Ipswich Town 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers - Match Report Tuesday, 7th Mar 2017 22:03 Town recorded their fifth consecutive draw as their home game with Wolves ended in a drab 0-0 stalemate. The visitors came closest to winning it late on when Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Ben Marshall both struck the woodwork. Toumani Diagouraga replaced Emyr Huws, who suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford, in the Town midfield, while Josh Emmanuel took over from Jordan Spence at right wing-back. Tommy Smith was handed his first start since undergoing back surgery in September with Jonas Knudsen switching to left wing-back and Myles Kenlock moving to the bench. Wolves, who had lost their last six matches, made five changes from the team which lost 2-1 at Reading at the weekend, bringing in Danny Batth, Matt Doherty, Jack Price, Andreas Weimann and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson for Mike Williamson, who was suspended, Dominic Iorfa, Conor Coady, Helder Costa and Nouha Dicko. As so often in recent weeks the Blues started slowly with Wolves enjoying most of the early possession but without creating a chance. However, in the fifth minute Town carved out the first opening when David McGoldrick found Tom Lawrence with a cross-field left-to-right pass. The Blues’ top scorer fed the overlapping Emmanuel but his low ball ran between the Town players in the box and McGoldrick who was breaking into the area. The first quarter of an hour continued in much the same vein with Wolves having most of the ball but without threatening and Town making the occasional foray forward. On 16 McGoldrick rode a challenge and fed Skuse on the edge of the area to the right but the midfielder appeared undecided whether to cross or shoot and the ball wafted harmlessly wide. There was a scare for the Blues in the 21st minute when Knudsen handled as he tripped with Doherty breaking into the area behind him. Wolves claimed a penalty and the Danish international, who was booked, was fortunate but it did appear he initially touched the ball with his hand outside the box. After a lengthy build-up, Romain Saiss shot well over from the freekick. The incident briefly seemed to wake Town up with skipper Luke Chambers forcing his way into the Wolves area after an Emmanuel cross from the right had been cleared to him. On 31 Diagouraga came a couple of yards from scoring his first goal for Town when Lawrence played a corner from the right to him on the edge of the box from where he smashed a powerful low drive not too far wide of Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme’s left post. Wolves again claimed a penalty in the 35th minute when Ben Marshall crossed from the right to Dave Edwards at the far post. The former Luton man nodded back across goal but McGoldrick slid in and diverted the ball behind, off a hand according to Edwards, although it had appeared to strike the Irish international’s body. Three minutes later, Lawrence carved out an opportunity in the 38th minute, the Wales international’s clever flick from Diagouraga’s pass taking him beyond Kortney House but wide and his well-struck low cross was cleared by Doherty. As what had been a dull half moved into injury time McGoldrick and Lawrence forced an error from the Wolves backline and the on-loan Leicester man fed the Town number 10 on the left of the area but the Irishman’s low shot was saved by Ikeme. That was the final action of an unmemorable half in which Town had never taken the game to an opposition who had had a lot of the ball without ever actually looking comfortable in possession. Neither keeper had been particularly tested with the Blues’ best opportunities McGoldrick’s shot shortly before the whistle and Diagouraga’s strike, while for Wolves Saiss should have done better with the freekick from the edge of the area earlier in the half. Town began the second half more positively and in the 47th minute Smith won a freekick midway inside the Wolves half on the left, visitors skipper Danny Batth picking up a yellow card for the foul. Lawrence’s ball into the box seemed to be on its way towards Berra’s head until George Saville’s boot took it away from him. Town felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the 52nd minute when Lawrence exchanged passes with Grant Ward and broke into the area before Doherty ran into him and sent him tumbling. Referee Darren Deadman, perhaps recalling the two earlier Wolves calls for penalties, waved away the protests, however it looked a better shout than the earlier claims. Town won a series of corners with Ikeme just about dealing with balls curling under his bar before Wolves broke through Weimann following a Smith error. His cross was deflected to Bodvarsson, who fed Marshall, who shot wide. Another Town corner saw the ball just fail to fall for Berra then, with the half more open than the first, Bodvarsson crossed into Bartosz Bialkowski’s arms from the right. On 61 Kenlock took over from Smith with Knudsen moving to the centre of the defence. Wolves continued to have most of the ball but without testing Bialkowski, while the Blues were unable to keep possession and never threatened until McGoldrick hit a low shot to Ikeme from just outside the box in the 79th minute. Two minutes later, Diagouraga sent McGoldrick away down the left with a clever pass with the outside of his right boot but the striker’s low cross to Ward was cut out. On 82 Wolves brought on Helder Costa for Weimann, then two minutes later Kieffer Moore took over from Emmanuel for Town with Ward moving to right wing-back. The visitors came close to winning it with five minutes left, Bodvarsson cutting in from the right and hitting a shot which Bialkowski pawed onto the post and wide. Wolves threatened again a minute later after Skuse had conceded a freekick 25 yards out. Marshall’s shot struck the top of the bar and Knudsen nodded over and behind before any of the Wolves players were able to react. The end of two minutes of uneventful injury time was met by boos from the home support after another frustrating evening at Portman Road. The Blues, who badly missed Huws’s presence in midfield, looked a shadow of the team which dominated against Reading and Leeds and it was a display which will have done little to persuade any fans wavering over whether to renew their season tickets to part with their cash. Wolves will feel they did enough to win having had most of the ball but without ever looking particularly comfortable in possession with Bodvarsson's late strike which Bialkowski palmed on to the post their only shot on target, while the Blues managed just two during a game which won’t live long in the memory. Town, who are now unbeaten in seven but having won only one in their last 11 in all competitions, drop a place to 16th, nine points from the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s trip to 11th place Barnsley, who lost 2-1 at QPR. Town: Bialkowski, Emmanuel (Moore 84), Chambers (c), Berra, Smith (Kenlock 61), Knudsen, Skuse, Diagouraga, Ward, Lawrence, McGoldrick. Unused: Gerken, Pitman, Spence, Bru, Sears. Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Edwards, Batth (c), Saville, Price, Bodvarsson, Saiss, Hause, Weimann (Costa 82), Marshall. Unused: Lonergan, Stearman, Dicko, Coady, Iorfa, Cavaleiro. Referee: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire). Att: 15,076 (Wolves: 443).
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