Ipswich Town 2-2 Aston Villa
by Asif Burnhan
at Portman Road

IPSWICH TOWN’S wait for a first Premier League win goes on after a rousing 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa. A stunning equaliser from Liam Delap earned them their fourth successive draw and moved them up to 15th place in the table.

Kieran McKenna’s side has acquitted themselves well since their long-awaited return to the top flight after 22 years but in spite of gaining three points from creditable draws and only losing to the top two in the league, Ipswich have failed to win a game in any competition this season.

After Aston Villa dominated possession in the opening stages, Ipswich shocked their opponents by scoring from their first meaningful attack. The ball was eventually worked to the left where summer signing Jack Clarke, making his first Premier League start, intelligently cut the ball back and striker Delap swept the ball in, his instant finish wrong-footing Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez who was beaten at his near post.

As in their previous home match against Fulham, Ipswich failed to hold onto their lead for long. Jacob Greaves mishit a clearance straight to Ollie Watkins in his own area, the Villa striker teed up Morgan Rogers for an easy finish to level the scores in the 15th minute.

Ipswich went close with two headers but thereafter Villa forced the play with the Suffolk side content to wait for their opportunity to mount sporadic attacks. The incessant pressure from the away side paid dividends just past the half-hour mark.

Despite all eleven Ipswich players being compressed into an area 25 yards from their own goal, Villa still managed to engineer an opening when Leon Bailey crossed from the right touchline leaving England striker Watkins with the simple task of nodding in from within the six-yard box.

The home side responded well with Kalvin Phillips stinging the palms of Martinez with a thumping drive after a free kick fell to him on the edge of the area. The Argentinian goalkeeper then produced a fine save with his outstretched left foot denying Delap one-on-one following a superb through pass. In first half stoppage time, Ipswich captain Sam Morsy picked up his fourth yellow card in seven matches which leaves him one booking from an automatic suspension.

Ipswich forced the pace more in the second half and reaped the rewards when the buccaneering Delap slalomed his way down the inside left channel, unbalancing Diego Carlos before shooting across Martinez. The draw lifted Ipswich Town out of the bottom three and scuppered Aston Villa’s chances of going into their Champions League tie with Bayern Munich this week level on points with leaders Liverpool.

With matches against West Ham, Everton and Brentford to come in October, Ipswich will be hopeful that the form they showed in this game will enable them to become the first of the newly promoted teams to earn a victory in the Premier League this season.