Town recorded their 19th draw of the season, an all-time club record, as Doncaster left Portman Road after a 1-1. In what was largely a typical end of season game, Connor Wickham put the Blues in front in the second half with Dean Shiels equalising from a hotly disputed penalty 10 minutes from the end.

Boss Roy Keane made two changes to his starting line-up, David Wright replacing Jaime Peters at right-back and Tommy Smith coming in for the injured Damien Delaney.

The bench was a different story with youngsters Billy Clark, Tom Eastman, Troy Brown and Luke Hyam sitting alongside Richard Wright, who was back in the 18 for the first time since recovering from his knee ligament injury, and Jaime Peters.

The match started quietly and the nearest either side came to an early shot was Grant Leadbitter’s fifth minute strike which flew well over. The former Sunderland man was back in his more regular central role with Jon Walters on the right.

Doncaster’s first strike came on 12, Brian Murphy gathering Gareth Roberts’s shot comfortably.

Leadbitter hit a shot across the area, then struck a freekick into the Doncaster wall but there was little for either set of fans to get too excited about.

On 27, Connor Wickham hooked a loose ball over after Tommy Smith had headed a freekick back across goal.

A Colback effort was deflected wide just before the half hour after the midfielder had won possession midway inside the Doncaster half.

Smith headed wide from an O’Connor cross, then Colback sent Wickham away but the 17-year-old screwed the ball wide. Just before the break, James Hayter shot over from the edge of the Town box.

It had been a somewhat subdued first 45 minutes, typical of a game played between two sides very much in mid-table. The Blues had had the better of the chances, such as they were, while the visitors had enjoyed the better of the possession but rarely threatened Brian Murphy’s goal.

Tommy Smith headed an early Town second half freekick wide when he ought to have netted, although a flag was subsequently raised, probably due to Connor Wickham straying behind the line.

The match had continued in the pedestrian manner of the first half and on 57 Roy Keane swapped the again quiet Daryl Murphy for Owen Garvan, switching his side to 4-5-1.

On the hour Wickham headed straight at Doncaster keeper Neil Sullivan with the Blues increasingly taking control of the game.

Brian Murphy saved from John Oster at his near post in the 66th minute, James Hayter heading the subsequent corner over.

Town went ahead in the 72nd minute when McAuley played a ball down the right for Walters. The skipper held off James O'Connor, who somehow diverted the ball inside towards Wickham and his marker Shelton Martis on the edge of the area and, with keeper Sullivan out of his ground, the Town youngster won the race to the ball and sent it spinning into the net with an outstretched toe for his fifth goal of the season.

Jaime Peters replaced David Norris for the final 14 minutes, Jon Walters moving to the middle with the Canadian on the right.

Walters shot over from 25 yards, then as the game moved into its final 10 minutes Shane O’Connor was adjudged to have felled sub Dean Shiels inside the area. The Town team were adamant that there was little or no contact and persuaded referee Andy Penn to speak to his linesman, but to no avail. The former Hibs man sent Murphy the wrong way from the spot, the first penalty Town have conceded a goal from this season.

Wickham was yellow-carded on 84 for a foul on Gareth Roberts, the Town youngster still clearly fuming after an earlier incident in which Doncaster keeper Neil Sullivan had kicked him well after the ball had gone, an incident missed by the referee and his linesman. Wickham had squared up to the veteran keeper and had been spoken to by the referee.

Murphy tipped James Chambers’s looping effort over with three minutes remaining, prior to Ipswich-born youngster Billy Clark making his senior debut in central midfield, replacing Wickham.

In injury time, Leadbitter shot wide before referee Andy Penn called a halt to proceedings.

Town probably deserved the three points on the balance of the second half without putting in a particularly exciting display. Neither side deserved much from a first half as understated as they come.

It was Town’s 19th draw of the season, beating the previous record of 18 set in 1990/91. The Blues extended this season's home draws total to 11, having already surpassed the previous record of nine set last season.

Wickham showed the type of predatory instinct which Town’s strikers so often been missing this season to score the goal and the youngster was probably the Blues’ stand-out performer.

Elsewhere, Shane O’Connor had a decent game aside from conceding the penalty, while Gareth McAuley had another strong match at centre-half.

Overall though, it was a typical end of season game which won’t live long in the memory, except perhaps for debutant Billy Clark.

Town: B Murphy, D Wright, McAuley, Smith, O'Connor, Walters, Leadbitter, Norris (Peters 76), Colback, Wickham (Clark 89), D Murphy (Garvan 57). Unused: R Wright, Brown, Eastman, Hyam. Att: 19,943.

Photo: Action Images

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