Striker Jack Marriott was on target but a strong Blues U21 side could only draw 1-1 with a more inexperienced Bristol City team at Portman Road.
The Blues, who are still without a win this season, went ahead in the fourth minute from the game’s first serious attempt on goal, Jack Marriott curling the ball beyond Robins keeper Max O’Leary and into the corner of the net after an error by Jack Batten.
Town continued to dominate the opening stages against a less experienced visiting outfit and for a while it looked like it was going to be a case of how many the Blues might score. On seven skipper Carlos Edwards crossed from the left but too far behind the waiting Town strikers.
Edwards, who was in his usual right midfield role, lashed wide, then Wes Burns, who scored a hat-trick against Town’s U18s last season and was one of two Robins with first team experience, sent a dangerous ball across the Blues’ area but behind his team-mates.
Kayode Bola picked up the game’s first yellow card in the 29th minute for an agricultural lunge on Jordan Adekunle with the left winger in full flight. Edwards’s freekick beat everyone and O’Leary claimed.
After the early goal Town had become somewhat over-casual and in the 31st minute they were almost made to pay. Tyrone Mings, at left-back with David October and Frederic Veseli in the centre, tried to play his way out of trouble but gave the ball away. Burns was found in space by a cross-field ball but lashed his shot well over.
Three minutes later, Blues keeper Michael Crowe made a superb instinct save from Lewis Hall with the visitors now on top.
Town gradually got back on top and came close to going 2-0 in front in the 44th minute when Bola got under a ball down the left and Marriott cut it back to Adekunle. His goal-bound strike was blocked on the line by a combination of Nouble and Robins defender Pierce Mitchell.
The Blues just about deserved their lead at the break, although the performance had gone off the boil after they had gone in front in the opening minutes with too many players appearing to believe that the game was going to be rather easier than in proved.
However, by the end there was more purpose about their play and Adekunle was unfortunate not to add the second towards the end.
Burns hit an early second-half strike over for the visitors, then Nouble cut in from the left and hit a low shot which O’Leary saved down to his right.
The Robins ought to have been back on terms in the 50th minute when Omagbulahan Ariyibi brought the ball in from the left but scraped wide when one on one with Crowe.
Amir Berkane shot wide for the Blues, then at the other end Ariyibi scraped an effort past Crowe’s right post.
Bristol City got back on terms in the 67th minute with the goal having more than an element of good fortune about it. Lewis Hall’s freekick from wide on the right appeared to be an overhit cross but it ended up looping over Crowe — who conceded a not dissimilar goal in the recent U18s draw with Huddersfield — and into the net.
Burns was booked for an obvious dive soon after, then was given a final warning for a foul on Blues sub Mark Timlin.
The visitors were good for their lead having been the better side since the break with the Blues far less impressive than they ought to have been given the personnel on show.
Sub Matt Clarke headed just over from Timlin’s knockback in the 83rd minute as Town looked to get back ahead.
Nouble thought he’d scored two minutes later from Edwards’s cross after good work from Clarke, but the linesman’s flag was raised.
First-year scholar Clarke had livened things up since his introduction and on 88 headed through to O’Leary shortly after Tabb had slammed a shot against the wall following a rather over-worked freekick on the edge of the box.
In injury time, Nouble almost won it. Edwards crossed from the right and the striker volleyed the ball goalwards only for O’Leary to react quickly to divert it over the bar. From the corner, Nouble headed wide.
Manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor, who watched from the stands won’t have been too impressed with the performance given the inexperience of the Bristol City line-up, who were worth their point.
None of the senior players involved particularly made a case for their inclusion in Saturday’s first team at Bolton.
U21s: Crowe, Hewitt, Mings, Berkane (M Clarke 78), Veseli, October, Edwards (c), Tabb, Marriott, Nouble, Adkunle (Timlin 63). Unused: McDermid, Winter, Doherty.
Bristol City: O’Leary, Mitchell, King (Fry 87), Mufuta (c),Bola, Batten, Ajala, Hall, Burns, Morrell, Ariyibi. Unused: Fry, Withey, Bishop, Castenheira.