Ipswich Town 1-1 Fleetwood Town: Stuart Watson's observations

Luke Woolfenden celebrates after putting Ipswich Town into an early 1-0 lead against Fleetwood Town at Portman Road. (Image: Steve Waller)

SET-PIECE KINGS 

Just like in the previous home league game against Cheltenham, Ipswich got an early breakthrough. 

Once again, Luke Woolfenden was the man to turn the ball in at close-range after a dangerous Leif Davis corner delivery caused chaos in the box. 

No team in League One has scored more goals (or produced more shots) from set-pieces than Ipswich this season. 

That’s a remarkable turnaround from the previous campaign's dead ball frustrations.   

Scoring first should be more than half the battle in these sort of matches against bottom half opposition. 

Ipswich had given themselves the perfect platform to go on and win. Once again, frustratingly, they weren’t able to do that. 

Kyle Edwards goes down under a challenge. (Image: Steve Waller)

FALLING FLAT 

The Blues were bright for the next 10-15 minutes, but they weren’t able to fully turn the screw. 

Visiting keeper Jay Lynch beat away one Conor Chaplin shot from outside the box and was at full stretch to claw Freddie Ladapo’s inventive volleyed attempt with his knee out the top corner. 

Sadly, that proved the peak of the performance. 

The game drifted after a couple of injury stoppages. Ipswich started to look uncharacteristically sloppy and disjointed. Fleetwood visibly grew in confidence. 

Things got worse after the restart. Fleetwood, crashing into tackles that manager Scott Brown would have been proud of during his playing days, earned the right to play. They made 252 passes to Ipswich’s 157.  

Town looked like the away team, digging in and looking to strike on the counter. 

Leif Davis is taken out by two Fleetwood Town players. (Image: Steve Waller)

MCKENNA’S HALF RIGHT 

Fleetwood’s equaliser came in the sixth and final minute of stoppage-time when substitute Cian Hayes saw a speculative long-range shot deflect off the head of Cameron Burgess, loop over Christian Walton and in off the far post. 

Blues boss Kieran McKenna called the goal ‘lucky’ and ‘undeserved’. I think he’s half right. 

It’s true that, for all their possession and aggression, Fleetwood did not create a tonne of chances. 

And Ipswich could have killed the game off when Cameron Humphreys put the ball wide from close-range in the 77th minute. 

There were some major warning shots though. 

Daniel Batty slipping at the vital moment, after Fleetwood had cut through the Town defence, was a huge let-off. 

Then ex-Town striker Joe Garner saw a header at a corner acrobatically cleared off the line by the excellent Davis with three minutes to go. 

For my money, the Cod Army – and their 66 travelling fans – deserved to be making the long trip back to Lancashire with another point in their pocket. 

Penalty? Kayden Jackson is challenged in the box by Fleetwood's Shaun Rooney late on. (Image: Steve Waller)

PENALTY APPEALS 

All that said, Ipswich had two major penalty appeals turned down in this game. 

Cameron Burgess ended up in a heap after tangling with Josh Earl at a corner just before half-time. 

I’ve not seen that one back, but McKenna said his player was ‘rugby tackled from behind’. 

Then, seconds after Fleetwood’s leveller, Kayden Jackson looked to be barged over from behind in the box by Shaun Rooney. 

If the old adage that ‘decisions even themselves out over the course of a season’ is true, then Ipswich have plenty of credit in the bank.  

Ipswich Town players react after conceding a late equaliser against Fleetwood. (Image: Steve Waller)

DROPPED POINTS 

Ipswich were seconds away from going top and the narrative being ‘the sign of a good side is winning when not at your best’ and ‘it’s great that we can compete in these gritty type of matches now’. 

Instead, the talk is about 11 points having been dropped at home, how five goals have now been conceded in the 89th minute or later this season and how it’s just three goals scored in the last four league games at Portman Road. 

Such are the fine margins in football. 

As ever, it’s important to maintain some perspective. Ipswich are on 2.1 points per game. They're on a six-game unbeaten league run. There’s a major cushion to seventh place. 

But it’s also not unfair to highlight that this was Town’s worst performance of the campaign, that it came hot on the heels of a pretty poor one against Portsmouth in the Papa John’s Trophy and that some worrying trends are emerging. 

Is it a sign that an injury-hit squad is starting to fade a little ahead of some big December fixtures? All the false dawns and disappointments of recent years naturally stir up such doubts. It’s up to McKenna and the players to quickly nip those in the bud (as they have done regularly this season) when Peterborough arrive in Suffolk next Saturday lunchtime.