Leicester spurned the prospect to re-establish a 10-point lead on the high of the Championship as Ipswich struck a late leveller to earn a 1-1 draw on Monday night time.
Leif Davis’ unlucky personal purpose after simply over half an hour had put the Foxes on the right track to place final weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Coventry behind them.
However after Massimo Luongo’s dipping strike was solely parried by Mads Hermansen, Jeremy Sarmiento pounced to tuck residence the precious equaliser with 89 minutes on the clock.
That ensured the pair – who’ve nearly completely occupied the highest two spots all through the marketing campaign –
couldn’t be separated once more, lower than a month after a 1-1 draw at Portman Highway, when Sam Morsy haunted the Foxes with a 93rd-minute equaliser.
Leicester stay seven factors clear on the high of the pile, however solely seven factors away from the Tractor Boys, who climb again above Southampton into second.
How Ipswich rescued a draw from the jaws of defeat
Leicester won’t have had supervisor Enzo Maresca within the dugout – owing to the Italian’s touchline ban for gathering a 3rd yellow card of the season in opposition to Coventry – however his absence made little distinction to begin with; the Foxes had been as dominant as ever from the off.
Whereas Ipswich barely had the time or area to vogue an assault, Leicester asserted themselves and – 5 minutes after Hamza Choudhury examined the water with a robust strike that Vaclav Hladky dived to push away – they took the lead.
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Leicester opened the scoring in opposition to Ipswich after an unlucky personal purpose from Leif Davis
Stephy Mavididi stretched to regulate a ball, performed a neat one-two with Ricardo Pereira after which laid the ball throughout the six-yard field, the place a contact from the gloves of Hladky pushed the ball into Davis’ path. He couldn’t react rapidly sufficient to stop the ball touching his leg and crossing the road.
No matter McKenna stated to his gamers on the break appeared to work. Hermansen needed to be alert to tip Wes Burns’ connection on a bouncing ball over and Conor Chaplin even tried a diving header; there was simply one thing about their method that gave the sensation the sport was not achieved.
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Jeremy Sarmiento scored the equaliser for Ipswich in opposition to Leicester within the 89th minute to reclaim second place within the Championship
That concept was strengthened when Hladky raced off his line to bravely smother on the toes of Kasey McAteer, after the ahead had been picked out by Yunus Akgun.
Then got here the second Ipswich had longed for; the second Leicester had dreaded. Luongo hit a dipping strike that Hermansen may solely scramble to push in entrance of him, with Sarmiento reacting rapidly to tuck the ball beneath the Dane to breathe life into the battle for the Championship title.
Maresca: It is a disgrace, however we’re nonetheless stepping into the fitting path
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Enzo Maresca felt it was a giant disgrace to solely draw in opposition to Ipswich and stated Leicester fully deserved to win.
Leicester’s Enzo Maresca:
“It’s a big shame because of the effort they put in tonight. I think we completely deserved to win the game, but it’s football. I have nothing to say about the performance because the performance was very good and, in terms of final target and confidence, we are going in the right direction.
“Ipswich are an excellent workforce and they’re the place they’re as a result of they’re a great workforce. They’ve already labored with one another for a very long time, which is a bonus for them.
“I have said since day one, the Championship is very long, very difficult. It’s a race. Sometimes you are in front, sometimes you are behind. The most important thing for us is the way we perform, which has been very good.”
Promotion not on McKenna’s thoughts with 18 video games to play
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Kieran McKenna stated his workforce have an awesome resilience and was happy with the way in which they improved within the second half.
Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna:
“It’s a big step for this group of players to come to a team like this – and it looked like that in the first half, to be honest. We had a good chat at half-time, we knew we had a level to go and we did that from the first minute in the second half. I thought it was a much better game and we had more than enough good chances to get something from the game.
“We discover it straightforward [to focus on ourselves], to be trustworthy. I do know, externally, there’s that noise, however I’ve stated it earlier than, it is not a problem for us. The massive majority of this group had been in a large title race in League One final 12 months. That was our method final 12 months, we by no means actually spoke concerning the league or factors.
“There are still 18 games to go after tonight. It’s much too early to worry about what other teams are doing. It’s the journey that we’re on. For us, it will remain about trying to perform, trying to improve.”
What’s subsequent?
Each side are subsequent in motion on Saturday January 27, within the fourth spherical of the FA Cup.
Ipswich host Maidstone United of the Nationwide League South at 12.30pm, earlier than Leicester tackle Birmingham on the King Energy at 3pm.
