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Ipswich Town 1-1 Fleetwood Town - Match Report
Friday, 2nd Dec 2022 22:02

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



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CustardCream added 22:03 - Dec 2
Didn't we just know that was going to happen. Yes the ref was awful all game, yes the equaliser was very lucky and yes we should've had a penalty. But once again we've thrown points away right at the end. It's as if were allergic to going top of the league.

Reinforcements in January needed
34

Northstandveteran added 22:04 - Dec 2
94 minutes of waiting for the inevitable....
27

FrankMarshall added 22:04 - Dec 2
We crack like an egg when under pressure.
22

DaGremloid added 22:05 - Dec 2
That was so predictable and it's just not good enough. This has been going on for weeks now and yet the usual suspects will mark me down for being negative.

Seriously, this is a real problem and it NEEDS to be sorted very soon.

You can blame the ref, the opposition parking the bus, the pitch, or the stars not aligning properly, but until we learn to put teams like this away and then manage the remainder of the game like professionals, we're going to struggle. Hopefully we can continue to amass points to keep us ahead of the pack, but I'm fearing we'll end up in the lottery of the play-offs.
29

Nomore4 added 22:05 - Dec 2
Jackson let him go to get shot off
2

blueboy1981 added 22:05 - Dec 2
Well ? - Excuse Makers - what was it this time, the Referee, Rain, Rotation ??
Or are we just not good enough in reality ?
MUCH TO DO !!!
8

Lightningboy added 22:06 - Dec 2
Absolutely zero killer instinct in this squad..to score so early then 94 minutes of "nice" football is not good enough if we want to go up.

Needs addressing in January or we'll slip out of the top 2.

Ref was shocking too (again).
15

Lathers added 22:07 - Dec 2
Lincoln, Cheltenham and now Fleetwood. We have a PR problem that's not going away. It's also a score first and then immediately sit back and invite trouble problem. McKenna has got a problem. First time this season I am thinking we maybe have a problem.
9

pg888 added 22:07 - Dec 2
Sitting backdropping deeper and deeper inviting a goal where have we heard that before? This recurring theme of poor defending and poor game management will come back to bite us should we end up finishing third
13

Eeyore added 22:08 - Dec 2
McKenna has a huge battle on his hands to keep this team playing when they are ahead. He will sign a few players in Jan.
4

churchmans81 added 22:09 - Dec 2
I'd be interested to know how many points that is this season we've thrown away in the dying minutes .. or seconds. We should be out of sight by now. My God, it's frustrating !!
15

itfckenty added 22:09 - Dec 2
Knew it. I just knew what would happen. They need a good hard look at themselves and we need to do some transfer business, because staying this way will not get us up. Those deadwood players need shifting.
8

Eeyore added 22:10 - Dec 2
I called it at 92 minutes. DEFINITE equaliser. Right again.
6

Saxonblue74 added 22:10 - Dec 2
No excuses, when you're winning inside 2 minutes the game should open up and be there for the taking. First time for me questioning KmK, defensive subs at 1 up? Not for me I'm afraid, always needed a second.
6

TonyHumesIpswich added 22:10 - Dec 2
If there was more injury time we would have lost the game. Fragility of our team is very noticeable, need resilience. Strength, determination of Fleetwood highly noticeable, they were not giving up.
10

TimmyH added 22:10 - Dec 2
Started the game well but the longer it went on you knew what was going to happen with them being draw specialists...we just looked nervy 2nd half. Trying to think of the last game we won comfortably? god knows what we'll be like when the pressure really comes on in the New Year but I suppose it's the same for everyone near the top - not a disaster but we're getting a few games like this of late.
3

StringerBell added 22:12 - Dec 2
As sure as night follows day, Town cock it up in the dying seconds
Can't believe I've put myself through this for 45 years
9

blueboy1981 added 22:13 - Dec 2
Just watch the ‘chasing pack' - unless we ‘man up' and ‘buck up' NOW !
Because at the moment we are proving that we are overrated !
We couldn't have had a better start - and BLEW IT completely - AGAIN !!
Who can not be Livid after this ??
10

delias_cheesy_flaps added 22:14 - Dec 2
Fark me……I only caught the last 20 minutes being 8 hours ahead, from what I saw it was an absolute fluke of a goal to equalise and what looked like a stonewall penalty denied after!
Thoughts…..another absolute sh!te ref and we're our own worst enemies!
4

grow_our_own added 22:15 - Dec 2
Things learned:
1. Fleetwood had more possession than us tonight. No coincidence that is first time this season pitch has badly cut up. We and our passing game might badly miss not installing the desso last summer.
2. Ahadme isn't good enough cover in JJ's absence. Need new striker in Jan.
3. L1 referees are even more third-rate than we thought. Inconsistent, over permissive, then pernickety. Only solution is to get out of this crappy league.
4

Bezzer added 22:16 - Dec 2
No good blaming the ref! Only Ipswich can do this type of stuff, it's endemic! Management needs to look at themselves, it's their team and let's be fair, we've all blamed previous managers for the same thing!! We need a 25+ goal scorer in our team and it may cost to get someone like that, however, killing games off, wins game!
4

BlueInBerks added 22:16 - Dec 2
I'm grateful for their equaliser, demonstrating how speculative cross/shots from distance can pay off and walking it into the net takes skills we just don't have.
6

billlm added 22:17 - Dec 2
They deserved that,
Pants second half
To many no shows from our supposed starts tonight,
Nothing new,
8

Dissboyitfc added 22:17 - Dec 2
Absolutely gutted, as any true town will be! But there will be 1 or 2 ( I won't call them supporters, because they aren't) people who will be delighted with Fleetwoods equaliser. These people think they are super supporters!
-3

PhilR added 22:18 - Dec 2
Ref was very poor, to say the least, but it is worrying to see us unable to keep the ball effectively against Fleetwood. Our second half performance looked a long way off a competitive Championship side. Disappointing. Subs generally seemed to make it worse. Why take Davis off with a few minutes left? He was pretty much our best player tonight.
6


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