Free-kicks from Nathan Broadhead and Leif Davis either side of half-time saw Town come from 2-0m behind to draw 2-2 with Sheffield Wednesday at Portman Road. Conor Chaplin missed a 19th-minute penalty for the Blues before Michael Smith and George Byers netted on 27 and 34 to give the Owls, who went into the match top of League One, a commanding lead but Broadhead’s brilliant free-kick in the 43rd minute and Davis’s deflected strike six minutes after the restart claimed a point for the Blues, who subsequently looked the more likely to grab a winner.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made four changes from the team which drew 1-1 at Cambridge United last week.
Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess returned at the back for Richard Keogh and George Edmundson, who dropped out of the squad, while Cameron Humphreys started in midfield for the injured Lee Evans.
George Hirst was the central striker against the club where he started his career and where his father David was a legend in the eighties and nineties with Freddie Ladapo on the bench.
Wes Burns was fit enough to start wide on the right having been a doubt ahead of the game.
Town’s other former Wednesday man, midfielder Massimo Luongo, missed out on a place in the 18 having been another concern going into the match.
The Owls made one change from the team which beat Plymouth 1-0 last week with goalscorer Callum Paterson injured and Akin Famewo coming into the side. Former Town loanees David Stockdale and Tyreeq Bakinson were on the Owls’ bench.
The Blues struck the game’s first shot in the eighth minute, Broadhead cutting back from the left towards Chaplin but a defender just did enough as the Blues’ 15-goal top scorer shot to take the sting out of his effort which bounced harmlessly through to Owls keeper Cameron Dawson.
The visitors created their first chance two minutes later, Smith smashing well over the bar after chesting down Byers’s pass.
Town continued to see most of the ball and as the game past the quarter-hour mark the Blues won two corners in quick succession.
And from the second, the Blues were awarded a penalty. As the ball was played short, Burns was sent to the floor by Marvin Johnson and the linesman waved his flag frantically to indicate a foul. Referee Geoff Eltringham discussed the matter with his assistant at length before pointing to the spot but didn't show a card as they were unable to identify which player had thrown the elbow.
Chaplin was charged with taking the kick - Hirst having tried to grab the ball before the referee had even confirmed the award - hit it down the middle and the keeper saved with his trailing feet as dived to his left.
Town were to rue the miss eight minutes later when Wednesday took the lead. Following a quickly-taken free-kick on the left, Josh Windass was played into space down the flank with the Blues sleeping. The former Rangers man crossed and Smith glanced a deftly-guided header over and across Christian Walton into the top corner of the net.
Seven minutes after the first goal, the Owls made it 2-0. After Will Vaulks had been booked for time-wasting ahead of a free-kick on halfway, skipper Barry Bannan looped the ball into the box and as Davis and Windass challenged in the air, it fell loose to Byers on the edge of the area from where he hit a low shot past Walton and into the corner of the net.
Wednesday were almost handed a third in the 36th minute, Woolfenden gifting possession to Smith midway inside the Town half with Walton advanced from his goal. Fortunately for the Blues, the former Rotherham striker took the ball too wide and eventually Vaulks struck a low shot from the edge of the box which was straight at Walton.
The Blues’ support’s frustration with that incident, how the game had progressed and their team’s increasingly scrappy display was made clear, as it was when a number of subsequent passes went astray.
However, in the 42nd minute, the Blues pulled a goal back. Humphreys was tripped as he burst towards the area and Broadhead sent a powerful shot over the wall and into the top corner of the net to Dawson’s right.
The recent signing from Everton’s first goal for the club completely changed the mood around Portman Road and the previously deflated home fans roared their side on as the half entered its final minutes, Hirst breaking into the area on the right before hitting a shot against a defender.
Moments later, Burns was correctly penalised for a foul on Flint as a cross came over from the left and reached Hirst at the far post, the striker scuffing wide in any case.
Town ended the half in the ascendency with their fans continuing to give them their backing.
Up until Broadhead’s goal - and it’s difficult to recall a better Town free-kick since the days of Martijn Reuser - it had been something of a nightmare half for the Blues.
Town had started to look threatening when they were awarded the penalty but as so often this season the Blues failed to make the most of an opportunity with Chaplin’s spot-kick a poor one.
Wednesday, who had shown no threat up until that point, then went in front via Smith’s excellent header, although Blues boss McKenna will have been less than impressed with the lax defending following the quick free-kick.
Town defended similarly poorly to allow the Owls to go two in front and at that stage the game looked all over with Wednesday having a chance to make it three.
However, Broadhead’s goal changed the atmosphere around the game with the impetus with the Blues as the half-time whistle blew.
Three minutes after the restart, Morsy won a free-kick on the right. The ball was sent to the far post but Burgess just couldn’t reach it while battling with a defender.
The Blues were beginning the second half very brightly and in the 49th minute, Davis sent a dangerous ball across the area from the left but with no one there to add the final touch.
A minute later, Chaplin was tripped as he broke towards the area on the right, Byers picking up a yellow card as a result.
And from the free-kick, the Blues levelled. Davis smashed a shot which looked to be going beyond the far post but it clipped Byers on the way through and flew into the top corner to put the Blues back on terms, a position which had looked wholly unlikely in the minutes after the visitors’ second goal.
Having equalised, Town went looking for a third goal. On 55, Chaplin struck a remarkable volley back over his shoulder from the edge of the area after a corner had been cleared which he was unlucky to see fly straight to Dawson.
Six minutes later, Chaplin again sent the ball into Dawson’s arms, this time the diminutive forward having headed towards goal unchallenged from a Davis corner on the left.
On 65, Burns was played in on the right of the area and sent over a powerfully hit low cross which was cleared. Moments later, Hirst laid off to Chaplin on the edge of the box but the former Pompey man’s shot was blocked.
The Blues were dominating with the Owls unable to get out of their half. A minute later, Dawson claimed a Chaplin cross, Iorfa almost having clumsily felled the Town man as he broke towards the byline.
Town made a double change in the 69th minute, Ladapo and Marcus Harness replacing Hirst and Chaplin. Five minutes later, Wednesday swapped Windass for Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
Blues chances had become rarer but in the 75th minute Clarke unleashed a shot from well out on the right which landed on the roof of the net.
A minute later, the Owls threatened for the first time since the break. Flint was found unmarked on the right of the area from a free-kick. The 6ft 6in tall centre-half’s nod back from a tight angle was blocked but the ball ran back to him and he smashed a shot over the bar. It was a lucky escape for the Blues.
With 11 minutes remaining, Town switched Burns and Broadhead, who had been undergoing treatment on the pitch, for Kayden Jackson and Sone Aluko. Jackson quickly sent across two low balls from the right which were cut out.
On 86, the Blues replaced Davis with Greg Leigh, then two minutes later the Owls brought on Dennis Adeniran for Bannan.
The Blues found themselves under some pressure for the first time since the break as the game moved into five minutes of injury time with long throws coming in from both flanks which Town successfully defended.
After a long throw had been knocked back out to him, Clarke looped over a ball from the right which reached Ladapo but the striker scuffed his shot wide.
Humphreys saw a cross nodded away before referee Eltringham brought an entertaining game to a close.
While Town went into the game after the three points, from the position they found themselves in after 34 minutes, a 2-2 draw can’t be seen as anything other than a positive result, the game having followed a similar pattern to the game at Hillsborough earlier in the season when Wednesday came from two down to draw.
Having missed the penalty and after going behind, as at Cambridge last week, the Blues fell apart somewhat after conceding and gave away another poor goal.
Broadhead’s brilliant goal dragged Town back into it and in the second half, after Davis had levelled, there was only one team which looked likely to win it with all bar one of the chances created by the Blues.
The result sees Town stay third, now level on points with Bolton, who moved up to fourth following their 5-0 win at Peterborough, while Derby slip after losing 3-2 at Wycombe.
Wednesday are now second, still six points ahead of the Blues, two points behind Plymouth, who return to the top following their 3-1 victory over Portsmouth.
Town are back in action again when they travel to take on Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground on Tuesday.
Town: Walton, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns (Jackson 79), Humphreys, Morsy (c), Davis (Leigh 86), Chaplin (Harness 69), Broadhead (Aluko 79), Hirst (Ladapo 69). Unused: Hladky, Donacien, Leigh.
Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson, Palmer, Vaulks, Iorfa, Bannan (c) (Adeniran 88), Windass (Dele-Bashiru 74), Byers, Famewo, Johnson, Smith, Flint. Unused: Stockdale, Brown, Bakinson, Shipston, Fusire. Referee: Geoff Eltringham (County Durham). Att: 29,072 (Wednesday: 2,148).