Conor Chaplin and skipper Sam Morsy were on target but Town were held to a 2-2 draw by Barnsley at Portman Road with a third Blues goal scored by sub Marcus Harness appearing to have been harshly disallowed. Chaplin curled home a brilliant free-kick on 27 but Jack Aitchison levelled for the Tykes six minutes later before Leif Davis had what looked a decent penalty shout turned down just before the break. Morsy restored the Blues’ lead on 70 but, after Harness’s goal had been ruled out, Callum Styles grabbed a point for the visitors on 75 with the Blues, who drop to second, going close on a number of occasions late on with George Edmundson hitting the post.

Wes Burns, Edmundson and Freddie Ladapo returned to the Blues’ starting line-up with the Welshman at right wing-back following his groin injury with Kane Vincent-Young dropping to the bench.

Edmundson returned on the left of the central defensive three with Cameron Burgess among the subs.

Ladapo started as the number nine with Tyreece John-Jules dropping behind him alongside Chaplin with Marcus Harness on the bench.

Summer signing Dominic Ball was in the matchday 18 for the first time following his ankle injury.

For Barnsley, Jordan Helliwell replaced Robbie Cundy and started at right wing-back with Jordan Williams switching to the right side of their back three.

Former Town loanee Luke Thomas was in the XI, while ex-Blues striker James Norwood was on the bench.

Ahead of kick-off, Barnsley took a knee but Town remained standing as has been the case in recent games.

Luca Connell sliced the game’s first shot well wide from 25 yards in the second minute, then Thomas brought the ball in from the left before hitting a deflected effort which Blues keeper Christian Walton claimed confidently.

Town soon began to get their passing going and in the fourth minute, following a long spell of possession, threaded a pass into the area for Chaplin, but the forward’s first touch let him down and Tykes’ keeper Brad Collins was able to slide in and grab ahead of him.

On nine, Janoi Donacien was played in down the right by Evans, following a long kick by Walton which reached Burns, and the centre-half sent over a cross which was cleared.

The loose ball reached Luke Woolfenden, who brought it forward and crossed towards the far post where John-Jules nodded back towards Ladapo, who collided with keeper Collins as he looked to hook home.

Referee Stephen Martin gave a foul and Collins and Helliwell both underwent treatment for knocks received during the attack.

Applause rang around the ground from both sets of fans and also some of the players as the clock hit the 10-minute mark, in memory of Lilly Ann Allen, a baby girl who passed away earlier this month aged only 10 weeks.

In the 16th minute Helliwell was forced off by his earlier injury and was replaced by Clarke Oduor.

Those stoppages and a couple of subsequent free-kicks led to Town losing their momentum somewhat as the match reached the 20-minute mark. There was an anxious moment for Blues supporters when Walton just about chopped his way past two Barnsley attackers in his area before giving the ball away on the right but Burns forced it out of play.

In the 27th minute Burns made a strong run in from the right before being felled five yards outside the area by Connell. And from the resultant free-kick, the Blues went in front.

Burns and Chaplin stood over the ball but it was the former Barnsley man who took the kick and curled a brilliant shot around the wall and into the corner of the net to Collins’s right before celebrating by the tunnel. It was Chaplin’s third goal of the season, and second in two games, and the best of the trio.

But Town’s lead only lasted six minutes. On 33, Barnsley were awarded a free-kick for handball against Evans, somewhat harshly. The set piece was smashed into the wall, but in the aftermath the ball was played out to the right, Connell crossed and Aitchison stooped to nod across Walton and into the corner of the net.

The Town support made their frustration with the referee’s decision to give Barnsley a free-kick known as the Blues started the business of looking to restore their lead.

On 41 Chaplin hit an audacious effort over from the right corner of the penalty area, then Barnsley were forced into their second change of the game, midfielder Josh Benson having picked up an injury which had required earlier treatment. Matty Wolfe took over.

The Tykes, defending in numbers, were frustrating the Blues, who began to take complete control as the game moved into injury time with the visitors unable to get out of their half.

Town felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Davis was brought down by Thomas having tricked his way past the winger. Certainly there looked to be no contact made with the ball and Davis appeared hurt by the challenge before being able to continue.

Just before the whistle, the former Leeds man burst away on the left before hitting a low shot across the face, which Collins palmed wide.

Referee Martin was booed off as he made his way towards the tunnel, more for the free-kick which led to the Barnsley goal than the lack of a penalty decision.

The Blues had started well but the game had gone through a frustrating stop-start spell before Chaplin’s excellent free-kick had given them the lead.

Town will be frustrated to have conceded so soon afterwards with the Barnsley free-kick questionable.

In the latter stages of the half, the Blues started to get more firmly in control and make inroads into the massed ranks of the Tykes’ defence.

Town started the second half as they had ended the first and on 47 Burns beat Styles on the right before cutting back towards Chaplin on the edge of the area but the ball was cut out.

However, Blues keeper Walton was forced into a save in the 49th minute from a Barnsley break, Williams played in Styles, who had got away from Burns, but Walton was equal to the Hungarian international’s shot and the loose ball was cleared.

Town came very close to getting back in front in the 53rd minute when Evans curled a cross into the box from the corner of the penalty area on the right. Burns appeared to get his head to it and it landed at Ladapo’s feet but the former Rotherham man wasn’t able to add a final touch.

Connell spent a lengthy spell being treated for a knock as the hour mark approached, much to the frustration of the home fans, accustomed to the second halves of matches being broken up by apparent injuries to opposition players over the last couple of seasons.

On 59 Styles was shown the game’s first yellow card for blocking off Burns midway inside the Blues’ half as the wing-back was chasing a Town ball down the right.

The game had returned to the more scrappy middle period of the first half with the Blues unable to find a way through the Tykes’ backline and becoming scruffier at the back.

In the 65th minute, as they prepared to take a corner, Barnsley brought on Norwood for goalscorer Aitchison and Slobodan Tedic for Devante Cole. From the corner, visitors skipper Mads Andersen bundled the ball wide at the near post.

There was another scare for the Blues a minute later when sub Oduor was played in on goal on the right of the box but Davis did just about enough to put him off and force him to shoot into the side-netting.

Town, who needed something to restore their impetus, made a double change on 67, Harness, Vincent-Young and Kayden Jackson, another ex-Barnsley forward, replacing John-Jules, Aluko and Davis, who had undergone treatment earlier in the half, presumably for the knock sustained in the penalty incident.

The changes appeared to have an immediate effect with the Blues taking the lead for the second time only three minutes later.

Burns cut in from the right at pace with Donacien overlapping outside him and cut across to Morsy, a one-time Barnsley loanee, who stuck out a toe to just about force it inside the post before celebrating his second goal of the season in front of the fans behind the goal.

Town thought they’d made it 3-1 two minutes later when Harness brushed off Liam Kitching and appeared to be fouled himself as he stabbed past Collins but referee Martin once again made a decision against the Blues, disallowing it for what he presumably deemed was a foul by the former Portsmouth man. The Town fans made their thoughts regarding the referee’s performance very evident.

The Blues were to rue that decision in the 75th minute when the South Yorkshiremen equalised for a second time. Connell sent over a corner from the left and Styles was left completely unmarked to nod a header past Walton to his left.

Norwood hit a low effort through to Walton from the edge of the area as the game became more end to end for a spell.

As the match moved into its final 10 minutes, Burns cut in from the right and struck a powerful shot from a tight angle which Collins tipped over. From the corner, Edmundson’s header was too high.

Sone Aluko replaced Chaplin in the 86th minute, then two minutes later Norwood was booked for a foul on Vincent-Young not far outside the area on the left.

However, the free-kick came to nothing but the Blues kept the ball in the final third as they kept looking for the winner.

As the match moved into eight minutes of injury time Andersen was booked for kicking the ball away as Town looked to take a free-kick.

The Blues were inches away from their third goal soon afterwards when Edmundson nodded an Evans corner from the right against the post, the loose ball failing to fall to a home player.

Town thought they’d won it deep in injury time when Evans curled over a cross from the right and Vincent-Young headed powerfully goalwards only for Collins to pull off a remarkable stop to keep it out.

The Barnsley goal was under siege in the final minutes, Aluko seeing a volley from a corner blocked in the final seconds before referee Martin ended a frustrating afternoon for the Blues.

Town fans, who again made their annoyance with referee Martin known at the whistle, will want to see the first-half penalty incident and the disallowed goal again, with the Blues appearing hard done by with both decisions. The experienced official came close to losing control at times in the second half.

However, manager Kieran McKenna will be frustrated at the manner in which both goals were conceded, the second a free header from a corner.

Town had chances to win it in the latter stages but just couldn’t find the winning goal with Collins making a vital stop from Vincent-Young when the former Colchester man seemed certain to score late on.

The draw sees the Blues drop to second in the table behind Portsmouth on goals scored with Northampton at Portman Road for Town’s first Papa John’s Trophy tie of the season on Tuesday.

Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burns, Evans, Morsy (c), Davis (Vincent-Young 67), Chaplin (Aluko 86), John-Jules (Harness 67), Ladapo (Jackson 67). Unused: Hladky, Burgess, Ball.

Barnsley: Collins, Williams, Styles, Kitching, Andersen (c), Benson (Wolfe 41), Thomas, Helliwell (Oduor 16), Aitchison (Norwood 65), Cole (Tedic 65), Connell. Unused: Walton, McCarthy, Cundy. Referee: Stephen Martin (Staffordshire). Att: 25,001 (Barnsley: 613).

Photo: Matchday Images

KernowBluey added 17:43 - Aug 27 Obviously disappointed with the result today, should of been a third goal and possibly a pen but that's L1 officiating for you. Credit to Barnsley tho to keep themselves in it, should be a big point in their perspective. But we shouldn't complain too much as we're still unbeaten and got 14/16 points for August and joint top of the league. We move onto next Tues for the cup and a big game next Sat. Onwards and Upwards!

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Suffolkboy added 17:44 - Aug 27 SORRY – for sinues READ sinews ! COYB
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therein61 added 17:44 - Aug 27 Forget the officials(poor as they were) for a moment and look at our defending for their goals very slip shod after the last few games concentration is all some people were going through the motions thinking we've cracked it!!!! not this early in the season we haven't, get it sorted K.M.
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blueboy1981 added 17:46 - Aug 27 Some of you are a disgrace -one can only assume you are Kids who know no better. Criticising Ladapo already ?? - you obviously don't know the game you are watching. Just check his Goal Scoring Record before coming to you lot for your unfounded Criticism. You destroy more players, than you encourage. At this rate - you'll destroy him. He cannot and will not Win games alone - it takes more than ONE !!! Ladapo is a very Good Player - Full Stop !!

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jas0999 added 17:48 - Aug 27 Agree with the majority of comments. Overall, disappointing not to win when twice ahead against a team who are poor on the road. Performance was decent and we looked very good at times, but not consistently through the game. The referee was about as good as our defending for their second goal. Both very very poor. I'd be surprised if we don't sign a striker. Lapado looks very average. Two points dropped. Need to win these type of games when twice in front at home.

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Edmundo added 17:50 - Aug 27 Totally robbed today. We were shading it at 2-1, but then to put the ball in the net, with our player being pulled over, only for the referee to guess at the infringement... what happened to giving the attacking player the benefit? Just hope we don't run this. Maybe lost our heads a bit after that: emotions ran high, but were allowed to by a referee who lost control.
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blueboy1981 added 17:58 - Aug 27 Naivety will see us faced with more of the likes of today to come. Don't run away with the Euphoria - MUCH more needed, is the fact of the matter, as time will prove … !!! Goals given away must improve - otherwise punishment lies ahead against much better Teams than todays opposition.
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Karlosfandangal added 18:11 - Aug 27 Draw disappointing today as the luck and ref were against us, draw against an ex Championship team would have been happy with that last year so shows how far Town has come We need a striker who will score goals. Ladapo does very well, puts in a shift put defence under pressure pulling defender out of position etc but lacking goals at the minute. He may come good.

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blues1 added 18:13 - Aug 27 Kmcblue. He only had about 4 or 5 chances in preseason and scored 2 of them. 2 chamces at forest green, great save bybkeeper forc1st 1 them last ditch tackle for the 2nd. And thats pretty much how it's been for him so far. And today, what's he supposed to do? The ball was never played to him, other than high balls when he had a 6ft5 brick s*** house behind him. Wasnt at his best, no, bit still worked hard. He just needs a goal. Once he gets one, he'll be fine. I agree that John jules was good last week, but we were playing balls up to him to his feet, not his head, which is what seems to happen with Ladapo. No doubt some fans will do to him what they did to piggott last season and constantly slag him off. Why not just give him a chance and see what happens.

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DMDC added 18:20 - Aug 27 Ladapo simply isn't good enough up top and things will unravel because we aren't as good as we think we are. We haven't even played any decent teams yet.
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Billysherlockblue added 18:20 - Aug 27 Imo this was a banana fixture. We should have won but did not lose. Wolfie and edmundson need to be stronger in the air in both boxes. Blood and guts better. I think the boys tried hard and were robbed by a bad ref. Keep the heads up lads and go again next sat. A special shout out to evans .i often give out about him. But hes been outstanding last few games. Thumbs up to capt morsey and chppers and walton. We arent going to win em all but we were rode today lets get our own back next Saturday. 💙

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hyperbrit added 18:22 - Aug 27 we need to get used to playing against 12 men in this league.
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ITFC_Singapore added 18:22 - Aug 27 Some things to like and some things not to like today. Played some good stuff in patches and Evans was outstanding. One of the best centre mid performances in as long as i can remember. The 'marking' for the 2 goals conceded was embarrasingly bad though and we deserved to get punished. Yep, the Ref was shocking, not just for the Harness goal, but the whole game, but have to look at ourselves as well. Getting a bit tired of hearing that Ladapo 'works so hard'....i'd work hard if you gave me the shirt but you wouldn't want me out there. I hope he gets better, and i think he might, but looks poor so far and i don't think is the answer as first choice leading the line. Still an entertaining season so far !

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cat added 18:22 - Aug 27 Not quite on it today. Whether that was because the shape of the team weren't right up top, pish poor refereeing or a Barnsley team who pressed high and didn't let us settle remains to be seen. Either way a draw ain't all bad but it should have been better.
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RobsonWark added 18:23 - Aug 27 We were robbed of 2 points today by some very bad refereeing.
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ImAbeliever added 18:27 - Aug 27 Nice little free kick for first goal👏
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SpiritOfJohn added 18:28 - Aug 27 I felt that Kieran McKenna got it wrong by bringing Ladapo back at the expense of Harness, who looked very lively when he was introduced late on. One of the few mistakes our boss has made this campaign. Talking of mistakes, our marking at free-kicks and corners was woeful today, and still we are offering little aerial threat from our own set-pieces. We scored two good goals but then let Barnsley restore parity too easily. We started slowly and failed to move the ball forward at pace - failing to pick out the runs of Burns in particular. When Burns was finally able to burst down the right he was crudely held back and the linesman bizarrely flagged against the Ipswich man. One of the poorest decisions I had seen for some time, but only a precursor of what was to come late on when Harness battled his way through the red wall. On the plus side the transfer window is still open!

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steve_holmes27 added 18:29 - Aug 27 We might be 2nd, but it's already clear we won't finish in the top 6. The reality is we couldn't beat two very poor teams from our first three home games. Alarm bells should be ringing.....sadly KM will not be the man to get us out of this division this season. No, I'm not calling for him to go. But he'll need to buy a striker now and start looking to and at our youth development system. To bring our own players through the youth system is our only sustainable, long-term route back to the top. Our failure to do that explains why we have been so poor (i.e outside the Prem or even pushing to go up from the Championship) for so long. We stopped developing our own and our demise is directly linked to that.

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EssexTractor added 18:32 - Aug 27 In fairness over the 90 minutes , disappointing though it was , we didn't truly derserve to win , because despite scoring two excellent goals , we conceded two poor goals. The referee made a series of questionable decisions, but I have not seen the Harness effort apart from the moment it actually happened when both players were jostling together. So would need to see it again before deciding whether to throw rotten tomatoes at Mr Martin . We did huff and puff , the fluency seen in previous matches was lacking , the ability to cross from the byline to provide chances for example for Ladapo to maybe show his real ability was absent . In defence playing out from the back is good when done with more menace,Barnsley's tactics did not allow us to do that with any great success , and so several moments could have produced real danger for us , as would happen against much sharper, much better teams than Barnsley . I spoke to a Barnsley supporter before the match who said he and his other 612 travelling supporters felt they had a game plan against us and would be very happy to not lose. It worked unfortunately , against not pretty opposition , but to get out of this League there will be other days like this Kieran has to make us more cutthroat in such circumstances , for although not being dominant, having gone 2-1 ahead at home before 25,001 spectators Ipswich Town should not have dropped two points. MOTM ..Chaplin ..simply because he scored an excellent goal from a free kick.

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EssexTractor added 18:38 - Aug 27 PS Have just seen it again Rotten tomatoes for Mr Martin !!!
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Billysherlockblue added 18:42 - Aug 27 Steve were joint top. Still early days. They never looked like winning. They will win 50 per cent of their games. We will make top 6 on this form and we will improve. I believe we will be 1st or 2nd this year. Kmk is going to get us out of league 1 for that im sure. Ladipo not his best game but has been well up to standard. We're all entitled to opinions . Ive been harsh on certain players from time to time which was justified at that time but have had to eat humble pie later on. For example evans.

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Orraman added 18:48 - Aug 27 In his pre match press conference, Kieran said that having studied Barnsley, he could see a lot of Cheltenham tactics in their play following the move to Barnsley by their manager. He was spot on there!! The now common tactics of time wasting, body checking and falling over syndrome that seems to affect so many players now was evident from early on. The s**t teams in this league must have some great physios as the power or recovery is somewhat akin to a biblical miracle. As if all that wasn't bad enough we also have to contend with referees today. As different as chalk and cheese from the MK Dons ref to whom I awarded an 8 in the match ratings. If that guy can do it surely there must be others who can

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Bert added 18:50 - Aug 27 Not at our best today but deserved to take all three points. Their goalkeeper saved Barnsley, the outfield players seemed to like sniffing the grass and the referee must have been on something because his decision making was so poor. No wonder boring Barnsleywere relegated but we have to be a bit wiser when confronted with such teams. That said, when we have to play the referee as well it dies make it a tad harder to win. Boring boring Barnsley.

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grow_our_own added 18:55 - Aug 27 "Thank you ! Well said. If I was that incompetent at work I'd be sacked." - this is the one of the main reasons to want to get into the Prem. Game-deciding ref errors happen much less frequently, thanks to (takes cover) VAR. High-stakes sport shouldn't be decided by ref human-error. These things don't even themselves out over a season.
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Linkboy13 added 19:02 - Aug 27 Bit of a mixed bag today superb entertainment. We looked good going forward but Barnsley always looked like scoring against our unusually shaky defence. We even went 2 1 up against the run of play. Not really sure yet what Ladapo's strengths are at the moment but it's early days so he might come good. He's got a good record but players don't get picked on reputation im afraid . Dispite not looking our usual solid self we still should have won this game. Evans MOM for me.

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