Ipswich Town 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday - Match Report
Wednesday, 22nd Nov 2017 22:02 Sheffield Wednesday sub Atdhe Nuhiu headed an equaliser four minutes into injury time to grab a 2-2 draw with the Blues at Portman Road. Joe Garner put Town ahead on 48, Gary Hooper levelled via a 64th minute penalty after Jordan Spence had handballed, then Martyn Waghorn’s header on 70 looked to have won it for the Blues until Nuhiu’s late goal stole an undeserved point for the visitors.
Myles Kenlock replaced the suspended Jonas Knudsen at left-back in what was otherwise an unchanged Town team.
The Blues again started in their increasingly familiar 4-2-3-1 system with lone out-and-out striker Garner ahead of David McGoldrick, Waghorn and Bersant Celina. Emyr Huws was on the bench for the first time this season.
Sheffield Wednesday named the same team that drew 0-0 at home to Bristol City at the weekend with ex-Blue Jordan Rhodes in the XI, while Nuhiu replaced Lucas Joao on the bench.
Town immediately went on the attack, Kenlock sending in a dangerous cross from the left which Wednesday did well to clear.
In the fourth minute Owls skipper Glenn Loovens was extremely fortunate not to be sent off after catching McGoldrick in the groin with a high, studs-up boot.
The Town striker unsurprisingly spent some time on the ground and received treatment before continuing. Referee Keith Stroud - who had seen the incident but had played on with the Blues in possession and breaking forward - subsequently spoke to Loovens but failed to issue a card of either colour.
While McGoldrick was off the field, the Blues threatened from a well-worked freekick on the right, Celina playing the ball to Cole Skuse on the edge of the box but the midfielder’s shot was blocked.
The Blues continued to look the more dangerous side and on eight Callum Connolly played in McGoldrick on the right with only one defender ahead of him but the Town number 10 shot over.
Wednesday went close for the first time in the 16th minute, one-time Town schoolboy Morgan Fox sending over a cross from the right which ex-Blues striker Rhodes headed not too far wide of Bartosz Bialkowski’s right post.
The game meandered a touch as it passed the quarter hour mark with further stoppages for injuries and freekicks.
But in the 23rd minute Kenlock played a superb cross-field ball to McGoldrick, who fed Connolly and the on-loan Everton man took a couple of touches before hitting a powerful shot which was too close to Owls keeper Keiren Westwood.
Moments later, Celina cut in from the left and hit a right-footed shot which Westwood claimed low.
Town forced the Wednesday keeper into another save in the 26th minute when Garner was sent away in space on the right and crossed deep to Celina, but the Kosovan international’s diving header was too close to Westwood who palmed away.
Seconds later, McGoldrick scuffed a 20-yard effort which his Irish international team-mate easily claimed low to his left.
Ross Wallace shot wide from distance for the Owls, then on 33 the Scottish international curled a freekick over from 25 yards after he had been fouled by Kenlock.
But the Blues continued to have the upper hand as half-time approach and the swirling wind grew stronger.
And they should have claimed the lead their first-half display deserved in injury time. Garner sent over a cross from the right towards Celina at the far post, Jack Hunt cut it out but presented the ball to Waghorn on the edge of the box.
However, the Blues’ eight-goal joint-top scorer scraped a rather hurried effort which Westwood saved when he could have taken his time. Referee Stroud ended the half soon afterwards.
Town will feel their first-half display ought to have yielded a goal with Westwood by far the busier keeper. But while the Ireland international had made stops, he hadn’t been forced to make any outstanding saves to keep his side on terms.
At the other end, Rhodes’s header had been the Owls’ only real chance, while Wednesday skipper Loovens will know he got away with what should have been a red card for his early challenge on McGoldrick.
Perhaps as a result of that challenge McGoldrick was replaced by Freddie Sears ahead of the start of the second half.
The former West Ham man was quickly into the action, teeing-up Waghorn for a shot on the left of the area, which was deflected just wide.
And from the corner, the Blues went in front. Celina sent the ball over, Spence flicked on at the near post and Garner volleyed into the roof of the net at the far post. It was the 29-year-old’s fifth goal of the season and his first in eight games.
At the other end, Spence then did well to hold off Rhodes as a cross came in for the right and the Blues withstood a brief flurry of Owls pressure following the goal.
Town might have added to their lead in the 56th minute when Adam Webster nodded a Waghorn freekick from the right over at the near post.
A minute later, Waghorn won the ball off Tom Lees on the Town left and tried an audacious 35-yard chip which looped well wide when the breaking Celina clearly wanted it played inside to him.
Skuse was booked for a foul on Barry Bannan in the 59th minute, then Wednesday swapped Fox for Steven Fletcher.
The Blues should have doubled their lead in the 61st minute when Waghorn sent Sears away in the clear. The sub rounded Westwood at pace but took the ball too wide and should have squared to the unmarked Celina but instead shot against the keeper who had retreated.
The Owls switched Wallace for Kieran Lee on 62 and two minutes later they were handed an equaliser they didn’t deserve in slightly freakish circumstances.
A deep cross was sent over from the Wednesday right and Spence looked to flick the ball beyond Fletcher behind him. However, the right-back missed his header and the ball subsequently hit his outstretched left arm - the wind may have been a factor - and referee Stroud pointed to the spot.
Ex-Norwich striker Gary Hooper took the spot-kick - Wednesday’s first for 34 games -and lashed the ball to Bialkowski’s left to level.
Wednesday briefly looked like getting on top but without testing the Blues’ keeper further, the penalty having been their first shot on target.
On 67 Huws came off the bench to make his first appearance of the season after signing on a permanent basis from Cardiff in the summer following his loan last season. Celina made way.
And the Welshman made an immediate impact, helping to create Town’s second goal with his first touch of the campaign.
Sears crossed from the left and found Huws beyond the far post from where he sent the ball back in towards Waghorn, who headed his ninth goal of the season across Westwood and into the corner of the net.
Wednesday sub Lee was booked for rather cynical challenge on Garner on 77, then a minute later Grant Ward replaced Waghorn. On 81 Hunt was booked for a foul on Garner.
Town were looking more likely to increase their lead than the Owls were to pull on back and on 84 a Sears cross from the right was deflected out to Spence in the box but the full-back’s first touch let him down and he was crowded out.
Rhodes was replaced by Nuhui in the 87th minute, seconds after appealing for a penalty but the Town academy product appeared to have tripped over the Blues midfielder rather than been felled.
In the final minute of scheduled time Fletcher headed over for Wednesday and Town looked to be seeing the game out comfortably until the fourth of five additional minutes.
After Town had lost the ball in the far corner, Wednesday broke, Adam Reach crossed from the left and sub Nuhiu rose above Webster to nod past Bialkowski from close range.
It was an equaliser the Owls didn’t deserve but one which claimed them a point with referee Stroud bringing the evening to a close soon afterwards.
Town would thoroughly have deserved which was theirs until the final moments having been much the better team throughout against a poor Owls side.
Having got their noses in front, the Blues were then able to get themselves ahead for a second time after the penalty and had had further chances to score prior to conceding the last-gasp equaliser.
The draw - Town’s second in two games having gone 25 matches without recording any - sees the Blues stay in ninth where they were prior to the midweek games, three points from the play-offs, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.
Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Webster, Chambers (c), Kenlock, Skuse, Connolly, Waghorn (Ward 78), McGoldrick (Sears 46), Celina (Huws 67), Garner. Unused: Gerken, Iorfa, Ward, Nydam, Bru, Huws.
Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Hunt, Fox (Fletcher 60), Rhodes, Butterfield, Bannan, Loovens (c), Hooper, Lees, Reach, Wallace (Lee 62). Unused: Wildsmith, Jones, Van Aken, Palmer, Nuhiu. Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire). Att: 15,702 (Owls: 1,158).
Photo: TWTD
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Bert added 22:45 - Nov 22
If players are going to take time out of the game then for goodness sake do it properly. We had only ourselves to blame after a decent second half showing. Webster and Skuse showed attacking desire and should take some credit for trying to get the game going against a very ordinary Wednesday side who looked devoid of ideas even with all their possession |  | |
runaround added 22:49 - Nov 22
Gutted to lose a goal so late especially as we thoroughly deserved to win but missed chances came back to haunt us. Upfront and in midfield we look good but still questionable at the back. At least it was a positive performance & an improvement on last season but conceding an injury time equaliser or winner is still one of the worst feelings in football |  | |
TimmyH added 22:50 - Nov 22
Felt the lads just about deserved 3 points tonight, we had the best chances. Wednesday can count themselves fortunate to get 2 goals as they only had 2 attempts on target, one from an arguable penalty and the last minute goal from the jolly green giant...their passing and movement throughout the night fairly poor - they look like a mid-table side but credit to us for closing them down and particularly to Callum Connolly who had a good game.
Without doubt so far this season the difference from last is the difference up front being Waghorn, a fit McG, Celina and Garner...hopefully a fit Huws will boost the midfield. somewhat. |  | |
TimmyH added 22:54 - Nov 22
By the way jas0999 - just read your post...and yes that about sums it up for me as well, anybody down voting that post has clearly their heads in the sand! | | |
bkitfc added 22:55 - Nov 22
Thought Garner, Waghorn and Connolly did really well. Good to see Huws back as well. Referee was poor and Loovens should definitely have been sent off. Sears didn't do to well tonight but has no confidence and he is played in the wrong position. The performance was good but I honestly believe that Sheffield Wednesday deserved an equaliser near the end. I don't remember the last time we have shielded the ball in the corner with a 1 goal advantage with the other team having 7 attacking players. As soon as you lose the ball you're in deep trouble and we just couldn't Nuhiu,who hadn't scored in 43 for SWFC, in the box. You should always go for a two goal advantage even if all your strikers are off the pitch. There were definitely improvements but shame we couldn't see it out. On to VIlla! | | |
Taricco_Fan added 22:56 - Nov 22
On balance, we deserved to win. Wednesday play nice football (dominated possession) but did nothing with it in the final third. Our 'style' of play was more direct but yielded many more shots on goal. First half was dull, second half was much more entertaining. All things considered, we did more to win the game hence a draw feels like a loss. Hopefully a lesson learned about the dangers of playing keep ball by the corner flag. Are we that poor at possession football that we have to resort to this?
Anyway, two well-worked, nicely finished goals and great to see Garner back on the score sheet.
A few other thoughts...Kenlock was poor, Sears just isn't good enough, how we miss Huws (a class act in the centre of the park), Loovens should be retrospectively done for GBH. |  | |
Miles added 22:56 - Nov 22
That was the most enjoyable performance I've watched in a game we haven't won and it was more entertainment than a lot of our wins in previous years. Set up to attack and we were fluid going forward and we looked very good. Only negative is the shaky defence which if we can fix we are in for an enjoyable rest of the season.
Trying to not be too downhearted because that is surely the performance we all want us to be putting on at PR. Roll on villa! COYB | | |
eMeM added 23:04 - Nov 22
Time wasting is a sin that deserves to be punished. |  | |
johnno added 23:07 - Nov 22
If McCarthy could swap seats for Moore that would be a fine thing what a waste of space he is just didn't anticipate anything and as for the break away what a joke but anyway terrible tackle on Didsy should of walked | | |
OwainG1992 added 23:24 - Nov 22
Got to say one of our best performances on sky for a while. Very unlucky to not win. Garner and Connolly were terrific. Waghorn scored a great header but his decision making wasn't great at times. Kenlock did not step up at all and look very shaky to me. Spence hit and miss but so nice having a real right back I'll take it. Loovens a clear red and hunt lucky to be on the pitch. Anyone else feel worried when Nhui came on? Was like you just knew he'd score. His first in 42! Classic town. Anyways onwards and upwards unbeaten in 3. |  | |
Surco72 added 23:33 - Nov 22
For a team who play 5 defenders and a defensive midfielder we let in a lot of goals . Did enough to win tonight but you cannot keep shipping cheap goals . Season will drift along like this till mid table finish and MM leaving at end, would rather sack it off and get a new start as Portman Road was embarrassing tonight with all the empty seats |  | |
RoyalAscotBlue added 23:45 - Nov 22
BraveDave... 5 substitutions and 3 goals = 4 minutes added time so no argument against the fact that there were 5 minutes added. Conceding as we did, within the 5 minutes, however...
There were some positives tonight though. Waghorn, Garner, Connolly and Huws.
Just as we get Huws back though, we lose McGoldrick. |  | |
Palestine added 23:46 - Nov 22
Caught the last 5 mins and it was kind of horrible watching town try and keep it in the corner for all five mins. Doesn't seem right - score then freeze and clamp up. Need to keep playing. Weds scored equaliser then carried on playing for a winner with a minute left. Totally different approach to MMs sht yourself when u go ahead approach. Should have been 3 points. Maybe we nick a winner at Villa. | | |
Swn98 added 23:55 - Nov 22
Just in from game its always leaves a sour taste when we have played so well for 90 minutes and then give it away in injury time .Mention must be made of Kenlock it must be hard to come on and play after warming the bench for so many games however i thought he put up a solid display tonight.
Yes some may look for a fall guy to blame all that messing around by the corner flag however i feel that the players should look to improve some of their decisions in and around the area.
A point is a point so onto Villa Saturday. | | |
Lathers added 00:25 - Nov 23
Can't knock MM tonight. Good set up and use of subs. Great to see EH back. Sears lost us the game tonight. Not squaring to Celina for a tap in and then giving the ball away rather than working the corner flag which lead to their 2nd goal. A real kick in the nuts. We looked decent though, but big question is whether we can keep this level of performance up away at Villa and Derby. |  | |
Arnie added 01:24 - Nov 23
Enjoyed the match, we should have won, Wednesday played nice football but created little. Town better side and played well, where did we go wrong? Quite simple, trying to play out time at the corner flag, we are no good at this so called tactic. Secondly whilst our forwards were doing the time wasting, I counted six of our team hanging around the centre circle doing nothing but looking disorganised, they should have been pushing up and not leave a huge empty midfield for our opponents to occupy. These are football basics, why didn't Mick get the defence organised. Park football, poor tactics cost us. | | |
kozmik added 01:48 - Nov 23
I would like to see Folami in the squad v Villa |  | |
Rensham added 03:56 - Nov 23
How do you get done with a break away goal in the last minute of a game?? What were we doing that all our players were chasing the ball like a load of primary school children? |  | |
Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 05:01 - Nov 23
Always disappointing to lose one you feel you should have won. We looked a reasonable, very hard-working outfit. Still a bit hoofey at times, but generally we were the better, more direct team against a side that passed it around well but whom we prevented from creating much. I never agree with the annoying "time-wasting" tactic of messing around at the corner flag. Just get on with the game, keep possession, and maybe even score another one. Finally, I obviously don't understand the hand-ball rule. No-one seems to have questioned the penalty, and the Sky commentator said it was a clear one. To me, Spence is not even looking at the ball, which drops on the top of his arm from behind. Obviously not intentional, and very unlucky. We are not the most skilful team on the block, but we put in a real shift (as McC would say), and the players gave their all. COYB! |  | |
Toronto_Tractor added 05:28 - Nov 23
NO COMPOSURE!
Ive been trying to put my finger on what is wrong with this team... We have zero composure. Ive watched 11-12 games this season and some we won, some we lost. All of them we lack composure on the ball. NONE of the players that can keep hold of a ball for more than 2 seconds (waghorn, celina, mcgoldrick) were on the pitch when we had to try and hang on at the end. Nobody gets there head up. Wednesday were there for the taking and we kept picking the wrong options. Cowardly time wasting backfired and Sears performances are getting worse and worse.
The equalizer felt inevitable, especially when we tried to hold the ball in the corner and then lose it... with our team disjointed we were left vulnerable.
Its a miracle we have scored as many goals as we have and that Bart has made the saves he has. Fundamentally, we make the wrong decisions regularly, as this team could be more than it is. We were unlucky in some ways today but we knew we would never go for the jugular.. Its not the MM way.. WHY cant mick have work horses, have strong organized teams and still get your head up in the middle of the field. WHY are these endeavours mutually exclusive????
Polarization of MM in and out brigades doesn't help, but whoevers in charge needs to encourage these players to have a killer instinct, its almost as if id rather be 1-1 with 10 to go than 2-1 up!
| | |
bluemike1969 added 06:07 - Nov 23
What concerns me is that we had 8 shots on target and concerted two where as Wednesday converted both of theirs. We have no one else to blame but ourselves as this game should have been done and dusted so their second goal would purely have been a concelation. Still we carry on following the blues in a vain hope this arrogant manager goes soon. |  | |
tractorboybig added 06:19 - Nov 23
Must have watched a different game to some of you. Mcgoldrick is crap, we played far better when he went off. sears must be short of confidence but he had pace and direction. Chambers is a waste of space and what do people see in spence a light weight cant distribute the ball liability. We are going to be torn to shreds by the next few opponents. Also a crap ref not fit for purpose. |  | |
Swn98 added 07:45 - Nov 23
Tractor boy big take it you didn't enjoy last night's game then ? | | |
midastouch added 08:00 - Nov 23
Ref was woeful! Enjoyed the match on the whole. Obviously gutted about the end, made the drive home far less enjoyable! I didn't think there were 5 minutes of injury time. In the first half there were 3 minutes added on (fair enough as there were a couple of longer stoppages in the first 45 minutes). I would of thought 3 minutes of injury time would of been more like it, 4 at a push but not 5. Garner was the pick of the bunch and Waghorn had some good moments. His through ball to Sears was very good (shame there was no end product) and I liked how he lobbed the Wed player with a nice flick just prior to that. I don't want to be critical as I thought it was a pretty gutsy performance against a team that cost a lot more to assemble than ours. A couple of minor things though (there's always a but!), DmG was well off his game although the early knock probably didn't help him. His short fairly early into the game that he ballooned over the bar, for a striker that's a real cardinal sin, at least get it on target and make the keeper work. And I was a bit surprised to see Waghorn get subbed for Grant. Not sure if he was just extra tired but he had looked one of our more threatening players (at least at times) on the night. Unfortunately his shot at the end of the first half was a bit weak but he made up for it in 2nd half with his goal. And I have to say it, I thought Skuse put in a good shift. Never thought I'd say this but he continues to grow on me! Oh nearly forgot to mention Connolly, he played a lot better than I expected him too. So on the whole I'd say more reasons to be positive than negative despite the grim end to proceedings! We really must have one of the worst records in the land for conceding late goals, it sure does feel that way at times! |  | |
ChrisFelix added 08:01 - Nov 23
Best game I have watched for Skuse. Connoly excellent. Can anyone red card be given to Lovens retrospectively. Very unlucky with the penalty, the players appeal probably made up the refs mind !!! | | |
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