a yard wide, then as City stepped things up a little Stewart also flashed a shot wide.

A home-side-friendly three minutes of injury time were signalled and it was during the last of these that the game was settled. Jay Simpson came on for man of the match Mclean, Ipswich nearly stole an equaliser when a header by Carson was firmly directed at Mannone – the City keeper spilled the ball at first but immediately fell onto the rebound.

Moments later Ipswich were finally finished off. Cairney switched possession to Simpson, who was probably relieved to at least get a touch of the ball. It was a good one too, as he drew the stretched Ipswich defence, slid the ball onto the overlapping Stewart and watched with satisfaction as the City winger drilled a low shot past Lee-Barrett. 3-1, and there was barely enough time for Ipswich to kick off again.

A pleasing afternoon, all told. Three goals and an entertaining game – sometimes lower stakes actually make for more exciting football. It was also a relief to end that troubling run of recent form, and a nice change to win an FA Cup match.

A few other positives to note, too. In a more central role, Brady had a fine first half full of responsible positioning and passing, and though he struggled in the second period he showed signs of improvement and maturity and his contribution for the opening goal deserves praise. Cooper was a splendidly dominant figure at the back, while Dudgeon fitted back seamlessly into the side. Mclean’s phenomenal work-rate continues to make him undroppable and his tendency yesterday to deliberately position himself between the two centre-backs made him extremely difficult to track. Cairney showed his guile once more, Garcia looked fit and sprightly and hey, we’re in the Fourth Round!

The draw is at 5.40pm this afternoon. As we’ve played all the big clubs lately, and on equal terms, we’ll have tick-ground-Stevenage away, please. Ta.