Ipswich 1-1 Leicester: Refereeing decisions deny Town vital first win

Slow start

The Foxes had the better of the opening exchanges and created a couple of decent chances.

Firstly, Vardy ran through and surprisingly squared the ball to Mavididi at the back post but could not sort his feet out in what looked like a great chance.

Secondly, Muric was tested for the first time when Fatawu attempted to wrap his effort into the far corner, but he comfortably palmed it out for a corner, in what proved to be a solid performance from the Town keeper.

In between these chances, Hutchinson capitalised on Vestergaard's clumsy touch; unfortunately, his pinpoint cross was headed over by Szmodics, who probably should have done better.

Buonanotte was proving a tricky customer. In the 15th minute, he weaved through multiple Ipswich players, but his end product was matched by the strong wrist of Muric.

Dominated the rest of the half

After being on the back foot and struggling to get on the ball for most of the opening exchanges, we finally settled and dominated the rest of the half, playing some beautiful football. Town created two great chances during this spell. In the 31st minute, O’Shea made a darting far post run from a corner, and his eyes must have lit up when he saw he had a free header, but he got it all wrong and failed to hit the target.

Town nearly broke the deadlock just before half-time when Chaplin made a trademark run across the area before hitting a tremendous shot that flew just wide of the upright. This capped the best-sustained spell of attacking football from Town since the Aston Villa game, and it was clear the players were growing in confidence.

Special finish from Davis

The second half started quietly, with both sides struggling to create chances. However, this all changed in the 55th minute with an incredible goal from Leif Davis – his first in the Premier League.

An excellent crossfield ball from the skipper set Leif, whose audacious side-footed volley was perfectly executed and flew into the far corner. Leif doesn’t score very often, but when he does, it tends to be special, such as his thumping strike in the famous Southampton game last season. The technique on this strike was exquisite and further evidence of Leif’s growing talent.

The goal was the least we deserved, as we had comfortably been the better and more aggressive team. 

Game-changing piece of refereeing

We looked comfortable and in control of the game, but this all changed in the 77th minute when referee Tim Robinson took the game into his own hands.

Chaplin appeared to be blatantly bundled over in the box by Fatawu. Replays of the incident only reinforced this, making it look even more like a stonewall penalty. However, Robinson did not give a penalty, and it was even more bamboozling that VAR did not change his on-field decision or even ask him to take a look.

Just seconds later, things got even worse for Ipswich when Phillips picked up a second yellow. It was a silly challenge when on a yellow, leaving a leg in on Pereira, although replays suggest minimal contact.

However, clearly the red would have never occurred if we had got the penalty we deserved. All of a sudden we were on the backfoot and down to 10 men, when we should have been 2-0 up (assuming we didn’t miss the penalty!).

Having not received a red card since the last game in League One, Town have now received red cards in consecutive matches, albeit both were highly questionable.

Ayew impact

Leicester had struggled to create anything notable, but this all changed in the 86th minute when Jordan Ayew, a player I have always considered underrated, was introduced to the fray.

He almost had an instant impact just a minute after coming on when he was threaded through by Buonanotte. Ayew did everything right with his attempted dink, which beat Muric but did not beat the Australian wall in Burgess, who came through with a huge goal-line clearance. At the time, it felt like this would be the winning moment for Town.

Unfortunately, in the 95th minute, Ayew had his moment.

Somehow, just seconds after a counter-attack, we lost the ball and conceded.

Morsy picked the ball up in acres of space and drove down the right. Rather than turn back and look for support, he seemed to look for a foul, and my initial reaction is that he did go down softly, even though the crowd were screaming for a free kick.

On the other hand, Burns had to be stronger, and either foul Soumare or at the least prevent him from driving through. Having failed to do this, the one-two and finish from Vardy to Ayew were, in fairness, very nice. It was a devastating end to the game, with Town left holding on desperately to get a point.

Right side dynamism is back

Our right side has been chopped and changed frequently so far this season, but this was the first game I felt we had fluidity and solid patterns of play since Tuanzebe’s injury.

Chaplin was the catalyst for this. He built on an impressive performance against Brentford and was the glue in the middle, linking everything. In possession, he is looking extremely productive and proving he has the ability at this level.

Hutchinson was finally handed his first Premier League start at right wing and, whilst his end product was sometimes lacking, he looked very dangerous every time he got on the ball and gave Kristiansen some nervy moments,

Like many fans, I’ve been quite critical of Johnson since he joined Ipswich, so it is only right I give him his flowers because he had his best game in a Town shirt by a large margin. He was very aggressive and shut down a tricky customer in Mavididi. His link-up play down the right with Hutchinson and Chaplin was excellent, and he offered an attacking threat on the overlap. It was great to see him put in a good performance, and hopefully, he’ll get even better with more game time.

Morsy also had a strong game and linked things well down the right side. He was aggressive as ever in the duel and positive with his passing, picking up his first Premier League assist with the pinpoint pick out to Leif. It was also unusual not to see Morsy pick up a yellow!

Dropped points from winning positions

With the draw to Leicester, we have now dropped 12 points from winning positions, which does not make for pretty reading and is the most of any team in the league. There are fine margins at this level, and we need to get better at managing games and closing them out. However, it should be noted that luck has not been on our side in recent matches.

It is obviously hard to defend leads with ten men, which has been the case in the last couple of games. However, the goal we conceded yesterday was once again very avoidable, and I’m hoping we will become more comfortable when closing out games once we finally pick up our first win. We should at least take some encouragement that we are putting ourselves in winning positions.

No team has ever avoided relegation after failing to win any of its first ten matches. However, with a little more luck, we would have had 3 more points from the last two games, and we’re still looking highly competitive. It does feel possible for us to go on a decent run if we can pick up that first win soon.

Moment of the match

Sadly, it was not a positive moment, but it cannot be anything other than the chaos that unfolded in the 77th minute, with the Chaplin penalty not given, followed immediately by the Phillips red card. 

Having said that, it’s likely that Davis’ wonderful goal will live longer in the memory.

Next up

On paper a very tough game away to Tottenham, where they don’t drop many points. They will also be full of confidence after their 4-1 victory against Villa. Difficult to see Town getting anything from this one, although the high defensive line played by Spurs and vulnerability from set pieces may offer us some hope.

Player ratings: Muric 7, Johnson 8 (MOTM), O’Shea 7, Burgess 7, Davis 8, Morsy 8, Phillips 6, Hutchinson 6, Chaplin 7, Szmodics 6, Delap 7

Subs: Clarke 6, Hirst 6, Cajuste 6, Burns 5