| Birmingham City 2 v 2 Ipswich Town SkyBet Championship Saturday, 4th November 2023 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
Birmingham City 2-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report Saturday, 4th Nov 2023 17:09 Sub Marcus Harness scored twice as the Blues came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Birmingham City, extending their club record unbeaten league away run to 16 matches. The home side took the lead in the 13th minute via Jay Stansfield and were the better team in the first half, however, the Blues improved after the break, but went two behind on 51 when Cameron Burgess diverted a cross into his own net. Town looked set for their first away defeat of the season until Harness came off the bench to net on 79 and 89 to claim a point with another sub Dane Scarlett playing a part in both goals. Town made two changes from the team which beat Plymouth 3-2 last week with Burgess and Harry Clarke coming into the starting XI. Clarke replaced Brandon Williams at right-back, the on-loan Manchester United man having suffered with a minor illness this week. Burgess took over from George Edmundson at the heart of the defence alongside Luke Woolfenden. Axel Tuanzebe, who made his debut in the 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Fulham in the week, and Cameron Humphreys, who came on as a sub in that game, were among the subs. Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney, who had lost his previous three games since controversially taking over from John Eustace, made four changes from the team which lost 3-1 at Southampton last weekend. Koji Miyoshi, Ethan Laird, returning from two months out with a hamstring injury, Jay Stansfield and the previously suspended Juninho Bacuna came into the team for Manny Longelo, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Siriki Dembele and Krystian Bielik, who all dropped to the bench. As rain fell steadily, the game was preceded by a minute’s silence and the Last Post with the game Birmingham’s Remembrance Day fixture. Both teams wore black armbands. Omari Hutchinson was lucky to escape without being shown a yellow card within the first 30 seconds of the start having slid in and sent Cody Drameh flying on halfway. Referee Leigh Doughty felt a talking-to was sufficient and the on-loan Chelsea man made his apologies to the Birmingham left-back, who earlier in the season had been the sub who was subbed at half-time for Leeds at Portman Road after only 31 minutes on the field. The home side saw most of the ball in the early stages but without threatening until the ninth minute when Bacuna unleashed a shot from30 yards which caught Burgess and flew only just past Vaclav Hladky’s right post. Town had started slowly and in the 14th minute Birmingham went in front. Bacuna brought the ball forward to the edge of the area to the left before mishitting a shot which split two defenders and reached Jay Stansfield on the edge of the six-yard box. Hladky came to claim but Stansfield beat him to it and then shot on the turn into the net. It was only the third goal Town had conceded away from home this season and the first in a first half. Having gone in front, the Midlanders continued to put the Blues under pressure but with Town just about preventing them from creating another opening. Town were struggling to play their way out from the back due to Birmingham’s press and on 21, after the Blues had again been forced to give away possession in their own half, Miyoshi struck a deflected shot which looped into Hladky’s arms. A minute later, George Hirst was sent away into space on the Town left but with the linesman raising his flag. The striker in any case sent his shot well beyond home keeper John Ruddy’s left post. On 25, Burgess got his name in referee Doughty’s book following a foul on Birmingham skipper Dion Anderson after a long throw from the left, although it looked as if his frustrated remonstrations with the official were what led to the yellow card. Two minutes later, Town should have levelled. Skipper Sam Morsy sent over a free-kick from the right, Burgess nodded back across goal to an unmarked Nathan Broadhead, who volleyed wide when he will feel he should have hit the target at the very least. As Birmingham keeper Ruddy prepared to take the goal-kick, Birmingham defender Emanuel Aiwu was booked for an earlier infringement. Stansfield shot over on the turn from 25 yards in the 35th minute with the Blues still struggling to get on top with the Birmingham press still disrupting their passing out from the back. Three minutes later, however, the Blues almost levelled out of nothing. Chaplin spotted Ruddy off his line fully 40 yards out on the left and looped an effort which was dipping under the bar until the keeper got back to tip it over for a Town corner. Following the flag-kick, the Blues put the home side under their first spell of pressure of the game, although without creating any further danger. However, Town ended the half defending once again and deserved to be behind at the break having never really got going in the first half. Birmingham had been in charge for most of the period but with the goal and Bacuna’s early shot wide their only real chances. Despite the disappointing overall display, the Blues might well have got on terms via Broadhead’s volley, and had looked dangerous from set pieces, and Chaplin’s audacious looping effort. However, Town went in knowing they would need to put in an improved display after the break. As rain fell even harder than earlier in the afternoon, the Blues started on the front foot and three minutes after the restart looked to have a decent shout for a penalty when Hirst was knocked over by Sanderson as he looked to take a bouncing ball past the defender. However, referee Doughty wasn’t interested, much to Hirst’s frustration. A minute later, Hutchinson took the ball round the outside of his man on the right of the area and took a tumble. Again referee Doughty wasn’t interested but Drameh was booked for waving an imaginary yellow card in an attempt to get Hutchinson cautioned. The Blues had been on top in the opening minutes of the half, but in the 51st minute Birmingham doubled their lead. Bacuna sent over a teasing low cross from the left and Burgess slid in and inadvertently guided the ball into the right corner of Hladky’s net. The goal was a big blow to Town, who had started the second half positively, looking much better than they had in the first period. They maintained that improvement despite the second goal but didn’t create an opening until the 58th minute when Woolfenden’s excellent pass played Broadhead in on the edge of the area but after the Welshman had taken the pass down, Aiwu took it away from him for a Town corner. Birmingham began to threaten again and Hladky made a sharp save having closed down Oliver Burke as the on-loan Werder Bremen man hit a first-time effort from Stansfield’s right-wing cross. On the hour, Hladky was quickly off his line to claim ahead of Stansfield, sliding across the sodden turf to claim. Three minutes later, Ruddy tipped Davis’s cross-shot from the left over the bar, then from the corner Chaplin’s header was also saved by the one-time Norwich keeper. As the game moved into its final 20 minutes, Town went agonisingly close to pulling a goal back. After Birmingham had been caught in possession in their final third, Town interchanged neatly before Broadhead teed-up Chaplin, whose shot as Laird slid in, was diverted wide by Ruddy’s toe. From the corner, the ball eventually landed at Luongo’s feet eight yards out but the Australian’s shot was forced wide by a defender. Soon after, Town made four changes, swapping Hirst, Chaplin, Luongo and Broadhead for Freddie Ladapo, Scarlett, Jack Taylor and Harness, while Birmingham switched Burke and Jordan James for Siriki Dembele and Krystian Bielik. On 78, the home side replaced Laird for Longelo. Within a minute of that change, the Blues pulled a goal back. Clarke found Scarlett on the left and the on-loan Spurs man did well to beat his man then cut back to Ladapo. The striker’s shot was blocked but Harness was on hand to slam home the rebound, his third goal of the season and second in two matches. Having extended their record of scoring in every match to 33 games, the Blues set about looking for an equaliser. On 83, Bielik was yellow-carded for pulling back Scarlett on halfway, then following the free-kick, the on-loan Tottenham man shot from the left of the box but Ruddy got down to his right to save. Two minutes later Birmingham replaced Miyoshi for Jutkiewicz and Stansfield for Marc Roberts, then on 87 Town replaced Davis with Humphreys. Two minutes later, the Blues levelled. Scarlett, who played a great ball down the right for Hutchinson, who crossed to the far post. It was diverted into the air by Humphreys and Harness smashed a superb volley into the corner of the net from 10 yards sending the Town fans behind the goal wild. The equaliser and the fourth official indicated seven additional minutes gave the Blues players and fans hope that they could complete what at around the hour mark had looked an unlikely victory. Taylor slammed a shot from just outside the area into Ruddy’s midriff as Town looked the more likely scorers of the game’s fifth goal. But the Blues weren’t able to find the goal which would have grabbed all three points before referee Doughty’s whistle. Having been 2-0 down, the Blues will be delighted to have fought back to claim a point - and maintain an unbeaten away record which goes back to February in all competitions and January in the league - after a much-improved second half display. Burgess’s unfortunate own goal gave Town a mountain to climb but this side has shown on numerous occasions now that it never knows when it’s beaten and in the end a draw was probably a fair result with Ruddy much the busier of the two keepers. Harness will rightly grab the headlines, particularly for his brilliant second goal, but Scarlett for the first time showed why manager McKenna was so keen to bring him to Portman Road and Hutchinson was an ever-present danger down the right. The result - 2-2 as it was when the sides last met at St Andrew's in 2018 when Birmingham came from 2-0 behind - sees the Blues remain second, now four points behind leaders Leicester and seven ahead of Leeds in third ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Rotherham, Town’s game in hand on everyone else in the top division. Birmingham City: Ruddy, Laird, Drameh, Sanderson (c), Aiwu, Bacuna, James (Bielik 73), Sunjic, Burke (Dembele 73), Stansfield (Roberts 85), Miyoshi (Jutkiewicz 85). Unused: Etheridge, Gardner, Longelo, Long, Hogan. Town: Hladky, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis (Humphreys 87), Morsy (c), Luongo (Taylor 72), Hutchinson, Chaplin (Scarlett 72), Broadhead (Harness 72), Hirst (Ladapo 72). Unused: Walton, Tuanzebe, Ball, Jackson. Referee: Leigh Doughty (Lancashire). Att: 20,940 (Town: 1,970).
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