| Ipswich Town 2 v 2 Norwich City SkyBet Championship Saturday, 16th December 2023 Kick-off 12:30 |  |
Ipswich Town 2-2 Norwich City - Match Report Saturday, 16th Dec 2023 14:36 Town’s wait for a derby victory over rivals Norwich City continues after a 2-2 draw at Portman Road. Nathan Broadhead put the Blues in front in the 34th minute, the home side having spurned a number of earlier chances, but Jonathan Rowe equalised against the run of play five minutes before the break and then put the visitors in front four minutes after the restart. Wes Burns smashed in a leveller for Town on the hour but the Blues were unable to find a winner in the final half hour. Town boss Kieran McKenna, celebrating the second anniversary of his appointment as Blues manager, made four changes from the team which won 2-1 at Watford on Tuesday. Harry Clarke returned at right-back with fellow local boy Luke Woolfenden at right centre-half, while Burns and Broadhead are back in the three behind striker George Hirst. Former Canaries loanee Brandon Williams, Axel Tuanzebe, Omari Hutchinson and Marcus Harness dropped to the bench having started at Vicarage Road. Norwich made two changes from the team which beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 on Wednesday with Jack Stacey and Sam McCallum taking over from Kellen Fisher, who is among the subs, and Dimitrios Giannoulis, who missed out on a place in the 20. Former Blues academy midfielder Liam Gibbs was on the bench. Town, with their fans in fine voice both before and after kick-off, dominated the early stages with the Canaries making their intentions to sit back and frustrate clear from the off. The Blues threatened for the first time in the seventh minute when Cameron Burgess nodded a Sam Morsy free-kick from the right over the bar. On nine, Norwich striker Ashley Barnes was very fortunate to avoid a yellow card for going through the back of Town keeper Vaclav Hladky with the ball already out of play. Referee Josh Smith felt a talking-to was sufficient. A minute later, Borja Sainz jumped into Clarke as they went for an aerial ball and rolled around on the ground holding his face. However, referee Smith had already awarded a free-kick to Town and clearly wasn’t fooled in the slightest. Town should have gone ahead in the 20th minute. As Norwich started to show some attacking intentions for the first time, the Blues picked their way through them, Burns initially hitting a low cross-shot which was blocked. The ball came back to Burns and was played inside, before Broadhead skipped his way past defenders into the area and had only Angus Gunn in the Norwich goal to beat but clipped the ball wide of the far post with most of Portman Road already starting their celebrations. Town continued to look a threat and a minute later, Burns crossed deep from the right to Leif Davis breaking on the left of the box from where the full-back struck a powerful shot which was straight at Gunn. On 23, Broadhead had another chance to put the Blues in front. Burns again supplied the cross from the right but slightly behind the Welshman, who dug it out and struck an effort which flew just past the same post. Five minutes later, Town had another great chance to go in front. Norwich were caught in possession trying to play it out from the back and Hirst fed Burns in space to his right on the edge of the box but the Wales international smashed his shot well over. Norwich hit their first effort of the game in the 29th minute, Marcelino Nunez’s effort deflecting wide off a Town player after a corner had been cleared. From the subsequent flag-kick, the ball reached Sam McCallum in space on the right of the box but his low shot - which looked on target - was blocked. A minute later, Sainz hit over from 20 yards. The Canaries had started to threaten for the first time, but in the 34th minute the Blues finally scored the goal their overall superiority had deserved. Town broke following a Norwich corner through Chaplin, who did brilliantly to beat his man and feed Hirst bursting into the right of the box. Shane Duffy stabbed it out for the Blues’ first corner of the game, from which they went in front. The ball came in from the right, it was headed out, Luongo nodded back in from the edge of the box, Hirst knocked down to Broadhead, who this time slammed his opportunity into the net to claim his eighth goal of the season and to send Portman Road wild. But Town’s lead would last only five minutes. The ball was sent back in from the right after a cross from the left had flashed across the box and Rowe struck an overhead kick against Woolfenden. The ball fell back to the Norwich forward, who shot past Hladky, to send the away fans into raptures. Video replays suggested Rowe might have been offside as the cross came back in. The Blues set about restoring their lead in what remained of the half and in the first of three added on minutes, Hirst chipped a ball forward into the area for Broadhead, but the Welshman failed to make a decent contact under pressure and scuffed wide. That was the last chance of a first half in which the Blues had done enough to have been well ahead prior to Norwich’s leveller. After the game got off to a slowish start, Town took control against a Norwich side happy to sit back. The Blues created a number of chances from which they should have taken the lead before Broadhead took the third of three which had fallen to him. At the other end, Norwich had created little but some hesitant defending in the Blues backline allowed the Canaries their equaliser. Four minutes after the restart, from the half’s first penalty area action, the Canaries went in front. A long throw from the right was knocked down by Adam Idah to Rowe, who hit a low shot which caught Davis’s heel and beat Hladky, whose vision was blocked by Barnes, who looked in an offside position. Town went about getting themselves back on terms in a match which really ought to have been won via their first-half chances. On 52, Chaplin went close with a shot which clearly struck a defender and deflected wide, although referee Smith awarded a goal-kick. Four minutes later, Burgess looped a header not to far over the bar from a corner on the right. The nerves around Portman Road were palpable with the Canaries continuing to frustrate the Blues but right on the hour, Town levelled. Morsy took the ball off a Norwich player midway inside the visitors’ half and moved it on to Broadhead, who skipped forward before playing to Chaplin to his right, who in turn fed Burns, who smashed a low shot past Gunn to his right and into the net, the Welshman’s third goal of the season. Portman Road heaved a huge sigh of relief as the Blues went about looking for the game’s fifth goal. On 69, Burgess again rose highest in the box at a corner but once more sent the ball looping over. Before the restart, Norwich swapped goalscorer Rowe for Onel Hernandez. Four minutes later, Luongo hit across a shot from 25 yards having been teed-up by Morsy, the ball screwing well wide, then in the 75th minute, Chaplin curled a shot just over after the Town captain had been fouled five yards outside the area. On 77, Burns was shown the first Blues yellow card for a foul, although Chaplin had been upended earlier in the passage of play with Town having gained no advantage. Within seconds of being booked, Burns joined Chaplin in making way for Harness and Hutchinson. The on-loan Chelsea man immediately made an impact, getting round the outside of his man on the right and drilling over a cross which was blocked. Town continued to prod and probe looking for an opening and on 87, Broadhead curled a shot towards Gunn’s left corner but the keeper did well to get across to palm it away. Hutchinson was first to the loose ball but at too tight an angle to finish and opportunity was eventually snuffed out. Norwich made a triple change in the 88th minute as they sought to see the game out, Danny Baath, Tony Springett and Przeyslaw Placheta taking over from McCallum, Idah and Sainz. With the game now in six additional minutes, Town replaced Hirst, Luongo and Broadhead for Kayden Jackson, Jack Taylor and Dane Scarlett. Deep in injury time, there was a minor dust-up between Woolfenden and Hernandez which saw the Town defender booked. From the resultant free-kick, Norwich skipper Kenny McLean shot over. That was the final action of a frustrating derby from Town’s perspective. The Blues had enough chances to have had the game won in the first half prior to Broadhead’s opener. But then conceded two poor’y defended goals either side of the break before Burns’s leveller. Town, whose last home draw was the game with Sheffield Wednesday which ended in the same scoreline in February, controlled the game from there but without finding the opportunity from which they would be able to grab a winner. The Blues’ long wait for a derby win continues, their last victory remains the April 2009 3-2 success under Jim Magilton, with the teams set to meet again at Carrow Road in April. Town remain second in the table, still 10 points ahead of Leeds following their 1-1 draw at home to Coventry later in the afternoon. Town: Hladky, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (c), Luongo (Taylor 91), Burns (Hutchinson 78), Chaplin (Harness 78), Broadhead (Scarlett 91), Hirst (Jackson 91). Unused: Walton, Tuanzebe, Williams, Ladapo. Norwich: Gunn, Stacey, Duffy, McLean (c), McCallum (Batth 88), Sara, Nuñez, Rowe (Hernandez 69), Sainz (Placheta 88), Barnes, Idah (Springett 88). Unused: Long, Gibbs, Fassnacht, Forshaw, Fisher. Referee: Josh Smith (Bedfordshire). Att: 29,611 (Norwich: 2,004).
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