Liam Feeney struck the post, Brett Pitman saw an effort cleared off the line and forced Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme into a superb second-half save but Town’s game at Molineux ended 0-0.

Town boss Mick McCarthy made two changes to the team which lost 1-0 at home to Rotherham a month ago with Feeney handed his first start and Ben Pringle returning to the team.

Luke Hyam dropped to the bench, while Daryl Murphy, who suffered a calf injury while away with the Republic of Ireland, remained behind in Suffolk. David McGoldrick was named amongst the subs for the first time since early December.

Teddy Bishop, yet to play a senior game this season, made the trip but wasn’t included in the matchday squad.

Feeney, a half-time sub against the Millers, started in a front three on the right of Pitman with Freddie Sears on the left. Pringle lined-up ahead of Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas in a central midfield three. Wolves similarly started in a 4-3-3 system.

The home side were first to threaten in the fifth minute after a mix-up between Douglas and Sears on halfway. Eventually, Conor Coady sent over a cross from the left but Bartosz Bialkowski got there ahead of George Saville and punched clear.

But the Blues had largely had the better of the opening minutes, with Feeney making a lively start, albeit without being able to create an opening.

On 11 Pringle crossed to Jonas Knudsen at the far post, but his knockdown just evaded Sears. Moments later, a Feeney cross from the right was half-cleared to the Dane but he scuffed his shot wide.

Feeney came within an inch or so of claiming his first goal for the Blues in the 18th minute when Pringle’s corner from the left was returned to the on-loan Fulham man. He played it inside to Feeney, who unleashed a powerful low strike which slammed against the outside of Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme’s right post and cannoned behind.

After Chambers had blocked from Jeremy Helan as he looked to cross from the Wolves left, Sears forced Ikeme to save his low shot having brought the ball inside from the left after being fed by Pitman.

There was a scare for the Blues on 24 when Bialkowski failed to claim Matt Doherty’s freekick from deep on the left. The loose ball fell to Wolves skipper Danny Batth but he was unable to get a clear sight of goal before the keeper regained his ground and the danger was cleared.

The home side were now starting to get on top and were looking the more threatening team and on 28 Helan crossed from the left and Knudsen was forced to nod behind at the far post with Bjorn Sigurdarson behind him. From the resultant corner, Batth escaped his man but was just unable to get his head on the ball.

On 34 Kortney Hause blocked from Feeney as he tried to turn a Knudsen cross towards goal, the on-loan Bolton man and Sears having swapped flanks.

Town should have gone in front in the 42nd minute when Hause allowed Pitman to steal the ball from him on the touchline on the right, not the first time the centre-half had been forced into a mistake by the Town striker.

Pitman brought the ball inside and tried to lift it over Ikeme from a very tight angle but the keeper looked to get enough on it to allow Hause to get back and clear off the line. Pitman held his head in his hands, knowing a better option was to have cut the ball across to Feeney on the edge of the six-yard box.

Town will have gone in at the break feeling they ought to have been in front, Feeney having hit the post and Pitman having created but then spurned the late opportunity.

The Blues had started strongly but without creating an opportunity until Feeney’s shot against the post. Wolves had a spell on top midway through the half, but Town had ended the period looking the more threatening side.

Wolves switched James Henry for Sigurdarson on the right of their front three ahead of the second half.

The Blues created the first opportunity after the restart, but Knudsen horribly shinned Sears’s cutback from the right well wide.

On 50 Feeney almost played in Pringle on the left but Henry got back to dispossess the midfielder, then three minutes later Sears shot not too far over from distance but with Pitman in space on the left of the area feeling the ex-Colchester man ought to have passed.

A minute later, Wolves created their first chance of the half, but Saville eventually scraped wide having initially appeared hesitant to shoot.

On 57 Henry escaped the attentions of Knudsen as the former Esbjerg man slipped but shot well over. Soon after Helan was replaced by Joe Mason as the home side switched to 4-4-2.

But Town continued to look the more dangerous side, Ikeme grabbing a low Feeney cross from the right, then on 66 the Nigerian international made the save of the game from Pitman.

Feeney whipped another ball over from the right, the Blues’ striker flicked a header at the near post and the keeper did superbly to get a hand down to his left to save.

In the 68th minute the Blues made a double change with Pringle and Pitman making way for Luke Varney and Kevin Bru, while Wolves switched Michal Zyro for Adam Le Fondre.

The Blues continued to look the most likely scorers with Skuse seeing a strike blocked, Varney heading another Feeney cross over, then both the Bolton loanee and sub Bru shooting straight at Wolves defenders.

The home side, whose fans had been berating them moments earlier for being “boring”, conjured a rare opportunity on 74 when Henry played in Doherty, but Bialkowski saved with his feet and Saville shot wide from the rebound.

With 12 minutes remaining, ex-Wolves defender Christophe Berra headed wide from Bru’s corner.

As the game moved into its final 10 minutes Bru won the ball midway inside the Wolves half as the home side broke following a Knudsen long throw. The Mauritius international exchanged passes with Sears before hitting a shot which looked to be going just wide before Ikeme palmed it out for a corner.

Berra wasn’t too far away from a goal against his old club on 82 when he headed a Bru corner towards goal only for Henry to clear.

Wolves began to have more of the ball in the final five minutes, Henry crossing towards Saville at the far post but the midfielder was unable to turn the ball goalwards. Soon after, Smith did well to get ahead of Henry as he broke into the area.

McGoldrick made his long-awaited return in the 87th minute as a sub for the tiring Feeney, then as the fourth official indicated four additional minutes Bialkowski rushed off his line to clear ahead of Le Fondre.

Deep in injury time, a Wolves corner from the right fell to Doherty but Chambers made a superb block. The ball was sent back into the area but it was headed wide. Soon after, referee Rob Lewis blew his final whistle to confirm the goalless draw.

Town will feel they probably had had enough chances to have won the game with Pitman’s opportunity before the break perhaps the best, while Ikeme did superbly to save the former Bournemouth man’s second-half header. At the other end, Bialkowski was really only forced into one serious stop from Doherty.

Overall, the performance was a great improvement on the Rotherham display and one which should have yielded all three points.

The Blues remain in eighth but now five points plus goal difference behind Derby, who drop to sixth following their 2-1 defeat at Cardiff, now seventh three points ahead of Town. Sheffield Wednesday won 1-0 at Huddersfield and are up to fifth, six points ahead of the Blues.

Town are next in action at home to Charlton, who beat Birmingham 2-1 today, on Tuesday evening.

Wolves: Ikeme, Iorfa, Batth (c), Hause, Doherty, Coady, Price, Saville, Sigurdarson (Henry 46), Zyro (Le Fondre 68), Helan (Mason 58). Unused: Martinez, Deslandes, McDonald, Hunte.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Pringle (Bru 68), Feeney ( McGoldrick 87), Sears, Pitman (Varney 68). Unused: Gerken, Foley, Digby, Hyam. Referee: Rob Lewis (Shrewsbury). Att: 20,225 (Town: 1,154).

Photo: Action Images

battyblue added 17:50 - Apr 2 Foley is a ball player,a passer of the ball on the grass he stood out when he played so MM drops him and hasent played him since just sums up McCarthy total numbskull please go you are boring me to death.
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geminimustang added 18:01 - Apr 2 battyblue Foley was injured,knock to the ribs.Not dropped by choice.
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Norwichbeater added 18:02 - Apr 2 It would be great to have a marker by our names on here to show who go to Ipswich games and who don't. Some of the comments sometimes appear a little blinkered! We all appreciate the great job that MM has done, however viewing this footy week in week out is getting very tiresome.
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vanmunt added 18:02 - Apr 2 Don't have a chance of promotion next season with most likely Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle getting relegated. Boring away draw that will be according to our myopic dinosaur 'hard fought against good opposition'... Gets more and more depressing following the Town.
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Seasider added 18:10 - Apr 2 McCarthy said before the game that Rotherham performance was not representative of his time here,saying that the piss poor game(his words)against Rotherham does represent his management over last four years.He just isn't having it,and people are asking for a slap. He infers he is not bothered about pretty football,and brags about where his style of football has got him,saying his pragmatic approach will not change at 57 So after the last defeat he makes just one unenforced change leaving Douglas as one of the untouchables.There was a more positive approach with 2 shots off the line and Bru hitting outside of post;but nevertheless we only managed a draw against a very poor unambitious side in Wolves,with nothing to play for. Post match McCarthy said that the all round performance was very good and Town moved the ball about well,and says its a point gained.Reacting to his dithering about bringing on McGoldrick said that he didn't want to bring him on too early in case of injury,and then couldn't get him on. Well Mick your increasingly morose and moronic attitude is beginning to show in these interviews,as I think you realise that you have nearly blown promotion,and your insistance that you will not change your defensive and frankly boring football you produce will not encourage season ticket renewals in any way shape or form. Our car from the coast will only be half full of season ticket holders in August,thanks to you;with the two remaining stalwarts with over 100 years of support renewing(I hope) This is all down to McCarthy,who doesn't give a flying one !(McCarthyism)

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grumpyblue1966 added 18:10 - Apr 2 I agree with everyone who says m.m must go hoof football bad tactics I would love George Burley to come back what a team we had with him e.g reuser etc and he is blue all the way through
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runaround added 18:18 - Apr 2 I'm sure Mick will be delighted to get his favourite away result. Sounds on the radio like Wolves were there for the taking yet once again we change our formation to match theirs, trying to turn it into a battle hoping to nick a goal. Surely we are better than that? Or have MM & ME produced the worst team in the league only capable of trying to stop other teams? That is so disappointing, no wonder many fans are considering not going any more. The club need to come out & communicate to fans what the plan is. It feels to me that Mick won't be here in August. Whether he is or not, something has to change as the current negativity surrounding the club is strangling it

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bluefeast added 18:32 - Apr 2 ITS 6.30 AND WE STILL HAVE NOT HAD THE MM (mute moron) INTERVIEW. HE MUST BE PLANNING A REALLY SPECIAL ONE.
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MickMillsTash added 18:37 - Apr 2 The biggest issue this year is that our footballers Mcgoldrick, Bishop and Fraser have been injured. McCarthy signed Douglas and Pitman who I thought were decent and we got in Maitland Niles from whom I think we could have expected a little more, but these players have not taken us forward - maybe they would have done had the other 3 been fit With the better players injured we are nowhere, I just cannot see how we can get a regular winning team out with the players left. If we had kept Anderson and played Tabb we could have gone back to a model of running like madmen, winning the midfield battle, turning defenders, Pressure Football. I think Murphy and Sears up front works. Any midfield 4 from Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Hyam , Coke, Maitland Niles, Foley will not be good enough to win the midfield battle and so we are where we are, isolated forwards, 4-5-1, Pitman playing wide on the Left! FFS Hard to blame McCarthy for the injuries and given the budget think he has done well, Its time for Evans to free up a bit more cash and of all the managers we had from the last 4 I would trust McCarthy not to waste it on the likes of Norris, Shumilokwski, Taylor or Priskin If we raise the white flag on this season lets hope he plays some youngsters in the last few games with a view to 16/17

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essex57 added 18:45 - Apr 2 Gemini mustang agree but we are wasting our time some of the posters on here are deluded
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Gforce added 19:02 - Apr 2 Play off hopes now over I'm afraid and with three big clubs looking likely to be relegated,next season will be harder than ever.All I foresee next season is one big struggle and our umpteenth year in the championship at the end of it.
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Dissboyitfc added 19:07 - Apr 2 Essex57 did you say, or am i confusing you with someone else, judge MM at the end of the season? Its his team and team selection and his tactics, this season has been wasted and MM must shoulder his fair share of the blame, To keep playing Douglas is a complete waste of a position, so many of MM's decisions leave me and many others baffled.
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Dissboyitfc added 19:14 - Apr 2 I can say with complete confidence that Douglas is one of the worst players to play for ipswich town, if fit and available he is a definite starter, why, MM refers to him as different class, i agree, think his level is league 2 at best.
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Mick_Mills_Tache added 19:26 - Apr 2 MMT (nice username!) Bishop and McGoldrick have both been injured for the majority of the season, you can't have expected much from a 17 year old youngster? No idea why we signed Douglas, he's a pensioner. Pitman is a goal poacher, he just doesn't get the service from midfield. So we knew we were lacking creative quality in January and MM was told he could sign players but instead he says he's happy with what we've got and there's nobody who will make it better. So who's fault is it?

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Tractorboy1985 added 19:30 - Apr 2 Who possibly out of our first 11 would get into a Burnley.. A boro.. A derby???? Yes everyone the football is absolutely f'ing DIRE and we are all so frustrated (including the manager after speaking to him recently) but this crop is the best we have been given by our billionaire owner! Wake up and smell the music everyone.. This crop ain't capable of playing the free flowing.. Barcelona style. Bobby robson elect football and this is where we are.. A hard working side who won't be any better until we invest in some better quality!

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surgery added 19:35 - Apr 2 Why do you keep coming out with this crap? Do you think that we're all morons? It's probably written into your new contract that you can't say it, but I almost feel sorry for you by not being allowed to say to us "what do you lot expect from this shower of shi..e I've got here ?"
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thebeat added 19:39 - Apr 2 essex57 is it deluded to expect the ball to be passed 10 yards along the ground by championship players? Is it deluded to expect in 3 years a rightback to be bought into the squad insead of bottling it and playing half of the defence out of position? Is it deluded to expect to see your team play with 11 men as opposed to 10 which is what happens when the worst midfielder ive seen at Portman Road in 30 years of going to the game Douglas plays? People like you cannot keep hiding behind the Micj kept us up/stabilised us/gets no money to spend bullcrap. There has been better free transfers available than some of the dross he has brought in. Douglas, Coke, Toure, Knudsen, Varney, Malarcyk, Digby, Anderson, Tabb, Bajner, Nouble etc the list goes on. And look at the gaping void between Bialkowski and Gerken, yet he thins they are at the same level??? Its simply out of date bad management by a man that football has left behind. Ive been calling for Nigel Pearson for weeks now, look at some of the players he got in to Leicester for peanuts and look whats happening there!! So it is you essex57 is deluded if you think.this man wil take us anywhere apart from mid table mediocrity whilst producing awful ale house football. Mark my words 10,000 season ticket holders next season if the club are lucky. People are fed up, its just not good enough and certainly not acceptable!

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MattinLondon added 19:43 - Apr 2 Football should be about excitement and I should want to go out of love rather than out of a send of duty. At times this season (OK most of the season) I would have gotten more excitement designing a spreadsheet or presenting a PowerPoint presentation at work rather than watching this rubbish. I realise that there is a need to be realistic - a pragmatic draw against Wolves away ordinarily would be a good point. And I do realise that all teams have bad days. But the entertainment on offer is appalling. MM states regularly that he is pragmatic but he isn't. His preferred style is long ball defensive workmanlike. If he managed Barcelona he would turn them into a mirror image of himself albeit with better players. In terms of money. Ok it's limited but the wages of Tabb, Coke, Toure, Varney and even Orr all add up. Wasteful. Completely wasteful. All in all I do want MM to go. Whoever comes next might well be dreadful but the fear of the unknown should never be an excuse to stick with the status quo. We need excitement, someone who will shake the players out of their comfort zone and if they can't cope with not being regulars or not being called by their nickname then fax their details to other clubs.

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OldClactonBlue added 19:50 - Apr 2 In an interview with MM that I heard today when asked about Johan Cruyff he called him a great, for sure, and then referred to Beckenbauer and Pele, fair enough, and then, I can't believe it, Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter. I guess that sums up what football means to him.
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essex57 added 19:51 - Apr 2 The beat unfortunatly they are most of the time incapable of pasing the ball 10yds sorry thats the way.i see it. Need at least 12 new players and i cant see that happening so its either put up with it or walk no one frog marches us to matches
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pup12 added 19:51 - Apr 2 Can someone please explain why Foley is not starting in midfield???? Had a good game followed by a man of the match performance v Forrest then nothing.I know he had a minor knock and playing out of position ,but that's not stopped MM putting round pegs in square holes before .He actually did a good job unlike some pegs that are out of position over the season.I agree with geminimustang in part.Evans is not a billionaire and I have heard he ploughs in money just to keep the club running.But something has to change as this season was wasted opportunity .We came close last season and where other clubs get stronger and learn from their mistakes we never seem to.Mm got wolves and Sunderland promoted after coming close the season before.So MM does know how to it.So I can only guess something deeper is wrong at our beloved club.Need a good clear out over summer.Recruit the players we need and play them in the right positions and who knows.As for MM going be careful what you wish for.

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essex57 added 19:57 - Apr 2 Yea i did indeed say judge at the end of season yes MM does make some weird decisions but at the end of the day we create enough chances to win games but just aint good enough i wouldnt think there would be any clubs interested in any of our players in close season so cant see much different next season either.
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Tractorboy1985 added 20:11 - Apr 2 If u want to protest.. Protest towards the ar*ehole who is currently the owner of this club and his hierarchy not our MANAGER!! When will people get it that this crop ain't f'ing good enough! Mick has been given pi$$ all to spend and had to settle for free transfers and Knudsen whilst other clubs Below us have spent.. How frustrating must it be! Be careful what u wish for u fickle bunch!

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Dissboyitfc added 20:16 - Apr 2 Essex57...you say our players are incapable of passing 10 yards, then what do they do all week in training? Do they go to the Rugby ground and practice conversions? Who is responsible for recruiting the coaches? MM should be judged on the players at his disposal and how he chooses to train and utilise them. You can play football with limited funds, BFJ achieved it and we enjoyed what was dished up most of the time. Tractorboy, Evans is not a Billionaire

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thebeat added 20:17 - Apr 2 essex57 like i said he signed these players, theur lack of quality is down to him. There has been better players available on a free or cheap but HE has signed donkeys like Douglas and Knudsen. HE shafted Johnny Parr, HE continually picks negative midfields with ALWAYS at least 2 defensive midielders, HE has played our captain and Central defender at rightback for THREE years to the detriment of the team. 1st day of the season Skuse and Bru were great together, Bru MOM but hes never played them in a 2 again because hes frightened his boys Douglas and Hyam wont get back in. Even when we are chasing a game or trying for a winner he never takes Douglas off and puts Bru in his place incase it works and everybody would say start with the team that finished next week because Douglas in his eyes is untouchable. You can read him like a book, its embarrasing. After 3 and a half years i think its quite clear for anybody with any kind of football knowledge to see he picks teams based on personal relationships and defensive cowardice and not on ability and inventiveness. On that basis why is he still employed by our club? Its pathetic to keep him in the job simply because you are frightened of what may follow.

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