Ipswich Town 1-0 Burton Albion - Half-Time Saturday, 19th Feb 2022 16:00 Kayden Jackson’s goal in the 42nd second has given Town a 1-0 half-time lead over Burton Albion at Portman Road. Lee Evans returned to the centre of midfield alongside skipper Sam Morsy having missed last week’s 0-0 draw away against the MK Dons due to illness with Tyreeq Bakinson dropping to the bench. Joe Pigott also came into the side and started as the central striker with Jackson keeping his place in the side to his left and Sone Aluko, also returning to the team, on the right. Bersant Celina and Conor Chaplin moved onto the bench alongside Macauley Bonne and James Norwood. The Brewers made two changes from the team which impressively beat Bolton 3-1 on Tuesday with Frazer Blake-Tracy and Jacob Maddox coming into the side for Michael Mancienne and Ciaran Gilligan. New signing Oumar Niasse was among the subs as was Jonny Smith, back after a calf injury. After the teams had taken a knee to applause, the game got under way in heavy rain and within a minute the Blues took the lead. Wes Burns played in Jackson, who took the ball across his man before hitting a low shot from just outside the area across the wet turf and into the corner of the net as the clock passed the 42-second mark, the striker’s third goal of the season and his first in the league since December 2020. Visiting keeper Ben Garratt will feel he should have saved it with the pace off the sodden pitch perhaps having beaten him. Conditions caused both sides a few problems in the minutes after the goal but the Blues settled more quickly with Evans clipping a cross into the area which was nodded away just ahead of Pigott. Burton threatened for the first time in the 12th minute when, after a corner from the right had been half-cleared, Maddox hit a shot just under the bar that a combination of Evans and keeper Christian Walton kept out. From the resultant corner, Walton did well to flick the ball away from danger from under his bar. But it was mainly Town and Janoi Donacien sent over a cross towards the far post which just evaded Jackson. Burton began to present the bigger threat, Conor Shaughnessy heading wide on 18 from a long Tom Hamer throw which had been flicked on by Sam Hughes. The Brewers won a number of other corners and throws which the Blues repelled, not always entirely comfortably however. Evans was shown the game’s first yellow card in the 27th minute for a foul on Gassan Ahadme, the Welshman having been continuing a lively dialogue with referee Carl Brook having been caught high by an earlier challenge which had gone unpunished. Two minutes later, with the rain appearing to have stopped, Aluko sent Burns away on the right and the former Fleetwood man sent over a low cross in front of Pigott and Jackson when he looked to be in the area from which he has scored most of his Town goals this season. On 35 Joe Powell tried to catch Walton out with a swiftly-taken free-kick from just outside the area but the Blues keeper moved quickly across his goal to turn it behind. From the corner, the ball fell to Hamer and Walton again saved, the ball diverting out for another flag-kick off Donacien. Town should have gone 2-0 in front in the 38th minute. Burns and Evans exchanged passes on the right and the wing-back sent over a low ball which deflected out to Pigott, who shot past Garratt but off the post. The loose ball fell to Dominic Thompson but as from a similar position at Sheffield Wednesday, the on-loan Brentford man blazed well over. The Blues did have the ball in the net two minutes later, Luke Woolfenden turning Aluko’s free-kick from the right into the corner but having strayed offside. Town fans had been frustrated with referee Brook’s decision-making all half but the volume of their annoyance increased in the 44th minute after Pigott appeared to be fouled just outside the area, then George Edmundson similarly looked to have been tripped a few moments later. In the final scheduled minute, the Blues again should have doubled their lead when two against one in the Brewers’ half. Aluko was inadvertently sent away by Blake-Tracy and took it on before playing to Morsy to his left but behind the Town skipper, who perhaps should have held back. It fell to Jackson behind him, but the earlier scorer’s low cross-shot flew past the post and also too far in front of a number of team-mates in the box. Following the whistle, referee Brook was booed as he made his way to the tunnel, the home fans having felt their team had been on the wrong end of a number of decisions, and with some reason. Town might well have been home and hosed had they taken their two late chances but the half had been far from easy affair with the conditions having made Burton’s set pieces more difficult to defend. However, for the most part, Walton and the Blues rearguard had been resolute with Maddox’s early effort the visitors’ only real chance. Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burns, Evans, Morsy (c), Thompson, Aluko, Jackson, Pigott. Subs: Hladky, Burgess, Bakinson, Celina, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood. Burton Albion: Garratt, Brayford (c), Powell, Ahadme, Hughes, Saydee, Shaughnessy, Blake-Tracy, Kokolo, Maddox, Hamer. Subs: Kovar, Chapman, Smith, Niasse, Leak, Mancienne, Lakin. Referee: Carl Brook (Sussex).
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