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Photo courtesy Andrew Dolan (via Wikimedia Commons)

With his Ipswich Town club holding the dubious title of being the only Coca-Cola Football League team yet to win this season, it’s hard to blame manager Roy Keane for one of the tactics he’s using these days: Prayer.

One reporter had asked the Irishman if the Ipswich boss had tried asking for a favor from a higher power, as captured on film this week by BBC Sport, and Keane gave confirmation that he has indeed given it a go.    “I pray all the time,” the ex-Manchester United and Celtic star said.  “Obviously, the man upstairs is busy at the moment, though, as he’s got bigger issues to deal with than (Ipswich Town’s) problems.

“Listen, I’ve got great faith that things will change for us.  As I’ve said, of course, when you’re not winning games, you analyze, and the danger is (that) you can overanalyze it.”

Indeed, Keane and his charges at Ipswich have been under the microscope all season long, and the further the Championship season goes along without the Tractor Boys picking up a win – they’ve drawn seven and lost six from their first 13 league matches – the heavier the pressure on Keane to turn things around.

The Ipswich faithful will hope that happens this Saturday, though, when the Tractor Boys travels down to Devon to play against Plymouth Argyle, which sits in 23rd place in the Championship – still in the relegation zone, but at least it’s one step above dead last – on account of having won two more games than its visitor this weekend.

Argyle’s only home win of the season came in its previous game at Home Park, a 2-1 win over Scunthorpe United on Oct. 3, but England’s southernmost and westernmost Football League club has lost its last two matches – a 2-0 defeat at Blackpool on Oct. 17, followed by a 3-1 loss at Bristol City on Tuesday -  and Keane will be desperate to get his first win as Ipswich boss and thereby hand the Pilgrims their third consecutive loss.

If nothing else, though, Ipswich does have history on its side as it visits Home Park.  The Tractor Boys are unbeaten in six matches against Plymouth, and the Greens have only won one of twelve league and cup matches against the Suffolkians.

That’s good news for Keane, then, and he’s confident that his players’ hard work will finally pay off on Saturday.

“As a manager, I look at our staff and my players, and I think that we’re doing a lot of good stuff,” he said.  “We’re out on the training pitch (for purposes of) preparation, but you also need a little bit of a break, and hopefully that might come tomorrow.”

For division-by-division analysis of the weekend’s other action in the Football League, keep reading after the jump.

Championship: Graeme Souness is expected to be named as the next Middlesbrough manager after the sacking of Gareth Southgate earlier this week, but before that happens, caretaker coach Colin Cooper will be given a chance to see what he can do with the team as it travels to Deepdale to take on sixth-place Preston North End.  Boro currently sits in fourth place in the Championship, but it’s only one point behind the three-way logjam for the top spot, which is occupied by West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Cardiff City.  While Collins and the Smoggies are playing against PNE in the first league meeting between the two teams for 35 years, West Brom will be playing away to Coventry City, Newcastle will host Doncaster Rovers, and will lock proverbials with Sheffield United up in South Yorkshire.

League One: As ever – or so it seems – Leeds United and Charlton Athletic sit one-two in the league table, but both sides would do well to keep a close eye on a Milton Keynes Dons team that is within striking distance of upsetting the hegemony that we’ve seen at the top of the division.  On Saturday, MK Dons is away to second-bottom Southampton, and a win there could put manager Paul Ince’s side ahead of Charlton should the Addicks fall on the road against Gillingham.  Leeds’s lead will stay safe through the weekend regardless of the result of their match on Saturday away to Millwall – oh, goody… – but the Yorkshire club will want to earn all three points from what’s sure to be a heated affair both on and off the pitch, thereby remaining at the top of the League One table.

League Two: Hope Powell, the coach of England’s women’s national team, dismissed rumors this week that she had been approached by someone from Grimbsby Town with designs of her taking over the managerial reigns at the Lincolnshire club, but they could probably use somebody with her recent track record this week as the lowly Mariners travel to first-place Bournemouth.  The homestanding Cherries will certainly want to win, though, considering that Dagenham & Redbridge, Rochdale and Rotherham United are all still within three points of catching the division leader.

Matthew Semisch