Two games to go and three points needed for promotion

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t the victory we needed but it wasn’t a defeat that some fans feared.

In fact Town came out of the 0-0 draw at West Brom with some credit against one of the form teams in the Championship.

So it’s onwards and upwards on the road again this time at Southampton on Tuesday with just QPR to follow next weekend at Portman Road.

Surely Town can get the three points required for promotion out of the two remaining matches.

You would think that might be difficult at St Mary’s but the Saints will be on a down after conceding late on in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley to Manchester City.

So can Ipswich take advantage and grab that vital second spot and return to the Premier League?

The Baggies were docked two points on Friday for spending breaches, which meant they needed at least a point to stay up.

Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton made a series of saves, including two fine efforts to deny Daryl Dike either side of the break, to ensure the Tractor Boys left the West Midlands with a vital point.

Cedric Kipre almost gifted West Brom a goal in the first half and he had the ball in the net in the second period that was acclaimed with a crescendo by the magnificent sold out Super Blues following, but was ruled offside. And both Ivan Azon and Jack Clarke, who slipped dramatically at the far post, had great chances to score.

A share of the spoils meant the Tractor Boys, who moved back above Millwall on goal difference, could all but secure an immediate Premier League return if they beat fellow top two hopefuls Southampton.

But if the Saints win that, the race for automatic promotion will remain a four-way shootout – which will also include Middlesbrough on the final day.

Super Blues manager Kieran McKenna was asked after the game at The Hawthorns if the 0-0 draw was a fair result and said: “Yea probably. I think they had  the better the momentum in the first half and we had to stand up to a little bit of pressure.

“Their one big chance was one that we game to them.

“I thought second half we were the much better team really and the team going on to win it.

“I think credit to the boys for hanging in there in the first half because there’s been times this season where we would have been one, two nil down in the first half when things were really against us and all the challenges today and the momentum with them but we stayed in it, got ourselves to the half time break and I think we pushed on well in the second half and unfortunately couldn’t do the last little bit to get the winning goal.

“I thought we pushed pretty well and were the only team going to win it really.”