Two Aaron Drinan goals weren’t enough to prevent Town’s U23s from falling to a 3-2 defeat to Leeds United at Portman Road.
Drinan’s second-half header gave Ipswich a way back into the game after goals either side of the break from Sam Dalby saw Ipswich go 2-0 down.
However, the visitors replied immediately to restore their two-goal gap, with Drinan’s second of the game in the 76th minute turning out to be a consolation.
Leeds created the first chance of the game with Mager Gomes picking out the run of Bryce Hossanah down the right wing.
The full-back did well to find Alejandro Machuca with a low ball across the box, but his side-footed shot went high over the bar.
The young Blues retaliated soon after with a flowing attacking move of their own. Ben Morris surged down the left touchline towards the box before playing a well-measured pass to Ben Folami, who out-muscled his man and hit a low shot across the goal that went just wide of the right post.
With both teams threatening it was the visitors that went in front in the 18th minute. Dalby was lucky to receive the ball after Tyler Denton lunged into a challenge with Corrie Ndaba, with the ball falling to the feet of the striker in the area, and he turned and struck a shot across goal and into the top right corner.
A second goal almost followed two minutes later but a fantastic reflex save from Nick Hayes saw the keeper claw the ball off the line from Gomes’s close-range shot.
Conor McKendry’s near post corner from the right gave Folami the opportunity to head Ipswich level, but the Australian striker headed wide of the post with Leeds goalkeeper Kamil Miazek missing the ball as he rushed out to collect.
Some loose play from Ndaba gifted Leeds a chance in the 33rd minute and the Blues were fortunate that Jack Clark lacked composure in front of goal, hitting wide of the right post.
Ipswich were still trying to find a way to level as the first half approached its closing stages and Drinan came close with a long-range effort that forced Miazek to tip over for a corner.
It only took seven second-half minutes for Leeds to double their lead. A long ball over the top into space was met by Dalby who took it into the area whilst holding off his man before striking low past Hayes into the bottom left corner.
The two-goal deficit was reduced in the 57th minute with a fantastic header at the near post from Drinan going across Miazek and into the left side of the goal from McKendry’s corner.
Less than a minute later the two-goal gap was reinstated, however. Machuca broke into the left side of the box and firmly hit the ball low past Hayes into the bottom right corner.
A further 20 minutes passed until Town’s next significant attack, and it was built by a powerful Folami run down the left wing that ended with him cutting the ball back to Drinan in the area. The striker took a touch to evade a sliding defender then powerfully fired it into the net.
Among the subs for the Blues, who were watched by manager Mick McCarthy, was trialist Ryley Scott, who was most recently with West Ham's academy set-up, but the central midfielder, who also featured for the U18s in Saturday’s abandoned game against Huddersfield, had a quiet 20 minutes.
U23s: Hayes, El Mizouni (Brown 71), Goteni (C), Clements, Kenlock, Ndaba, Sagaf (Scott 71), Folami, McKendry (Knight 71), Morris, Drinan. Unused: Wright, Foudil.