Tom Lawrence scored twice to take his tally for the season to 10 - and eight in his last eight games - as Town drew 2-2 at home to Reading. The Blues will feel they deserved to claim the three points against an under par Royals side who levelled twice through Jordon Mutch and then Jordan Obita.
Steven Taylor and Emyr Huws were both handed their Town debuts as Mick McCarthy made five changes from the team that lost 3-0 at home to Derby County on Tuesday.
Josh Emmanuel, Toumani Diagouraga, making his first appearance at Portman Road, and David McGoldrick returned to the XI with the Blues again lining up in a 3-5-2 system.
The Royals made two changes from the team which won 1-0 at Birmingham in midweek with debutant Jordon Mutch and Yann Kermorgant, who had been out with a calf injury, coming into the team for Roy Beerens and George Evans.
Town, with Taylor playing in the middle of the central three with skipper Luke Chambers to his right and Christophe Berra to his left, started well and created the game’s first opening in the fourth minute.
Emmanuel beat his man on the right before cutting in and hitting a low shot towards Royals keeper Ali Al-Habsi’s near post but the keeper read it and saved.
While it was a clever effort which showed that the 19-year-old has the self-confidence to take the initiative, the right wing-back probably should have cut the ball back to his waiting team-mates.
On eight Cole Skuse underwent treatment after suffering a leg injury challenging Mutch on eight but carried on.
The Blues continued to look the better side, having most of the ball against a Reading side known for keeping possession for very long spells under Dutch manager Jaap Stam.
In the 11th minute, Lawrence sent in a dangerous freekick from deep on the right which flew just beyond Taylor and dropped just behind Berra, who was unable to get on to the loose ball before it was cleared.
Town went close again in the 20th minute when Huws broke forward and fed Diagouraga on the edge of the area after referee Geoff Eltringham had played a good advantage, Lawrence having been fouled.
The Frenchman might have shot but fed Emmanuel to his right. The wing-back exchanged passes with Huws, crossed and Jonas Knudsen flicked a header wide at the far post.
As Reading prepared to take the goalkick Skuse was replaced by Grant Ward, the Bristolian not having recovered from his earlier knock.
The visitors created their first opening of the game on 23, Garath McCleary sending in a low cross from the left which the sliding John Swift could only divert well over the bar.
Town were playing some good stuff at times with new recruits Huws and Diagouraga both impressing in midfield and Ward having settled into the game quickly.
But on the half hour Reading might have claimed an undeserved lead when a loose ball fell to Kermorgant on the edge of the box but his low shot was easy for Bartosz Bialkowski in the Town goal.
However, most of the game was still being played in the Reading half of the field and in the 34th minute Huws struck a sharp shot from distance which was hit powerfully but too close to Al-Habsi.
Huws made the pass of the game in the 38th minute, playing a 25-yard ball inside a Reading defender for Knudsen to run on to, but Al-Habis had come off his line quickly and blocked as the Dane looked either to shoot or cut across to McGoldrick.
The Irish international chased the loose ball but Al-Habsi reached it first and put it out of play off the Town number 10.
Reading were starting to have more of the ball but on 43 the Blues scored the goal their first-half performance had fully deserved and the goalscorer was no surprise.
Huws brought the ball out of defence to halfway before playing a pass into the path of Lawrence to his right. The on-loan Leicester man brought the ball forward, cut into the area, sold a couple of dummies and lashed a brilliant strike into the net off the underside of the bar.
A man in form! 🔥 @Official_ITFC midfielder @TomLawrence99 ends a counter attack with a confident finish off the underside of the bar. pic.twitter.com/rUQ4mESQ64– Football On 5 (@FootballOn5) February 4, 2017
It was yet another contender in the Welshman’s personal Goal of the Season competition owed a lot to Huws, who had quickly won over the Blues’ support with his first-half display.
Reading immediately looked to get back into it, Liam Kelly shooting over after McCleary’s cross had deflected out to him on the edge of the box, but in injury time the Blues came closer to adding to their lead.
Huws sent over a corner from the right and an unmarked Taylor rose high at the far post to nod down but across the face of goal.
Soon after, referee Eltringham’s whistle was greeted by warm applause from the Town faithful after the Blues’ best 45 minutes at Portman Road in some while.
Town had looked a completely different side to the one which was so comprehensively beaten by Derby on Tuesday and a second goal, had Taylor’s header bounced the other side of the post, wouldn’t have flattered them against a Reading team which had only shown fleeting signs of getting their passing going.
Lawrence’s goal and Huws’s debut were probably the main half-time talking points but Emmanuel and McGoldrick were also among those to have caught the eye, while Taylor had provided much-needed leadership and talking at the back.
Ahead of the second half, Reading switched Swift, who had a trial with Town during his Chelsea days with a view to a loan move, for former Norwich man Lewis Grabban.
Town began the second half as they had ended the first, McGoldrick hitting a cross-shot from a tight angle on the right into the side-netting, then shooting wide when cutting in from the other flank.
Lawrence came inches from netting his second of the game in the 50th minute when he brought the ball in from the right and hit a low curling strike, which just flew the wrong side of Al Habsi’s left post.
Town had started the half on top but in the 53rd minute the Royals got back on terms with their first attack since the restart.
With Chambers grounded after challenging with Kermorgant on halfway, the Blues were left short of men in the box when Jordan Obita cut the ball back from the left to an unmarked Mutch, who took his time before hitting a low shot past Bialkowski to claim a debut goal.
Danny Williams hit a shot which Bialkowski did well to palm wide to his left soon after the goal as the Royals briefly threatened to get on top, but Town quickly reasserted their superiority.
On 56 Lawrence cut in from the left and hit a shot which was blocked, McGoldrick and Ward having subsequent efforts deflected away from goal, while Diagouraga looked to have been tripped as he sought to get on a loose ball but referee Eltringham waved away muted protests.
Town maintained the pressure by winning two more corners but were unable to create another opportunity until the hour mark when McGoldrick broke away on the left and hit a low shot which Al-Habsi saved down to his right.
Moments later, the Irish international conjured a little bit of magic to create Lawrence’s second of the afternoon to restore Town’s lead, threading through an inch-perfect pass for the Welshman to take on into the area and slip past Al Habsi to take his season’s total into double figures.
Reading began to dominate possession as the game moved into its final 35 minutes but without looking particularly dangerous until 69 when McCleary was found in space on the right and whipped over a cross which Taylor superbly flicked past his own far post with Kelly behind him probably already celebrating heading the equaliser.
Town might have made it 3-1 in the 77th minute when Diagouraga sent Lawrence away down the left and the two-goal frontman found strike partner McGoldrick in space on the right of the area. The former Forest man’s first touch let him down and he took the ball too wide. However, he got in a cross but one which no Blues player was able to profit.
And three minutes later the Royals got back on terms for the second time. A corner on the right was cleared and Obita smashed an unstoppable low 25-yard strike just inside Bialkowski’s right post.
The goal was harsh on the Blues, who weren’t too far away from going back in front as the game moved into its final 10 minutes, Lawrence hitting a 20-yard freekick just over. Moments later, Grabban was booked for a foul on Knudsen.
As Al-Habsi prepared to take the goalkick, Teddy Bishop and Jordan Spence replaced the tiring Diagouraga and Huws in the Town midfield, while Reading switched George Evans for Kelly.
The Royals put the Blues under a brief spell of pressure with Chambers, Emmanuel and Taylor all making important interceptions, then in the final minute of scheduled time Lawrence played a clever freekick to McGoldrick into the right of the area, the Town number 10 crossed but no one was breaking into the six-yard box to add the final touch.
The Blues were the side pressing for a winner in injury time with Knudsen - who was booked late on for catching Kermorgant in an aerial challenge - sending in dangerous long throws from both sides but the match ended in a draw.
However, there was applause rather than boos from the home support, who had loudly got behind their side throughout and stayed on to give their team a warm ovation.
Despite not taking all three points the Blues had been as good as at any time this season and were unfortunate not to claim the win.
While Reading’s first equaliser was well-worked, the second came out of out of virtually nothing with the Royals rarely looking like a side which is third in the Championship.
There were excellent performances throughout the Town side with Lawrence continuing his unplayable form, taking both his goals superbly and looking to shoot at pretty much every available opportunity.
McGoldrick also put in one of his best displays of this season, and claimed his best assist, while Huws and Diagouraga were both hugely impressive in the second half, although perhaps inevitably tired after the break.
But all in all a much, much better afternoon at Portman Road and one which gave hope of a significant improvement during the remaining months of the season.
The result moves the Blues up to 15th but now only eight points off the bottom three with Blackburn and Burton both winning.
Town: Bialkowski, Emmanuel, Taylor, Chambers (c), Berra, Knudsen, Skuse (Ward 21), Diagouraga (Spence (82), Huws (Bishop 82), Lawrence, McGoldrick. Unused: Gerken, Pitman, Sears, Moore.
Reading: Al-Habsi, Gunter (c), Obita, Moore, Blackett, Swift (Grabban 46), Williams, Kelly (Evans, 83), Mutch, McCleary, Kermorgant. Unused: Jaakkola, Beerens, Meite, Popa, Oxford. Referee: Geoff Eltringham (County Durham). Att: 15,091 (Reading: 558).