Championship match report: Ipswich Town 2-2 West Brom

Goals from Tom Fellows and Nathan Broadhead saw the game level heading into the final 15 minutes, when John Swift smashed a shot into the net from distance to put the Baggies back ahead.

Hutchinson ended up as the hero when he equalised in stoppage time, preventing the Blues from falling to consecutive league defeats for the first time under Kieran McKenna.

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Ipswich knew they couldn’t concede another early goal and give themselves a mountain to climb, but they almost fell behind within the opening minute of the game as Wes Burns’ low cross from the right was cut out by Okay Yokuslu. The midfielder danced past Sam Morsy and set up Tom Fellows, who raced to the edge of the box before firing wide from the left flank.

Tom Fellows out the visitors ahead in the 18th minute (Image: Stephen Waller)

They quickly found their feet and began to work the ball into space, but they were lacking the cutting edge to really threaten Alex Palmer’s goal. They came close in the 17th minute as Leif Davis lifted a cross onto the head of Kieffer Moore, setting up Conor Chaplin in the middle, but he was beaten to the ball by Kyle Bartley.

The Baggies put themselves ahead just seconds later, however, as a lobbed ball from Andreas Weimann played Fellows in down the left. He used his strength to shrug off Luke Woolfenden before cutting past Harry Clarke and beating Vaclav Hladky with a low shot at his near post. There was little the goalkeeper could’ve done about that one, however.

Town tried to respond immediately. Davis’ delivery from the left caused problems for Bartley and centre-back partner Cedric Kipre, who could only clear the ball into the path of Chaplin, who launched his shot over the crossbar from close range in the 23rd minute.

Conor Chaplin had a golden opportunity to equalise midway through the first half (Image: Stephen Waller)

West Brom managed the game well, frustrating the Town fans. Referee David Coote tried to clamp down on their time wasting by booking Darnell Furlong at the end of the first half, with the right-back having taken too long over numerous throw-ins.

For all the talk of starting slowly, Ipswich came out flying at the start of the second half, equalising just 44 seconds after the restart. Harry Clarke’s long throw was cleared back to him, allowing him to fire a cross onto the head of George Edmundson, who flicked it into the path of Broadhead.

The winger was able to side-foot the ball into the net from the left flank, bagging his first goal in eight games.

Nathan Broadhead scored his first goal since the 2-2 draw against Norwich City on December 16th (Image: Stephen Waller)

After an improved period, Ipswich thought they might've fallen behind when substitute Daryl Dike set up Weimann to score, but Austrian international ended up punching the ball into the net, and the offence led to him receiving a yellow card.

The tempo picked up and the match became end-to-end. Chaplin forced a superb save from Palmer on the hour-mark, but it was clear that the Blues had the momentum.

They had enough chances to take the lead for the first time in the match, and the introduction of Hutchinson and Marcus Harness only added pressure on West Brom's tiring back line, but it was the Baggies who found themselves ahead once again with 14 minutes to play.

John Swift's long-range strike put the Baggies ahead towards the end of the game (Image: Steve Waller)

After pouncing on a loose pass from Edmundson, Alex Mowatt was able to set up substitute John Swift, who smacked a shot into the bottom corner of the net from 25 yards to make it 1-2.

But Ipswich aren't a team to give up, and they kept knocking on the door as the clock ticked towards full time. With eight minutes added on, they knew they had to act fast.

It was Hutchinson's time to shine. The ball rolled through to the Chelsea loanee after a corner, allowing him to rifle a shot into the net from the right side of the box, equalising for Town in the third minute of stoppage time.

Omari Hutchinson's third Town goal earned a point at the death (Image: Steve Waller)

Town XI: 4-2-3-1: Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Davis; Morsy, Luongo (Al-Hamadi 83') ; Burns (Hutchinson 74'), Chaplin (Harness 74'), Broadhead (Sarmiento 83'); Moore

West Brom XI: 4-2-3-1: Palmer; Furlong, Bartley (Chalobah 46'), Kipre, Townsend; Yokuslu, Mowatt; Wallace, Weimann (Pipa 83'), Fellows (Johnston 55'); Thomas-Asante (Dike 55', Swift 65')

Attendance: 29,016 (1,670)