Macauley Bonne saw a late goal disallowed as Town and Portsmouth drew 0-0 at Portman Road. The Blues had been the better side for the most part against a frustrating and determined Pompey team and thought Bonne had won it in the 88th minute only for a linesman to incorrectly raise a flag.

Conor Chaplin and Cameron Burgess came into an otherwise unchanged team, Burgess on the left of the centre of the defence for George Edmundson, who is out for some time with ankle injury.

Former Pompey forward Chaplin was one of the number 10s with Sone Aluko dropping to the bench.

Skipper Sam Morsy was fit to start despite suffering a hamstring problem in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Lincoln.

For the visitors, Aiden O’Brien replaced Tyler Walker up front, while ex-Blues loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe came in for summer Town target Joe Morrell.

With American director Ed Schwartz watching from the directors’ box having attended last night’s Ex-Players’ Dinner, the game got under way after both teams had taken a knee to applause.

The Blues got off to a positive start with Bersant Celina deftly taking down and high ball and moving past a Portsmouth player in the same movement before his pass through to Kayden Jackson was cut out.

Town dominated the early stages with Portsmouth unable to get on the ball. On five, Celina hit a snap shot from 25 yards but wide of Pompey keeper Gavin Bazunu’s right post.

Moments later, Portsmouth broke forward but Luke Woolfenden did well to get across in front of O’Brien to dispossess the former Millwall man.

In the eighth minute, Morsy stood up a cross from the left but just behind Jackson, his headed attempt ultimately ending up at the feet of Chaplin, whose scuffed effort went wide. Morsy, an injury doubt going into the game, subsequently required treatment but was OK to continue although gingerly.

On 11, following a short corner on the right, Burns looped a ball to the far post from the corner of the penalty box where Burgess, who had made an impressive start to the game, nodded back across goal but onto Jackson’s heel and the ball was cleared.

Portsmouth won two corners in quick succession which Town dealt with comfortably, the second leading to Celina breaking away on the left and looking to find Burns in the clear on the right with a cross-field pass but a Pompey defender was able to cut out and nod back to Bazunu.

Morsy succumbed to his injury in the 21st minute, the skipper making his way off to applause as Tom Carroll replaced him with Janoi Donacien taking the armband.

Portsmouth went close for the first time soon afterwards when Ronan Curtis hit a low ball in from the right and O’Brien turned it over under pressure from a number of Town defenders.

Following the resultant goal-kick, Woolfenden played it straight to O’Brien just outside the area from where the January signing from Sunderland scraped his shot wide.

After a Town corner had come to nothing, Portsmouth broke from a free-kick and George Hirst attempted to lift the ball over Christian Walton from the edge of the box but looped it into the Town keeper’s arms.

The Blues were going through a scruffy spell with Portsmouth more in the game than in the early stages.

Pompey’s Louis Thompson was shown the game’s first yellow card on the half hour for clattering into Burns’s ankles from behind just in front of the dugouts.

The Town crowd felt it might have been more than a yellow and the Blues bench made their feelings about the challenge known and there was a lengthy exchange of views between Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley and Town keeper-coach Rene Gilmartin with Burns having been the victim of one or two earlier overzealous tackles.

The Blues began to restore their earlier level of control and on 38 Donacien sent in a cross which was turned against a defender. Seconds later, Chaplin worked himself space on the edge of the box before his shot was blocked.

As the half moved into its penultimate scheduled minute, Chaplin unleashed a shot from 25 yards which flew not too far over the bar.

Seconds before the fourth official’s board indicated three additional minutes, Chaplin sent Jackson away on the left with Bazunu initially starting to come before retreating. Jackson’s pace took him past two defenders before the striker hit a shot from a tight angle which the keeper saved. Jackson landed awkwardly and needed treatment for what looked like a shoulder injury.

From the corner, with Jackson off the field, Donacien was adamant Town should have been awarded a penalty after being manhandled as the deep ball in the box flew towards him. Neither referee Christopher Sarginson nor his assistant saw the incident with Donacien appearing to have a decent case.

Jackson didn’t reappear, the striker making his way straight to the tunnel with Macauley Bonne replacing him.

That was the final action of a half in which the Blues had started on top before going through a sloppy spell - following Morsy’s early exit - in which Pompey had the best chance of the game through O’Brien.

Town started to look more themselves again towards the end of the half although with too many passes going astray and the additional blow of Jackson’s injury.

Neither side created a chance in the early stages of the second period. In the 55th minute Bonne and Hayden Carter clashed off the ball with the Sir Bobby Robson Stand making their thoughts known.

Town won a corner moments later and the striker urged the fans behind the goal to up the volume, which they did. In the aftermath of the flag-kick, Burns shot over from 25 yards.

The additional noise seemed to give the Blues greater impetus with the visitors put under pressure for the next few minutes before Pompey had a spell on top.

On 65 Conor Ogilvie crossed from the left and Sean Raggett flicked a near-post header from a tight angle onto the roof of the net.

But Town soon upped the pressure again, Carroll working his way into space on the left in the 69th minute before his low cross was stopped by Raggett. Two minutes later, Pompey swapped Thompson for Ipswich-born Morrell.

Burns teed-up Tyreeq Bakinson not far outside the area in the 74th minute but the on-loan Bristol City man’s shot was too close to Bazunu, who claimed comfortably.

Within a minute, Chaplin burst forward towards the right and played a ball in to Celina, who took it past a man before shooting from a tight angle but Bazunu had got across quickly to block.

Following the corner, Burns sent the ball back in from the right to the far post from where Bakinson headed into the side-netting.

In the 77th minute Dominic Thompson, who was being watched by Brentford’s loans manager Steven Pressley, was stopped from taking a quick throw by Pompey manager Danny Cowley with Ronan Curtis also getting involved. The clearly furious Town wing-back was dragged away from the incident by Blues manager Kieran McKenna and Donacien to be calmed down.

Referee Sarginson booked Thompson and Curtis and with Cowley continuing to wind-up Thompson while his player was yellow-carded, he also earned his place in the book.

Donacien joined them a couple of minutes later for a foul on Morrell after Burns had given the ball away inside the Portsmouth half.

Pompey swapped O’Brien for Denver Hume and then Walker for Hirst before the Blues replaced Burns, who appeared to have been carrying a knock, with Aluko as Town moved to a back four for the first time under McKenna.

Town thought they’d won it in the 88th minute when a Celina free-kick reached the far post where Burgess turned towards goal. Bazunu saved and Bonne slammed into the roof of the net, only for the linesman to raise his flag.

Woolfenden was but didn't touch the ball and wasn't interfering with play and the goal therefore should have stood.

The fourth official’s board indicated four additional minutes, a surprise given the amount of time Portsmouth players had taken over restarts and stoppages for injuries.

The Blues were unable to threaten further in injury time and the final whistle was greeted by chants of ‘boring, boring Pompey’ from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

Town had been the only side looking to win the game against a niggly and frustrating Portsmouth team, who spent most of the second half seeking to stop the flow of the game.

As in a number of other recent matches, the Blues created chances but were unable to take any of them, although Bonne’s late disallowed effort was unlucky.

At the other end, Town kept their 11th clean sheet in 15 games under McKenna and their eighth in their last nine matches.

The draw sees the Blues stay ninth but now five points from the play-offs with eight to play, starting at Oxford, who won 2-1 at Shrewsbury today, next Saturday.

Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns (Aluko 90), Bakinson, Morsy (c) (Carroll 21), Thompson, Chaplin, Celina, Jackson (Bonne 45). Subs: Hladky, Vincent-Young, Pigott, Norwood.

Portsmouth: Bazunu, Robertson (c), O'Brien, Tunnicliffe, Curtis, Romeo, Ogilvie, Carter, Hirst, Raggett, Thompson (Morrell 71). Subs: Webber, Hume, Walker, Vincent, Mingi, Jewitt-White. Referee: Christopher Sarginson (Staffordshire). Att: 25,500 (Portsmouth: 1,986).

Photo: Matchday Images

hyperbrit added 18:48 - Mar 12 ...the rot started with Sheepshanks and his delusions of grandeur imo!!
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therein61 added 18:50 - Mar 12 "TIMMY H" don't get down look at where we be now if the holiday camp entertainments manager and his so called coaches were still here! over the next few games sides are going to feel the pressure and drop points(Sunderland struggled until late on v Crewe) there are so many twists and turns to come at squeaky bum time that nothing is out of the window!! so chin up and C.O.Y.B EH!!!

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grumpyoldman added 18:51 - Mar 12 Blue Army 81 actually if you want to blame somebody for causing this club to go into decline, blame Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs & any other of the so-called "big clubs"! Up until the point they wanted to keep all the home game revenue to themselves clubs like us had a chance of competing with them, at one point Man Utd were taking more revenue in their club shop than a lot of the teams in the old First Division, but being greedy they wanted more. They and the other big clubs were organizing a breakaway league even before the Premier League was an idea, the rest of the league caved in so we were left with an income of less than half theirs. Sorry for the history lesson but in my opinion, it is Man U who are to blame and why I refer to them as the team that F**KED football.

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Loring added 18:51 - Mar 12 A good performance against a very good and inform Portsmouth, considering we had 2 injuries and 1 crucial defender absent. Thought we dominated from start to finish just missing that cutting edge to finish them off, thought we'd grabbed a late goal but for the poxey linesman flag. Pompey played for the point, time wasting and gamesmanship at every turn, Cowley was a bit naughty with Thomson stopping us taking a quick throw on. I said I'd take 7 points from next 3 so wins against Oxford & Plymouth a must if we want that faint chance of a playoff place. Think it's too much but alway the optimised

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ringwoodblue added 18:52 - Mar 12 The Cheltenham and Morecambe draws were a bigger dent to our playoff chances than todays result. We were playing an in-form Pompey team without some key players but those previous four dropped points had already done the damage. With all the teams around us winning again I can't see us making the playoffs now. Better to go up as champions next season.
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Bluearmy_81 added 18:53 - Mar 12 Nobby, his tenure was nothing short of disastrous. That you can be thankful to him blows my mind. No one made him buy ITFC and when he did he took on a duty of care to the club and the fans and he let both down massively. It sounds like if someone ran over and killed your dog you'd be thankful to them for coming round with a goldfish they bought you! Bert - it's so important town fans learn from their mistakes and that history in terms of such passivity and apathy is never repeated. It was never 'his club' it is always the fans club and its so important that the fans stand up for their club should such chronic abject neglect and failure befall us again in the future...

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blueboy1981 added 18:56 - Mar 12 A lot of words change nothing - simply, this was yet another two home points lost. The Defence are doing a cracking job against the best this League can present to them - but again, we Fire Blanks in the Final Third. And what we do Fire, invariably we miss the target. The Defence must surely be getting frustrated at what is going in in front of them - they are doing more than their bit. Mark me down as you will - but truth always can't be denied contiuously.

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TimmyH added 19:00 - Mar 12 therein61 - not getting down just realistic, yes I stated the same a few weeks back that there would be twists and turns due to clubs feeling the pressure and hence surprise results BUT this season they have until now been comparatively few and far between...we can't rely on results going for us when we can't do the 'business' on the 6 pointers our side! saying that though I might have a different view if we beat Oxford and Plymouth over the next fortnight, but even that is looking tough with the injuries. We simply haven't been good enough against the top sides this season and some small ones, which has been the difference.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 19:14 - Mar 12 Nobbysnuts you're deluded that's utter tripe there were other buyers back then. Evans is why we are in league one and why we had a huge turnaround of players and staff this season and also why the owners and Ashton have and are making so many changes around Playford road and at the club because of penny pinching selling best players buying league one and two players and wondering why we're in league one. Look how many are there past few games nobbysnuts why is that? Because we have an attractive side to watch with technically superior players to what we've had during Evans tenure it's chalk and cheese to his tenure which shows if he'd invested what could've been but he didn't and charged us interest as well on HIS debt. Speculate to accumulate works as a lot of us were saying and now look at the club and the gates

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planetblue_2011 added 19:14 - Mar 12 Yeah think the playoff dream is over but we have been brilliant under McKenna, play like this next season & get a run of wins together we will surely get promoted!! Great effort from the team today, shame we don't have VAR because the goal should of stood. COYB⚽️💪
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RobsonWark added 19:19 - Mar 12 Not one of our best performances since Kieran came in. Too many poor passes giving away possession too easily. The main culprits were Chaplin and Bakinson.
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Linkboy13 added 19:27 - Mar 12 Can't fault the performance today we thrashed them nil nil. Played some lovely football at times but without the cutting edge in the last third of the pitch. Thought Wolfenden who is now showing great maturity and Burgess were excellent. Chaplin was at the heart of everything going forward and Celina kept probing. Could not understand the doom and gloom merchant's on Radio Suffolk. Don't think we will make the play offs this season but the future is looking very good. If we don't go up this season it will give McKenna more time to build a stronger team that's more capable of staying up if we did get promoted.

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TimmyH added 19:38 - Mar 12 Well we didn't thrash them nil nil 1st half! they were probably the better side (after Morsy went off) and came closest to scoring!...2nd half we had more territory and possession but didn't create enough clear cut opportunities!
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Ipswichbusiness added 19:41 - Mar 12 Realistically, our play-off hopes are over due to both the draw and Morsy's injury.
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yorkieblue62 added 20:21 - Mar 12 Think we will get around the 75 pts mark but that will not be enough this season. What is it about strikers at this club? Keane either hopeless or not given a chance but now helping Wigan get promotion. Pigott in last chance saloon over next 2 games.
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stormypetrel added 20:22 - Mar 12 That was a fantastic atmosphere today …if our American friends are not impressed by the febrile atmosphere today I don't know what will.. it wasn't as good as football Tuesday night against Lincoln but great entertainment…to lose the players we have today/this week and still deserve to win playing great football…aside from a win today what do people want??……our club has won the lottery ticket with our investors…just look at who was on the pitch today….and the entertainment…burgess comes in not a foot wrong, Thompson best game so far, Bakinson growing into each game…Woolfenden oh so f”@&£)( calm….I love being a Town supporter at the moment…after years of sh”@&£ I'm loving it …..and here's to you Blue Action … drumming it up!!!

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stormypetrel added 20:24 - Mar 12 And fair play to the Portsmouth fans…more than contributed to an excellent atmosphere
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blueboy1981 added 20:34 - Mar 12 There are all sorts of weird and wonderful comments on here - maybe more than normal for some bizarre reason. Stop talking about the Play Off's - we simply do not accrue enough points to qualify within the top six without scoring goals, clean sheets without scoring ourselves - equals one point NOT three as we require, especially at home. Stop blaming Paul Cook and /or Marcus Evans for ‘ruining our Club' - Marcus Evans kept our Club in existence - Paul Cook brought some good players to the Club, make no mistake, many of whom you now rave about !! - but BOTH are no longer here remember … !!! And anyone who knows Football, and I mean know it, not just watch it every week, knows it takes more time than Cook had to build a successful team. We have improved greatly under McK - goals against is an amazing success story … 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 But - game after game against decent opposition, we DO NOT score enough Goals by far to Win Prizes i.e. the Play Off's or Promotion - at at no stage as yet looked likely to either …. !!! It's called REALITY - not BULLSH#T and continuously blaming people who've left the Club. This is NOW !! - not Yesterday, or last Year.

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TimmyH added 20:40 - Mar 12 Linkboy - sounds like you were listening to the game rather than watching going by your post?...we did not' thrash them nil nil' and as I stated in my post they were marginally the better side first half.
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shakytown added 20:58 - Mar 12 We are just too small and pose no threat whatsoever from crosses and corners. Teams just pack the middle of the box and crowd our strikers out. we need a big centre forward and a couple of centre backs who can get forward for corners and make life difficult for the oppositions big men.
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barrystedmunds added 21:04 - Mar 12 Its not looking good is it? Too many of these draws that we really need to be winning. Never say never, but on the balance of our run in it's going to be difficult to make the play offs. Don't get me wrong, none of those teams will be relishing meeting us, but we really have to sort our goal scoring deficiencies out and sort them quickly if we're to have a realistic chance of being in the mix come May.

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Linkboy13 added 21:49 - Mar 12 TimmyH there's only one team who wanted to win it. I'll give you a clue they play in blue and white. There's only one team that was time wasting and hanging on for a draw need a clue they were playing in red and black.
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slimjim added 22:50 - Mar 12 A very average game in a very average league not a great deal of skill on show from either side IMO. At least we look more solid defensively under the new manager but lacked a cutting edge up front. I don't think the play offs are out of our reach remember folks this is division 3 and we should be competing better at this leveI but we do need to take our chances in front of goal…

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TimmyH added 23:16 - Mar 12 Linkboy - I agree 2nd half, 'hanging on'? we had the disallowed goal and one in the side netting but not that many other chances, we don't create enough and as we know a percentage of sides do play deep and try and waste time at PR...I wouldn't call it a 'thrash them nil nil' though.
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RobsonWark added 00:14 - Mar 13 Thompson was a tw at!! Way over the top when our players were trying to calm him down after his confrontation with Cowley and he lashed out at our players. Kieran tried to calm him down and he lashed out at him too!! I don't rate Thompson. He is a weak link in our team.
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