Ipswich Town’s automatic promotion bid suffered another blow as the Blues looked flat on their way to a 0-0 draw with Bristol Rovers.
On the back of draws with Cambridge and Sheffield Wednesday, Kieran McKenna’s men headed to the Memorial Stadium knowing three points were required but, in truth, they never truly looked like getting them.
Ipswich’s build-up play was slow and, at times, predictable against a Rovers side happy to protect their box and attack with the bit between their teeth when given the opportunity, allowing them to trouble the Blues on a number of occasions.
Joey Barton’s side played with a zip lacking in the Town ranks, on a night where Luke Woolfenden was required to hook a ball off the line in the second half to keep the score level.
MORE: How Town's goalless draw with Bristol Rovers played out
The point, though, was not what was required as Ipswich lost further ground on the top two.
Victories for both Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday leave them 10 and eight points ahead of Ipswich, who drop to fourth in the table following Bolton’s thumping victory over MK Dons.
Basement boys Forest Green come to Portman Road on Saturday.
McKenna made four changes to the side which started Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, with Janoi Donacien replacing Harry Clarke at right-back while Sone Aluko, Marcus Harness and Freddie Ladapo came into the front line in place of Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst.
Wes Burns kept his place on the right, with Sam Morsy and Cameron Humphreys in midfield, while Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and Leif Davis completed the defence in front of keeper Christian Walton.
Town put their foot on the Gas early, attacking down the left and winning a corner which ended with Davis sweeping a clever corner routine to Humphreys on the edge of the box, with the Town midfielder forcing a save from home goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe.
Another corner proved the source of chance two, which ended with Burgess nodding into the arms of Balcombe following Davis’s deep delivery, before the Blues’ fast start faded and the hosts began to apply pressure of their own.
With Walton laid-out on the floor inside his box and appealing for a foul, Jarell Quansah nodded over the bar before the game settled into a pattern of both teams looking to work the ball towards the other’s box, without causing the necessary damage.
Another Town corner saw Burgess reach a Davis delivery first and turn wide, before a clever ball into danger from Woolfenden ended with Humphreys nodding a header wide as he met it on the run.
Ipswich hearts were in mouths when Collins wriggled free behind the Ipswich defence, but was thankfully only able to let off a tame shot which Walton held with ease, before the Gas marksman found himself in space inside the Town box again, where he lifted James Gibbons’ cross over the top.
Town returned for the second half unchanged and soon created an opening for Ladapo, who fired over the top from a Harness knockdown, before the latter headed a chance of his own over the bar as he met a Davis cross.
Walton was required to push a Collins strike wide, before McKenna turned to his bench to replace Aluko and Burns with Nathan Broadhead and Kyle Edwards.
Rovers kept pushing, though, with Scott Sinclair forcing a save from Walton after breaking through the middle, before the Town keeper got away with one as he spilled a ball inside the area and was fortunate to see Woolfenden just about hook it away before it cross the line.
McKenna rolled the dice three more times with a triple sub, introducing Harry Clarke, George Hirst and Conor Chaplin in place of Davis, Ladapo and Harness, with the Ipswich changes not giving the instant impact their manager would have hoped for.
The Blues did create openings, with Broadhead, Clarke and Hirst all having efforts blocked away at the near post, but the winner never came as Ipswich headed home with an unsatisfactory point.
Bristol Rovers: Balcombe, Connolly, Gordon, Quansah, Sinclair, Ward, Collins, Anderson (Hoole, 76), Evans, Bogarde (Coburn, 76), Gibbons
Subs: Jaakkola, McCormick, Marquis, Lawrence, MacDonald
Ipswich Town: Walton; Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis (Clarke, 75); Morsy, Humphreys; Burns (Edwards, 58), Aluko (Broadhead, 58), Harness (Chaplin, 75); Ladapo (Hirst, 75)
Subs: Hladky, Jackson
Att: 8,542
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