Across spells with Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town and later Colchester United, Chambers built a reputation as a no-nonsense, dependable defender and an even stronger dressing-room presence. Whether at centre-back or right-back, his game was based on passion, leadership, and an uncompromising mentality.
Oxford United moved out of the relegation zone in the Championship as they beat Ipswich Town 2-1 at The Kassam Stadium. Goals from Mark Harris and Przemyslaw Placheta, either side of a brilliant volley from Leif Davis, saw Oxford move up to 19th in the standings, while Ipswich have missed the chance to go second and put pressure on the surrounding teams ahead of the weekend's action.
Wowzers - who predicted this stunning scoreline? Perhaps Nathan Jones, though he might have wished for even more goals. This was no easy task - Ipswich Town, a Premier League side just last season and one of the promotion favourites, stood firm with an unbeaten home record this campaign. In front of a packed crowd of 28,006, two astute managers clashed, but it was Jones' tactical courage - playing two up front - that helped deliver this win.
Middlesbrough returned to the top of the Championship table after holding on for a 2-1 victory over Ipswich Town. Morgan Whittaker's second-half strike proved the difference at the Riverside Stadium, where a Cedric Kipre own-goal put the hosts in front, before a late Dara O'Shea header proved academic for the visitors.
It is only 18 months since the last league meeting between Ipswich Town and Norwich City, when a goal by Marcelino Nunez gave the Canaries a 1-0 win. They will meet again in the 110th East Anglia derby on Sunday, and just seven of the 29 players that made it on to the pitch that day at Carrow Road in April 2024 are part of their current squads.
It is not going to be a quick fix, like I said last week. I looked at the stats and it seems they gave up a lot of possession to Oxford. Gary Rowett's team has better players now and more ways to hurt the opposition. I always felt it was going to be a tough game. Chris Wilder had success last year being a transition team.
We felt like we weren't too far away and there's been some good things coming and a lot of it came out tonight. We've worked really hard with Jaden in pre-season and he's worked really hard as well. There had been some good signs but without the end-product. We know how hard the season is. It's good to get the first win but it's very much feet on the floor.
