Sheffield Wednesday keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell gifted the Blues a last-gasp leveller as Town and the Owls drew 1-1 at Portman Road. Dennis Adeniran gave the visitors the lead in the 26th minute and the South Yorkshiremen looked set to claim all three points until the final minute when Macauley Bonne hid behind Peacock-Farrell, stole the ball off him and Conor Chaplin netted his first goal for the Blues.
Idris El Mizouni was handed his first league start of the season as skipper Lee Evans missed out, manager Paul Cook having said a mystery member of last week’s team had picked up a knock at his pre-match press conference in addition to left-back Hayden Coulson.
Academy product El Mizouni joined Tom Carroll in the centre of midfield with Rekeem Harper on the bench.
In Evans’s absence, striker Macauley Bonne wore the captain’s armband for his hometown club for the first time.
Former Owl Matt Penney came in for the injured Coulson at left-back with Town otherwise unchanged from last week’s 1-0 win at Lincoln.
Vaclav Hladky continued in goal with Christian Walton, who has an adductor problem, again missing from the 18, along with winger Kyle Edwards.
For Wednesday, Marvin Johnson and Lewis Wing came into the side for Jack Hunt and Chey Dunkley, who dropped to the bench. Ex-Blues loanee Dominic Iorfa started at the centre of the Owls defence.
Ahead of kick-off, Town took a knee, with the exception of Celina, to applause from the Portman Road crowd.
Bonne should have scored his sixth goal of his loan spell in only the third minute when he was played in behind the Wednesday backline by Carroll with the Owls appealing for offside but with no flag forthcoming. The stand-in Blues skipper had only keeper Peacock-Farrell to beat but having taken plenty of time over the opportunity, shot into the on-loan Burnley man’s midriff.
Town were on top in the early stages and in the ninth minute Scott Fraser sent Wes Burns away down the right and the Welshman sent a low cross-shot beyond Peacock-Farrell’s right post.
On 15, with Wednesday having given the ball away cheaply whenever venturing into the Town half, Burns headed a Fraser free-kick from the left into Peacock-Farrell’s arms at the far post.
The Blues thought they’d gone in front in the 19th minute when Burns found the net from close range but with the linesman’s flag raised. Fraser had crossed from the left after El Mizouni had found Bonne with a clever first-time pass out to the left.
Wednesday, who had seen a lot of the ball but without doing anything with it, began to come more into the game as an attacking threat and on 26 struck their first shot, a low Lee Gregory effort from the edge of the area, after Penney had slipped, which Hladky claimed with little fanfare.
The Owls kept the Blues pinned back in their half and a minute later they went in front. After Town had repeatedly failed to clear, Gregory knocked down to Adeniran, who looped a shot from the edge of the box into the top corner beyond Hladky.
The visitors continued to see most of the ball following the goal but in the 35th minute the Blues threatened through Bonne, who received a pass from Carroll and cut inside Sam Hutchinson just outside the area and was felled, however, referee Andy Davies inexplicably allowed play to continue.
Wednesday immediately broke up the other end and goalscorer Adeniran might have scored his second of the afternoon but shot over from just outside the box when he will feel he ought to at least have hit the target.
On 38, with a subsequent free-kick having gone against the Blues in the Wednesday half and with the crowd making no secret of their opinion of the officiating, referee Davies went over to the touchline to have words with Town manager Paul Cook, who had presumably said something untoward to the fourth official.
Two minutes later, Carroll headed wide from outside the area after a corner from the right - won after a Burns cross had been deflected behind - had been half-cleared.
As half-time approached, Town were very much on top again and on 43 El Mizouni curled over from just outside the box to the right after good work from Celina and Burns.
A handful of boos were drowned out by applause at the break with the Blues not deserving to go in behind.
Other than a short spell in the middle of the half in which Wednesday scored, Town had been on top and looking the most likely scorers.
Bonne will have rued his early miss and Town ought to have made their time on top tell before they were again made to pay for less than impressive defending.
Ex-Owl Penney worked an opening on the left with Celina two minutes after the restart but his cross flew over the bar and out.
On 50 Celina played a clever reverse ball for Burns to chase into the left of the area. The former Fleetwood man cut back to Fraser but the Scot was unable to get in a shot.
Three minutes later, Burns tried to burst past Johnson but unlike in most of his previous Town matches was up against a full-back similarly blessed for pace and the Welshman was hustled off the ball. A foul claimed the Sir Bobby Robson Stand but more in hope than expectation.
In the 57th minute Burgess played a loose pass which allowed Gregory a run at goal from just inside the Town half but the Blues defender got back to rectify his error.
The Owls claimed a penalty in the 61st minute when Liam Palmer went to ground as he took the ball past Penney on the right of the area. Neither referee Davies nor his linesman reacted and the Town defender had appeared to pull out of his challenge before the Wednesday man fell.
The South Yorkshiremen lost key midfield man Barry Bannan to a knock in the 66th minute, the Scottish international’s treatment and replacement taking an age as the visitors sought to waste time. Callum Paterson took over.
In the 68th minute, a mix-up in the Wednesday defence presented the ball to Bonne on the left of the area but his well-struck shot failed to test Peacock-Farrell. A minute later, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru replaced Olamide Shodipo for the Owls.
Town had been on top for most of the half but without creating much in the way of chances with the tempo having dropped and Portman Road somewhat flatter than earlier in the afternoon.
It was no surprise when manager Cook made a double change in the 75th minute, swapping Celina and Burns for Harper and Conor Chaplin.
The substitutions seemed to give the Blues renewed impetus and on 77 Fraser found Bonne in space on the right of the box but his effort at goal was diverted behind by Hutchinson. Following the resultant corner, Penney crossed from the left and Burgess nodded wide.
El Mizouni was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Johnson in the 79th minute and while the Wednesday man was undergoing treatment was replaced by Joe Pigott to applause from the home support having put in a decent display.
Penney blazed high and wide after a clearance came out to him on the left in the 83rd minute with the Blues not looking particularly like getting back into the game. At the other end, Paterson shot wide before Chey Dunkley took over from Saido Berahino for the Owls.
It was looking like it would be a second home defeat in a row for the Blues until the final scheduled minute when Wednesday gifted Town an equaliser.
Bonne hid behind Peacock-Farrell as he prepared to kick the ball clear, then stole it from the keeper after he had dropped it. The striker showed great composure to keep it away from Peacock-Farrell and find Fraser, who in turn cut across the area to Chaplin, who tapped home his first goal for the club from close range. Town celebrated as Peacock-Farrell hid is face in his hands.
The goal gave Town renewed momentum and they might have scored a second deep in injury time when Harper brought the ball forward but shot weakly to the keeper when he ought to have played a pass to Bonne in space to his right, much to his skipper’s frustration.
Moments later, Fraser was booked for a foul on Palmer before the whistle confirmed that the points were shared.
Having been been unfortunate to be behind at the break, the Blues saw a lot of the ball in the second without laying a glove on the visitors. But for Bonne’s cunning and guile and Peacock-Farrell being unaware of the Town striker, it’s difficult to see where the equaliser might have come from.
But come it did and the draw sees the Blues, who are still to win consecutive games under manager Cook, drop only one place to 21st with bottom club Doncaster at Portman Road on Tuesday.
Town: Hladky, Donacien, Edmundson, Burgess, Penney, Carroll, El Mizouni (Pigott 81), Burns (Chaplin 75), Celina (Harper 75), Fraser, Bonne (c). Unused: Holy, Woolfenden, Vincent-Young, Aluko.
Sheffield Wednesday: Peacock-Farrell, Palmer, Hutchinson, Iorfa, Shodipo (Dele-Bashiru 69), Adeniran, Gregory, Bannan (c) (Paterson 66), Johnson, Berahino (Dunkley 85), Wing. Unused: Wildsmith, Brown, Hunt, Sow. Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire). Att: 21,338 (Wednesday: 1,896).