| Ipswich Town 1 v 1 Leicester City FA Premier League Saturday, 2nd November 2024 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
Ipswich Town 1-1 Leicester City - Match Report Saturday, 2nd Nov 2024 17:14 Jordan Ayew netted in the 94th minute to deny 10-man Town their first Premier League victory of the season as the Blues and Leicester drew 1-1 at Portman Road. Leif Davis gave Town the lead with a superb volley, his first top-flight goal on his 100th appearance for the club, on 55 but the Blues were reduced in number for the second successive game when Kalvin Phillips was harshly dismissed for a second bookable offence, seconds after Conor Chaplin had been denied a clear penalty. The 10 men held out until the fourth minute of injury time when Ayew levelled for the Foxes with Town unhappy that Morsy may have been fouled early in the build-up. Skipper Morsy, Omari Hutchinson, Liam Delap and Ben Johnson all returned to the Town starting XI. Morsy missed last week’s 4-3 defeat at Brentford due to a hamstring problem, but rejoined Phillips in the centre of midfield. Johnson, who had been out with a thigh injury, came in for Harry Clarke at right-back, with the former Arsenal youngster unavailable due to his red card last week. Hutchinson was over the illness which sidelined him at the Gtech Community Stadium and started on the right with Chaplin in the centre and Sammie Szmodics on the left. Delap got the nod ahead of former Leicester frontman George Hirst as the lone striker. Hirst was among the subs alongside Jens Cajuste and Jack Clarke, who started last week, Nathan Broadhead, yet to appear for Town this season, and Massimo Luongo, back from an ankle injury. As well as Davis making his 100th appearance for the club at left-back, Cameron Burgess was making his 100th start for the Blues at the centre of the defence. Leicester, whose manager Steve Cooper was serving a one-match touchline ban despite some confusion whether that was the case in the run-up to the match, made two changes from the team which lost 3-1 at home to Nottingham Forest last week with James Justin and Caleb Okoli dropping to the bench and Victor Kristiansen and Jannik Vestergaard coming into the XI. The Foxes saw virtually all of the ball in the early stages and in the third minute created the first chance from which they will feel they should have scored. Skipper Vardy was played in towards the right of the box and cut across towards Stephy Mavididi in space on the left breaking towards goal. Fortunately for Town, O’Shea got a touch and Mavididi hit the ball against his own foot and Aro Muric was able to claim. Leicester continued to dominate and in the eighth minute Abdul Fatawu cut in from the right and hit a shot which Muric palmed away to his right for a corner. Town went close for the first time in the ninth minute. Hutchinson stole the ball from Vestergaard after a poor touch on the edge of the area and crossed for Szmodics, who headed what was a difficult chance over. On 11, Chaplin brought the ball in from the right and hit a shot wide following a neat exchange of passes on the right. A minute later, Town claimed a penalty when Delap broke towards goal and appeared to be clipped by Vestergaard’s heel. VAR official Stuart Attwell took a look but opted not to award a penalty. As the game reached the quarter-hour mark, with Leicester still largely in control of the game, Facundo Buonanotte skipped his way past a number of Blues defenders to work his way to the left of the box before hitting a shot which Muric batted away and Leif Davis cleared. In the 21st minute, Davis curled over a corner from the left to the penalty spot where Phillips’s volley was blocked. The loose ball fell to O’Shea and the Irishman’s effort was also stopped. From the resultant flag-kick, O’Shea claimed he’d been hauled down as he sought to get a head on Phillips’s ball but again referee Tim Robinson wasn’t interested. Play moved to the other end and Mavididi was penalised for fouling Phillips on halfway. Buonanotte was subsequently booked for kicking the ball away. Town were taking charge and Hutchinson saw a curling effort from the edge of the box blocked, then saw a teasing cross headed away in front of Delap and Szmodics. On 29, Delap brilliantly turned Wout Faes on halfway and brought the ball forward before finding Hutchinson on the right but the former Chelsea man’s cross was blocked and deflected behind off him for a goal-kick. Within a minute, Town had their best chance of the afternoon up to that point. Davis’s deep corner from the right reached an unmarked O’Shea, who headed into the ground but over. The Irish international defender’s reaction showed he knew he should have scored. Visitors keeper Mads Hermansen took an age over the goal-kick and was spoken to by the referee but not carded. Hutchinson continued to be a threat on the right and in the 34th minute was found by Chaplin, the England U21 international’s strike deflecting behind for another corner. From that flag-kick, the ball was won back by Phillips who brought it forward and eventually Chaplin found space but pulled his right-footed shot wide of Hermansen’s right post. Town were by now well in control and in the 39th minute Chaplin came very close to a stunning first Premier League goal. The former Portsmouth man exchanged passes with Delap, then took the ball on and inside before shooting only inches away from the top corner. Four minutes later, a slick Town move ended with Chaplin flicking a lofted pass through for Szmodics but Hermansen was able to punch away. Soon after, with Town increasingly dominant and Portman Road upping the volume, Johnson side-footed an effort from the edge of the box towards the top corner but the Leicester keeper claimed. On 44, Phillips was booked for a late charge on Buonanotte, who made a lot of the challenge. VAR looked at the incident following claims of an elbow but cleared the Town midfielder. While the Argentina international was receiving treatment, the fourth official’s board announced two additional minutes. Neither side was able to create an opportunity in that time but the Town fans will have been the happier with their side at the break. The visitors had started much the stronger - as they did in the two games between the teams last season - and should have gone in front via Mavididi early on. But as the half progressed the Blues gradually began to take control and were well in charge in the last 20 minutes with O’Shea’s header Town’s best chance. Chaplin and Hutchinson had been among the Blues’ best performers with the club’s record signing showing why there had been such a clamour for him to move out to the wing. Six minutes after the restart, with neither side having created a chance, O’Shea and Vardy tussled after the former England striker had fouled the Town defender but referee Robinson felt a talking-to was sufficient. Town had been knocking on the door before the break and 10 minutes after the restart they finally went in front. Morsy played a superb cross-field ball over Ricardo Pereira and Davis volleyed his first Premier League goal across Hermansen and just inside the post before celebrating at length with the North Stand supporters and subs. A frustrated Mavididi got his name in the book in the 59th minute for throwing the ball away after a throw was awarded against him on the Leicester left. The Foxes struck their first effort of the second half in the 64th minute, Harry Winks, a youth player at Tottenham under Town boss Kieran McKenna, hitting a 25-yard effort which Muric again batted away to his right. Two minutes later, Delap was tripped by Wilfred Ndidi not far outside the area, Davis requiring treatment before Phillips hit the free-kick into the wall before continuing. On 71 Leicester made their first changes, Kasey McAteer replacing Mavididi and Boubakary Soumaré taking over from Ndidi. Town made their first changes in the 74th minute, Szmodics and Delap making way for Jack Clarke and Hirst, facing his old club, the departing duo receiving a warm ovation from the Blues’ support. In the 77th minute, Town felt they should have been awarded a penalty when, following a free-kick sent in to the box by Davis to O’Shea, whose header was saved, Chaplin was barged over by Fatawu, who made no attempt to win the ball. In the aftermath, with the ball now on the left edge of the box, Ricardo cleared ahead of Phillips and went to ground. Referee Robinson showed Phillips a second yellow and then a red card, while VAR decided Leicester had no case to answer regarding the penalty incident. Having been reduced to 10 men for the second successive game for the first time in the McKenna era, the Blues swapped Chaplin and Hutchinson for Cajuste, who moved into central midfield, and Wes Burns. Having left the field, Chaplin was booked for continuing the protests regarding the penalty, and you could see his point, it looked as blatant a spot-kick as they come. On 84 Muric joined him for holding up a restart. Town dug in as Leicester went looking for an equaliser, not particularly convincingly. On 86, Buonanotte blazed over. The Foxes switched Kristiansen for Ayew moments later and the Ghana international almost scored seconds after being introduced. Cajuste tried to haul down Buonanotte as the Argentinian drove forward - and was later booked - before the ball was played to Ayew on the left of the box, who seemed to have scored until Burgess somehow cleared off the line with the back of his calf. Hirst was booked for time-wasting, before Buonanotte hit a shot through a crowd of players after cutting in from the right, Muric batting it up in the air. The fourth official indicating eight additional minutes triggered groans from the Town support, which quickly went back to getting behind their side. The Blues defended a corner in the 94th minute, Morsy taking the ball into the Leicester half. The danger looked to be gone but Morsy was upended - fairly according to the referee and VAR - by Soumaré, who brought it forward down the left. Ayew and Vardy played a one-two and the sub slipped the ball past Muric to level. Town were left hoping that VAR would for once help them out regarding the challenge on Morsy but again were out of luck. The Blues now had to see out the final minutes of additional time to claim a point with a number of Leicester shots blocked and the ball bouncing around the box before being cleared. The final whistle signalled boos around Portman Road aimed towards the officials, the Blues again having been on the wrong end of the poorest refereeing at Portman Road this season and once again VAR decisions. Town would have been well worth a first Premier League victory with Davis’s goal good enough to win any match and the performance their best of the campaign, dominating from around the half-hour mark until the red card. But it was always going to be tough after Phillips’s red card, the on-loan Manchester City man having done little to warrant the second booking. Whether that challenge was a foul should have been a moot point with Chaplin clearly having been fouled in the incident a moment earlier, while Town can also feel hard done by regarding the goal with Morsy having been felled early in the move. Despite the disappointment of not recording a first Premier League win, a draw - the third 1-1 stalemate in a row between the teams - does end the Blues’ run of three successive losses - the longest run of losses under McKenna - but they remain in 18th place, now only a point ahead of Southampton, who beat Everton 1-0. Only Wolves and Town remain without a win. The Blues are next in action a week tomorrow when they take on Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Town: Muric, Johnson, O’Shea, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (c), Phillips, Hutchinson (Burns 81), Chaplin (Cajuste 81), Szmodics (J Clarke 74), Delap (Hirst 74). Unused: Walton, Woolfenden, Burns, Townsend, Luongo, Broadhead. Leicester: Hermansen, Pereira (El Khannouss 80), Faes, Vestergaard, Kristiansen (Ayew 86), Ndidi (Soumaré 71), Winks, Fatawu, Buonanotte, Mavididi (McAteer 71), Vardy (c). Unused: Ward, Justin, Coady, Okoli, Skipp. Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex), VAR: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton). Att: 29,874 (Leicester: 2,991).
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