Sub Cian Hayes netted a 96th-minute equaliser to deny the Blues victory as Town and Fleetwood drew 1-1 at Portman Road, Luke Woolfenden having given the home side a second-minute lead. Second-placed Town looked destined to leap to the top of League One with Plymouth losing at home to Port Vale until Hayes’s late, late deflected goal claimed a point for the Cod Army, who ended the game with 10 men following ex-Blues loanee Josh Earl’s dismissal for making obscene gestures as he celebrated their goal.

One-time Fleetwood loanee Janoi Donacien and Freddie Ladapo were both fit to start having been doubts ahead of the match, manager Kieran McKenna’s 50th in charge of the club.

Kyle Edwards started in a team featuring one change from Town’s last League One outing a fortnight ago, the 2-0 win at Exeter.

Edwards came into the side for the injured Marcus Harness as one of the number 10s behind Ladapo.

Greg Leigh was on the bench having missed the Buxton FA Cup tie due to a minor knee issue.

Fleetwood’s XI included former Blues centre-half Toto Nsiala and ex-loanee Earl, while Joe Garner was on the bench.

With rain falling heavily, Town went in front in the second minute. Leif Davis sent over a corner from the left, Conor Chaplin shot, Ladapo turned his effort towards goal and keeper Jay Lynch saved, but Woolfenden tucked it away at the far post, the centre-half’s second goal of the season, both in the last three league games.

Having got off to an ideal start against the division’s draw specialists - Fleetwood had drawn 10 of their 19 matches going into the game - the Blues looked to press home their advantage.

On five, Shaun Rooney was booked for a painful-looking challenge on Chaplin midway inside the visitors’ half.

From Davis’s free-kick, Cameron Burgess headed across the face of goal but behind Wes Burns.

In the seventh minute, Woolfenden appealed for a penalty after he had been manhandled by Fleetwood skipper Josh Vela as another Davis corner came over from the left, however, referee Sam Purkiss felt it was six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Two minutes later, Fleetwood attacked for the first time, Callum Morton beating Christian Walton to the ball as he chased a ball into the right of the area with the keeper well out of his goal. Morton teed-up Promise Omochere on the edge of the box but his effort towards the empty net wafted well wide.

On 11, Chaplin shot from the left of the area forcing Lynch to palm away. The ball reached Edwards on the edge of the box but the winger's deflected effort was claimed by the keeper.

Ladapo went close on the quarter hour when he diverted Chaplin’s cross from the left towards goal and Lynch did well to tip over the bar.

Fleetwood were forced into the first change of the evening in the 19th minute when Paddy Lane was replaced by Dan Batty having suffered a knock.

Two minutes later, Burns, facing his old club, was shown Town’s first yellow card of the evening for what looked a fair tackle on one-time Blues loanee Earl.

Town continued looking for their second goal, Edwards hitting a wayward effort from the edge of the box in the 25th minute after an interchange of passes involving Chaplin and Ladapo. Two minutes later, Burns headed a Davis cross from the left over the bar.

Following a series of stoppages, the Blues began to lose their impetus a little and on 38 the visitors had their best chance of the half.

After what looked a high studs-up challenge on Cameron Humphreys just outside the area by Lewis Warrington, Rooney played Morton in on goal but Walton was quickly off his line to block, the keeper and Cod Army striker both left feeling a little sore after colliding but OK to carry on.

As the half moved into additional time, Chaplin crossed low from the right and Davis tried to turn towards goal from a tight angle beyond the far post but his attempt was bundled behind.

From the corner, Burgess looked to be hauled down by Earl as the ball came over but referee Purkiss waved away the protests with the Sir Bobby Robson Stand particular vocal in their claims for a penalty.

Seconds later, Chaplin felt Rooney had handled on the touchline but again with no reaction from the referee, then seconds later the former Pompey man was awarded a free-kick having been fouled to sarcastic cheers from the home support.

There were muted boos for referee Purkiss as he made his way off at the whistle with a number of decisions having appeared to go against the Blues over the course of the half, Burgess appearing to have been pulled over at the late corner.

Having got off to the perfect start, the Blues had dominated and had been close to adding a second on a number of occasions before becoming sloppier and losing their momentum in the final 15 minutes.

Fleetwood, who having gone behind so early offered more going forward than some recent visitors to Portman Road, had had a couple of opportunities and Walton had been forced into one significant save late on in the half.

Town started the second half shakily, Woolfenden’s pass failing to find Chaplin and Batty was eventually crowded out in the area.

But the Blues quickly began to get on top and in the 50th minute Chaplin forced Lynch into his first save of the half when Burns’s cross was half-cleared to the forward, who struck a powerful effort from the right of the box which the keeper palmed across the face of goal.

Following an elaborate free-kick played into the area from the left which was cut out, the Blues kept the play in the Fleetwood half and eventually Chaplin shot over from 25 yards to the right.

On 58, Chaplin was felled by Earl as he sought to turn him midway inside the Town half. Referee Purkiss spoke to the former Preston man, who made his apologies clear, but failed to show a card.

Earl and Chaplin, who had evidently felt the challenge, tangled again moments later and both ended up on the floor before Vela and fellow skipper Morsy exchanged words after a strong challenge by the Fleetwood man on the Town midfielder on the byline. Referee Purkiss spoke to the captains but took no further action.

As the hour mark passed, the Town fans raised the volume a couple of turns as news that Plymouth were behind at home to Port Vale filtered around.

However, in the 64th minute, Fleetwood almost carved out an opportunity after Burgess, who moments earlier had suffered a blow to the head when defending a free-kick, gifted possession to Omochere on the right. The forward fed Garner, who flicked into the path of Batty, who slipped as he broke into the area.

Moments later, the Fleetwood sub was booked for a foul on Morsy on halfway, then on 68 Town swapped Edwards for Kayden Jackson.

On 74, Burns drifted a cross towards the far post, Jackson nodded down but failed to pick out a Town player and the danger was cleared.

Three minutes later, a well-worked Town move which started on the left but ended on the right saw Donacien cut back from the byline towards Humphreys breaking to the edge of the six-yard box but the youngster was unable to direct it towards goal.

Town swapped Ladapo for Gassan Ahadme in the 79th minute and Fleetwood replaced Omochere, who looked to have picked up a knock, with Cian Hayes.

Soon after the changes, Burns whipped a low ball towards the far post from the right and Jackson turned towards goal under pressure from a defender but his effort was too close to Lynch, who had had a quiet second half.

With five minutes left on the clock, former Blues striker Joe Garner was introduced for Batty and almost immediately almost levelled.

After a corner had been cleared back out to the right, the ball was returned into the box and the ex-Town frontman headed towards goal but found Davis on the line to clear from under the bar when a goal looked certain.

That was Davis’s last action of the match with Leigh taking over for the final three scheduled minutes, while Kane Vincent-Young replaced Burns, who had taken a blow to the shin when making a block challenge a few minutes earlier.

There was a brief flashpoint as Davis looked to make his way from the far corner towards the dugouts with Rooney pushing him in the direction of the byline behind the goal before Morsy and others stepped across to make their thoughts on the matter known.

The fourth official’s board showed six additional minutes in which the visitors looked for a leveller and in the final minute of injury time it came.

Following a throw-in on the left, the ball ended up with Hayes on the right. The sub cut in and hit a shot which took a deflection off Burgess’s head, beat Walton and hit the inside of the post before nestling in the back of the net.

Portman Road was stunned into silence as Fleetwood celebrated. Ex-loanee Earl took his celebrations too far, making gestures to towards Town fans and as the players regrouped for the restart was shown a straight red card.

There was time for one more unsuccessful Town penalty appeal, Jackson having been bundled to the ground as he looked to get in a shot, before referee Purkiss ended the evening with boos aimed at the official following his whistle and as he made his way to the tunnel.

It had been far from Town’s most fluent performance and Fleetwood - who have now drawn 11 of 20 League One matches this season - showed enough going forward throughout for the danger of an equaliser to have always been there. The Blues got away with Joe Garner’s effort which was cleared off the line, but lightning didn’t strike twice.

Overall, having gone ahead so early, the Blues really needed to have capitalised on their threat in the spell immediately afterwards with chances harder to come by in an unusually lacklustre second half.

Once again, Town showed their tendency to let leads slip, as they did in their previous home game against Cheltenham and twice at Charlton.

With Plymouth losing 2-0 at home to Port Vale, a Town win would have put them top of the table. As it is the Blues are now only a point behind the Pilgrims with third-placed Sheffield Wednesday, two points off Town, at Derby County tomorrow and able to go top of they win.

Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns (Vincent-Young 87), Morsy (c), Humphreys, Davis (Leigh 87), Chaplin, Edwards (Jackson 68), Ladapo (Ahadme 79). Unused: Hladky, Edmundson, Keogh.

Fleetwood: Lynch, Vela (c), Morton, Lane (Batty 19 (J Garner 85), Warrington, Holgate, G Garner, Omochere (Hayes 79), Nsiala, Rooney, Earl. Unused: Stolarczyk, Wiredu, Johnston, Baggley. Referee: Sam Purkiss (London). Att: 22,801 (Fleetwood: 66).

Photo: Matchday Images

blueboy1981 added 08:59 - Dec 3 Pundits have said we'll fall away - cue typical Ipswich Town. Let's grow some Rollocks - like FLEETWOOD !!
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martin587 added 09:04 - Dec 3 We can't keep blaming the Ref when things don't go our way.Most refs in this league aren't worth a dime.The problem is our inability to kill a game off nothing more nothing less.Until we get a number nine capable of finding the net we will never be a threat.The service is there but not unfortunately the end problem.Let's see what happens in January but remember we are still second so not a disaster just yet.Come on ENGLAND.

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OliveR16 added 09:06 - Dec 3 I thought Fleetwood easily deserved the draw. And they had more possession lol. One of those nights that reminded me we're a League 1 team, not a Championship team playing in League 1.
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ImAbeliever added 09:25 - Dec 3 In a nutshell Martin587.
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tractorboybig added 10:05 - Dec 3 Well if anyone has blown automatic promotion with home form……..we are really trying
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ringwoodblue added 10:06 - Dec 3 I have waited to post until this morning as I was too angry last night. Last night's result was infuriating for many reasons but most of all because we've seen it so many times before, we all predicted it would happen the deeper into the second half it got only being 1-0 up. The other aspect to consider is the psychological effect on our promotion rivals. Plymouth lost at home and they want lose many but they know that when they do, we are unable to capitalise on it. Sheff Wed will get immense motivation for todays game as they know they can overtake both of their rivals and I predict they will. Barnsley also look to be stringing some wins together and are closing the gap. I have a huge amount of respect for McKenna and he must know (despite what he said in his post-match interview) that the team have a major weakness that must be eliminated.

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ringwoodblue added 10:07 - Dec 3 *wont
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jas0999 added 10:19 - Dec 3 Really poor. Fleetwood join Bolton, Barnsley and Cheltenham who have walked away with a point when we should have won comfortably. Lincoln took all three. This is on top of throwing away points at Sheffield and Charlton. All in all not good enough if we want to finish top two. Honeymoon period over for KM, who must now find a way to win these matches. Once is forgivable, but last night simply isn't. Desperately need a new striker. Midfielder and a defender who knows how to win. Poor.

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Linkboy13 added 10:35 - Dec 3 You could tell how poor the performance was by the deathning silence in the crowd. At home games we dont seem to get behind the team when they are struggling the team has to raise the crowd. The only noise was the usual moronic abuse of the referee when we are not playing well and for Toto Nsiala.
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Mariner1974 added 11:12 - Dec 3 Linkboy13 I think it was more down to the temperature, the early goal & the fact that Toto had briefed them that if they won the toss, to make sure we don't attack the Bobby Robson end second half. Feels like the first time in ages that we've started the game attacking the Bobby. Great early goal, but it can allow the fans to drift as well as the team if we don't capitalise further from there.

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runningout added 11:13 - Dec 3 next somebody will be saying there is a curse at PR :-)
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Mariner1974 added 11:30 - Dec 3 First time I've been fuming after a game this season. Cheltenham and Lincoln I had frustration, but more at how the ball wouldn't go into the net, and how we dropped points to teams that obviously had just come to defend and hold onto whatever they could grab. Last night was that annoying scenario where we are bossing it early doors. Score a goal from the get go, but then don't press home our advantage with another. Gotta not take our foot off the gas until we get a two goal advantage. Always leaves us open to a set piece or a deflected goal like we get hit by last night. Easy to sit here and start picking apart individual players, but if I think clearly there was that first 25-30 mins where we were playing great in almost every compartment. Leif Davis & Kyle looking like they've had a strong week's training together and linking up really well and dovetailing so that Kyle could cross from the byeline as much as Leif's been doing in previous games they've been on the pitch together. Started to look really strong in tandem. Thought Burns had the beating of his man and linking up well with Donacien and Chappers who was a livewire and probably best player on the pitch til Earls knobbled him. Morsy's passing was a bit off, but still controlling the midfield at that stage, and Cam Humphreys sweet left foot was doing the business...Even Freddie L looked like he was gonna have one of his best nights for us. We just needed to score that 2nd goal when we were on top.... Then Fleetwood started to break up the game. That massive tosser from Scotland Rooney, should have been off in the first half. He must have threatened the Ref's family or something, as the Ref had zero control over him all game, but failed to brandish his second yellow that he deserved with his petulance. The started to make it their kind of game. Stop the flow, and impose their physicality on us. It's a problem we've always had in League One and in the Championship for that matter. Teams know they won't outplay us, but they can outfight us on a cold winter's night. The high press McKenna has brought in, as negated this some what, but last night was one of those worrying nights that if a team push the physicality and you don't have a strong ref to deal with them, then they will just keep pushing the ante. That changed the game, and made it more of a battle than it should have been. Don't think we sit here and blame McKenna or individual players, but as a collective the team needs to get better at finishing off teams before we give them the chance to snatch a late equaliser with a set piece or a flukey deflection. We're not gonna get outplayed this season, but we can always get outfought. It's hard to create a team that has both...a skilful set of players isn't usually the same set of physically imposing yobs, but it's the balance that we strive for. Our defence was strong yet again, and maybe we missed having a Dom Ball or Evans to come on when the going got a bit tougher last night. I love Cam Humphries, but sometimes games turn and we'll need another fighter in there alongside Morsy to see out a game. Last night hurt. It was a sucker punch goal, and we got roughed up by a team, that were allowed to get away with it from a weak ref. We've gotta be better at imposing out class on teams, and getting that 2 goal buffer. One freak goal we can take when we're 2-0, but 1-0 always leaves things open to chance.

9

Razor added 11:38 - Dec 3 Sheff Weds,Charlton,Cheltenham and Fleetwood plus the two we were robbed of against Barnsley and thats 10 points lost before we have even changed the clocks back----very worrying and surely not promotion form?
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johnwarksshorts added 12:06 - Dec 3 Hope Derby can beat Sheff Wed today🤞
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Rimsy added 12:57 - Dec 3 Obvious to everyone we were going to get pegged back. Bigger issue is rest of the game when we don't put these teams to bed. So slow from the back, wolfy literally walks everywhere, no urgency. We need to ram home the advantage when we're on top.
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blue86 added 13:15 - Dec 3 Blueboy1981- i like grow a pair like fleetwood hahaha where are fleetwood in the table? You seem like you are hard to please, everything you say about Town is negative? Are you even a supporter? Are you a budgie? Yeah it was disappointing last night, especially so late on BUT it happens to other teams also, plus the table doesent lie at this stage does it. Anyone would have taken our position at the start of the season, are we perfect? No, of course not! But we are playing our best football in general for the last 15 years at least. Coyb

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Gforce added 13:51 - Dec 3 @Mariner74......That must be the longest post this season 😀 Good post though. !
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greenkingtone added 13:55 - Dec 3 Over the years I have had bad experiences at P.R. but last night was the worst. When I was the team going into panic mode and then 6 mins added on I knew what was going to happen. Money must be spent in January or we will drop out of contention for promotion.
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warktheline added 14:00 - Dec 3 Very disappointing to concede so late in the game, manager needs to address dropping off points on home turf. On our travels we are second to none, so although it's dropped points it's not hugely significant ….OMG, baron years! Why was that @blueboy ? Surely you must remember , because you sat on your hands and positively accepted it! So Fleetwood are our example this week? Not ‘little Plymouth'? Oh they lost at home to ‘little Vale'…MUCH TO DO I guess all round! 🤣

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Mariner1974 added 14:19 - Dec 3 @GForce...Yeh had a few things to get off my chest! Wonder if that ref enjoyed his breakfast or is packing his pants sitting by the phone in case the Scottish Rooney calls
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Mariner1974 added 14:24 - Dec 3 @greenkingtone How can you say last night was your worst experience at Portman Road?!! This season has been wonderful compared to some of the abysmal stuff where the team weren't functioning in season's past. Let's put things into a little bit of perspective!
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Bomber added 14:30 - Dec 3 Well Plymouth dropped 3 points & Sheff Wed dropped 2 just as we did so no real harm done. I am sure Mckenna will sort this & I am confident we will do some deals in the transfer window a striker with that killer instinct is needed. We are 2nd with still over half the season to go & we have quality players to come back from injury so as frustrating as we can be sometimes, let's get behind the team COYB

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dangerous30 added 14:35 - Dec 3 It's never good dropping points but we are not the only ones and hopefully the team can learn from it.
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ChrisR added 15:47 - Dec 3 Town were on top for the first 5 minutes, then faded away progressively. Fleetwood deserved at least the draw, could easily have won. Something is missing, we are unable to dominate physically and mentally, much as in previous seasons. Evening also ruined by moronic foulmouthed chanting from SBR end juveniles. Kindly desist please.
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ImAbeliever added 16:18 - Dec 3 Still 2nd
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