Town pick up a point on the road at Bristol – but could have come away empty handed
Fans leaving Ashton Gate after Ipswich drew 1-1 with Bristol City. Photo: Russell Cook.
Ipswich go into this coming weekend’s derby clash against Norwich City on a four match unbeaten run but they nearly slipped up at Bristol last night.
Town fans came away from the game moderately happy with the point in a game that they could have easily lost against a fast, strong City outfit.
The hosts put the Blues under a great deal of pressure towards the end of the Championship match at Ashton Gate which ended in a 1-1 draw but Town could, and probably should, have taken their chances in the opening stages.
They were on top for a good 15 minutes before City’s centre-back Rob Atkinson’s headed home from a corner against the run of play in the 18th minute.
But Town came back strongly in the opening period of the second half, much to the delight of over 3,000 visiting fans, when Jack Clarke scored his third goal in four games from the penalty spot, his second successful spot-kick of the season, after Chuba Akron was tripped in the box by Ross McCrorie.
Town’s manager Kieran McKenna made six changes from the team that beat Portsmouth on Saturday, with goal scorers Jaden Philogene and George Hirst among those dropped to the bench.
Ivan Azon and Marcelino Nunez were given first starts for the Tractor Boys and the latter, who started the game with one white boot and one black before switching to pair of blue ones in the second half, was prominent in the early stages.
Relying on a patient passing game, Ipswich did not have the forward tempo to seriously disturb the Robins, often finding themselves confronted by two walls of four in front of the home area.
McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk: “Across the balance of chances it probably was the right result.
“I thought we imposed ourselves really well at the start of the game, which was the big focus for the night – we looked like the team that were going to score.
“But then Bristol executed really well on a set play and we got one or two details wrong.
“We probably never got that level of control back that we had at the start of the game and we had to work really hard to get back into it.
“Conceding the first goal and finding a way to get something from the game is a step forward.”