Freddie Sears struck the post and Leon Best and Cole Skuse both had the ball cleared off the line in a frantic final few minutes but Town had to be content with a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa at Portman Road. Until the closing stages it had been a close game of few chances but in the end the Blues were unlucky not to claim all three points.
Freddie Sears and Tom Lawrence replaced Kevin Bru and Conor Grant, who both dropped to the bench, in an otherwise unchanged side. Lawrence started in the hole behind Brett Pitman with Sears on the left.
Villa, who made four changes from the side which drew 1-1 at home to Brentford in midweek, were without striker Ross McCormack, due to a knee problem, while fellow frontman Rudy Gestede also missed out.
Right-back Ritchie De Laet was another absentee as he requires a knee operation, while Aly Cissokho dropped to the bench. Nathan Baker, Leandro Bacuna, Jordan Amivi and Jack Grealish all came into the starting line-up.
Villa started on top and in only the second minute Jordan Amavi sent a dangerous ball from the left across the Blues’ six-yard box but no one was on hand to add a touch.
Town’s first chance came in the fourth minute when Pitman hit a shot from outside the area which Villa keeper Pierluigi Gollini palmed behind.
Lawrence took the resultant corner, which dropped on the edge of the six-yard box but fortunately for the visitors not to a Blue shirt.
However, Villa were looking the more dangerous side in the opening minutes and on 12 Jack Grealish cut in from the left and saw his shot blocked.
On 17 Sears felt he should have been awarded a penalty when challenged on the left of the area, then a minute later the former West Ham man struck a shot from just outside the area but too close to Gollini.
The Blues were beginning to get on top, winning a number of corners and throws on the left.
In the 19th minute Pitman flicked a header on to Lawrence, who had found space in the the area, but Baker got across quickly to block the full debutant’s strike.
Six minutes later Lawrence picked the ball up after a spell of head tennis midway inside the Villa half. The Wales international took it on a couple of paces before hitting a powerful shot not too far past Gollini’s left post.
Villa were forced into a change in the 28th minute when Baker suffered a knock and was replaced by former England man Micah Richards with the visitors moving into a back three.
As half-time approached the Midlanders were having most of the ball but without being able to create an opening with too many crosses from the left hit too long.
On 41 Sears was sent away on the right of the Villa area by Lawrence but hit his shot into the side-netting from a tight angle when he ought to have waited for a team-mate and crossed. A minute later, Sears was again found in a similar area but this time looped his cross deep to no one.
With a couple of minutes of scheduled time remaining Pitman did well to dispossess James Chester in the area and win a corner. Following Lawrence’s flag-kick Ward hit a shot which was blocked, then at the other end Grealish shot wide.
After a minute of added time referee Tony Harrington ended what had been an evenly balanced first half.
Both sides had had spells on top but with neither able to force a serious opportunity to take the lead.
Villa, and Grealish in particularly, had looked dangerous around the Blues’ box but similarly Sears and Lawrence had shown their willingness to shoot in the final third.
Sears sent over a cross from the left four minutes after the restart but too long for Ward.
On 52 Lawrence was booked which the referee indicated was for the latest in a succession of fouls.
Four minutes later Ward won a freekick on the right and Lawrence sent over a ball which flicked off a Villa head before reaching Jonathan Douglas, who was unable to divert goalwards.
There was a big scare for the Blues on 57 when Jordan Ayew latched onto Luke Chambers’s weak backpass and rounded the advancing Bialkowski but Webster got back to slide in and brilliantly take the ball away from the striker.
Teddy Bishop replaced Lawrence a minute later with the loanee applauded off warmly after a very promising first appearance for the Blues at Portman Road.
Almost immediately Bishop was involved in a nasty clash of heads with Ashley Westwood and the pair both required lengthy treatment, the Town sub for a nosebleed, before carrying on.
Grealish cut on from the left and hit a shot which Christophe Berra blocked and Jonas Knudsen turned behind on 67, before Cissokho replaced Amavi for the visitors.
Villa were awarded a freekick on the right not far outside the area on 73 after Berra had tripped Ayew. The initial set piece was cleared by Pitman and Town players blocked three subsequent Villa shots at goal.
Soon after, Jonathan Kodjia was yellow-carded as the Blues prepared to take a freekick, presumably for something he said.
In the 80th minute Pitman smashed a 25-yard freekick straight at the wall, then Berra headed Knudsen’s ball in from the left from a subsequent freekick wide at the far post. Villa switched Bacuna for Albert Adomah for the final eight minutes.
A minute later Bishop found himself some space on the Town right and sent a low ball across the area but behind his team-mates, then at the other end Webster, who put in another impressive display at the back, took the ball off Ayew after he had broken into a dangerous area from the left and looked set to shoot.
As the game moved into its final three minutes Luke Varney replaced Pitman and Leon Best was handed his Town debut in place of Bishop.
The former Newcastle man immediately won a freekick not far outside the area from which the Blues almost took the lead. Sears curled a shot which caught the wall and just flew wide before hitting the stanchion.
From the resultant corner the Blues went close again, Best heading powerfully towards goal and Kodjia nodding off the line and over.
Deep in eight minutes of injury time Varney won another freekick in almost the same spot as the one moments earlier. Again Sears took the kick and this time Gollini impressively got across to his right to paw the ball behind for a corner.
From the resultant flag-kick the Blues went close yet again. The ball reached Skuse on the edge of the area on the right and his chip was nodded off the line by Cissokho.
Unbelievably Town went even closer before the whistle. Sears cutting in from the left and hitting a low shot which struck the post.
The unlucky frontman, who is now without a goal in 34 games, sent over a late freekick but too deep and not long afterwards referee Harrington blew his final whistle.
Town had been very unfortunate not to win it in a frantic end in which the ball was cleared off the line twice, Sears had struck the post and had twice gone close from freekicks.
Prior to the final minutes the half had been much the same as the first with neither keeper particularly busy.
Villa, whose best chance was Ayew’s one-on-one, failed to hit a single shot on target in the entire game.
However, in the end the Villans will have been glad to hear the final whistle while Town will have been confident of winning it had the match lasted a few more minutes.
The Blues are now 11th but only two points behind Brentford and Brighton in fifth and sixth.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Webster, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Lawrence (Bishop 58 (Best 87)), Ward, Sears, Pitman (Varney 87). Unused: Gerken, Kenlock, Bru, Grant.
Aston Villa: Gollina, Bacuna (Adomah 82), Elphick (c), Chester, Baker (Richards 28), Amavi (Cissokho 67), Westwood, Jedinak, Grealish, Ayew, Kodjia. Unused: Bunn, Kozak, Hutton, Gardner. Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland). Att: 19,249. (Villa: 1,882).