Ipswich Town 1-1 Norwich City - Match Report Sunday, 2nd Sep 2018 14:31 Gwion Edwards fired the Blues into a second-half lead but Town continue to wait for an East Anglian derby victory over Norwich City after Moritz Leitner hit an equaliser for the Canaries as the game ended 1-1 at Portman Road. Edwards gave the Blues, who are without a derby success in nine years and still without a win this season, the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the box on 57 but Leitner levelled with a low shot for the visitors 14 minutes later. Dean Gerken made a shock return in goal for the dropped Bartosz Bialkowski in a Town team featuring six changes. Loanees Jon Walters and Jordan Graham made their second Blues debuts, Matthew Pennington his first, while Jordan Spence returned at right-back. Trevoh Chalobah, Ellis Harrison and Tayo Edun all dropped to the bench alongside Bialkowski, while Toto Nsiala was suspended after his red card at Sheffield Wednesday. Janoi Donacien was the loan player to miss out on a place in the 18 with only five permitted in a matchday squad. The Blues switched to a 4-4-2 system with Walters off Kayden Jackson up front and Graham and Gwion Edwards in the wide roles. For Norwich, ex-Blues striker Jordan Rhodes started. Within seconds of the kick-off Town won a freekick not far outside the area when Cole Skuse was fouled by Emiliano Buendia but Graham curled his shot over. The game got off to a frenetic start but with neither team threatening until the 13th minute when Skuse was harshly adjudged to have fouled Teemu Pukki on the right, the Bristolian having won the ball. From Moritz Leitner’s freekick Alex Tettey headed over when he will feel he ought to have done better. On 20, Spence and Walters worked space on the right for Edwards to cross.The ball reached Nolan on the edge of the box but his shot was blocked. A minute later, Graham whipped over a freekick from the left which Norwich did well to defend, the on-loan Wolves man sent over a corner from the right which reached Skuse on the edge of the area but his header looped over. Blues skipper Luke Chambers got his name in referee Robert Jones’s book in the 26th minute after tripping Rhodes, although it looked more of a tangle of legs than a malicious foul. From Leitner’s freekick, Timm Klose headed wide at the far post. Tettey shot wide from distance for the Canaries on 32 with the game having been a largely scruffy affair with neither team able to fully impose themselves upon the opposition. As the half moved towards its final 10 minutes the game began to open up with both teams surrendering possession too easily in midfield. On 36 Onel Hernandez played in Pukki, who cut in from the left and hit a low shot which grazed the outside of the post, although the Gerken looking to have it covered. Walters, who had had a relatively quiet half, burst into life in the 40th minute, smashing a powerful strike from distance which slammed off Norwich keeper Tim Krul’s left post and cannoned away for a throw. Town were starting to look more of a threat and in the 43rd minute they felt they should have been awarded a penalty. Following a short corner, Nolan fed Graham, who took the ball past Rhodes and appeared to be fouled. As Town appealed, referee Jones awarded a freekick to Norwich and yellow-carded Graham for what he felt was a dive. Town were forced into a change just before the break after Skuse suffered a nasty blow to the head in a clash with Klose at a Norwich corner. The midfielder was treated at great length on the pitch before being stretchered off with his head in a brace. Trevoh Chalobah took over. In lengthy injury time, Roberts hit the wall with a freekick after Walters had been fouled by Canaries skipper Grant Hanley, then from the corner Chambers headed wide. Neither side was able to threaten again before referee Jones blew his whistle. While the scoreline was probably a fair reflection of the half, the Blues had perhaps looked marginally the more dangerous side with Walters’s effort off the post the nearest either team had come to a goal, while the Canaries had had most of the ball albeit with Gerken largely a spectator. Of the debutants, Graham had sent in one or two dangerous set pieces but hadn’t been involved as much as Edwards on the other flank, who had found himself crowded out on too many occasions. At the back Pennington had had a strong first 45 minutes for the Blues. Norwich switched Klose, who had undergone treatment on a couple of occasions in the first half, ahead of the second period with Ben Godfrey, who played for Town manager Paul Hurst’s Shrewsbury on loan last season, taking over at the centre of the defence. The first opportunity of the second half fell to sub Chalobah in the 47th minute, Edwards’s corner from the right dropping to the on-loan Chelsea man 20 yards out but he screwed his shot well wide. Four minutes after coming on, Godfrey was booked for catching Nolan late midway inside the Norwich half. Graham’s freekick was turned behind at the far post by Tettey. From the resultant corner, the ball squirmed out to Chalobah but his low shot was forced wide with the Blues beginning to get up a head of steam. On 55 Pennington played a great ball forward down the right and Walters crossed for Jackson, whose looping header was caught by Krul. A minute later, Nolan’s dummy allowed the ball to run to Jackson inside the box with his back to goal but the striker realise the space he was in. Town’s second-half pressure finally told in the 58th minute when Edwards gave them the lead with his second goal of the season. Following a corner, Nolan played the ball out to Walters on the right of the area from where the on-loan Burnley man nodded down to Edwards. The Welshman took the ball to his right before hitting a shot as he turned back towards goal which deflected off a Norwich defender and past the wrong-footed Krul. It was the first time Town had opened the scoring in a Portman Road derby since the 5-0 in 1998. Having gone in front the Blues kept up the pressure and Edwards might have had a second on the hour mark. The former Peterborough winger picked up a loose ball on halfway and drove forward. Jackson took away a defender allowing Edwards space and the Welshman struck a low shot which flew just wide of Krul’s right post. The man of the moment wasn’t too far away again in the 63rd minute with a freekick which curled not too far wide. Town continued to push with Norwich having found Walters unplayable since the break, while the Blues had been far better on the ball than in the first. Norwich began to get into the game and in the 67th minute Gerken made his first save of the afternoon, reacting quickly to scoop away Tettey’s deflected shot from the edge of the box. Moments later, Knudsen blocked Tettey’s goalbound header from a corner on the right, then from the subsequent flag-kick, the ball was played back into the area and Hanley flicked it over the bar from eight yards. But a Canaries goal wasn’t too much longer in coming. Leitner found space on the edge of the box after Town had failed to clear a corner and hit a low shot which flew through a crowd of players and beat Gerken to his left. Norwich had got on top in the period before the goal and maintained that momentum having levelled. Town began to get back on top and in the 77th minute Pennington headed back into the box from distance to Walters, who was onside. The Ireland international tried to loop a shot over his shoulder but was crowded out, then Jackson’s second attempt was blocked. On 79 Rhodes was replaced by Dennis Srbeny, the fifth game in a row against the Blues in which the former Kesgrave High School pupil had failed to score. Two minutes later, Town swapped Graham for Grant Ward, then on 84 Jackson was replaced by Harrison. The momentum shifted back towards the Blues as the game moved into its scheduled final five minutes. Following a Knudsen long throw Walters scuffed a shot which arced across the six-yard box but without anyone being there to add a final touch, then on 86 Ward cut on from the left but scuffed his shot through to Krul. Norwich began to get on top again as the match moved into its last couple of minutes and then four additional minutes of injury time. Srbeny blazed over from a tight angle following a corner, then at the other end after a Knudsen throw from the right Harrison scuffed wide with the final chance of the game. A draw was probably a fair reflection of the game overall and the Blues continue to wait for that elusive derby victory, the Canaries now having gone 11 without a defeat. However, having gone in front in their dominant spell in the 20 minutes after the break they had opportunities to seal the win. However, Canaries levelled in their period on top which followed with both teams having moments in the latter period of the game but without making them count. The draw, Town’s third in their three home games this season, sees them climb a place to second bottom of the table ahead of the two-week international break. Town: Gerken, Spence, Pennington, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Edwards, Skuse (Chalobah 45), Nolan, Graham (Ward 81), Walters, Jackson (Harrison 84). Unused: Bialkowski, Downes, Edun, Kenlock. Norwich: Krul, Aarons, Hanley, Klose (Godfrey 46), Lewis, Tettey, Buendia (Thompson 64), Pukki, Leitner, Hernandez, Rhodes (Srbeny 79). Unused: McGovern, Godfrey, Zimmermann, Stiepermann, Trybull. Referee: Robert Jones (Merseyside). Att: 25,690 (Norwich: 2,022).
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