Key events
John Brewin was at Portman Road. Here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM!
Oliver Glasner’s turn to speak to Sky. “Mixed [feelings] but more positive … when we play an away game like we did today … playing so well … we played such a dominant second half … I really loved the way we played … the spirit … it’s building up on the performances and staying patient … do not lose our nerve because the goals will come … we don’t need to address a problem … everyone who has children knows it … sometimes your child gives huge effort and things don’t work … and then what are you doing as a father or a mother? … you are supporting them! … you are encouraging your children to keep going … you have these periods in sports … and in life … if we don’t have this effort, if we don’t have this performance, if we don’t create these chances, then I would be nervous and have concerns … but when I see how we play … it’s the only way now, to stay patient, not to make the problem bigger and bigger … it’s just a question of time … then in a few weeks you will ask how we score goal after goal, and I also don’t have the answer! … nobody knows!”
As for the Diop decision: was he surprised it wasn’t a red? “Yes … it felt a clear red card … the explanation was that McAtee goes away from the goal … when you run one against the keeper and run straight, very often the angle is not very good, so we tell the players to sometimes create an angle … he prepared his finish … by going a little bit half-right the keeper has to move and that opens the near or far post … but that’s more the football tactical side … it was the wrong decision … on the other side, we couldn’t have played a more dominant second half that we did … 11 to one shots … enough situations to decide the game … and that’s why I will never blame the referee.”
Gary O’Neil speaks to Sky Sports. “We had to hang on and fight … a tough game … tough conditions … we were never quite good enough with the ball to turn it into a football match … it ended up being Forest’s direct play, second balls, that ended up taking control of the game … we had to match that … the wind was crazy … they’re a good side … to fight back and pick up another point … we rolled our sleeves up … I thought [the Diop decision] was a really well-worked-out decision by the referee … sometimes they go your way … tonight it did … we move on … we ground it out … we did OK … we’ll get some learnings from it, and get ready for a big test at Hull next week.”
Issa Diop, when asked by Sky whether his last-man tackle on James McAtee was worthy of a red card, perhaps unsurprisingly answers: “I don’t think so … I did the tackle because I saw Lief [Davis] covering … also [McAtee] pushed the ball wide and too far … Lief was there to recover the ball as well … so it is not a red … I was quite confident about that!”
Morgan Gibbs-White, who has been named as player of the match, speaks to Sky Sports. “We’ve had so many good performances recently … we’ve never been able to get the three points … we had a lot of chances … the second half, we dominated completely and should have won the game in my eyes … as long as we keep performing like this, the wins will have to come … it’s the question we’ve been asking ourselves in training every week … we’ve been doing shooting drills in training … it was top … unfortunately they don’t go in today … it’s the topic of discussion … it’s not good enough … but I’m proud of the boys for keeping going and keeping performances high … it’s a mentality thing … a bit of bad luck that we’re going through … we’ve got to stay positive … keep the togetherness … keep the mentality right … if we keep performing like that every week, surely a bit of luck will come our way … I kinda agree with the [Diop red-card] decision because whether [James McAtee] is going to get there, nobody knows … but he is the last man at the end of the day … I think there needs to be a little bit of ownership on the pitch … the referee and the linesman can see exactly what’s happened … we wait for VAR to intervene all the time instead of making decision there and then on the pitch and making the game natural … it is what it is … we have to take ownership and take our chances … keeping the good vibes up in training.”
There are a whole weekend’s worth of matches still to be played, of course. But after the Friday night football, here’s how the Premier League looks after that 1-1 draw. Ipswich move into the top half, until tomorrow at least, while Nottingham Forest spring out of the relegation places at the expense of Coventry City.
Ipswich Town will probably be the happier of the two teams, given the balance of play favoured Nottingham Forest for the most part. Forest scored a fine early goal, Neco Williams lashing home Daniel Muñoz’s cross, but Nikola Milenković’s mistake gifted Julio Enciso an equaliser, and despite their second-half dominance, the visitors’ bluntness in the final third cost them dear. Having said that, they’ll wonder how on earth Issa Diop wasn’t sent packing for a tractor-adjacent last-man clank on James McAtee; had Ipswich been reduced to ten men for the majority of the second period, we could be looking at a very different result. But here we are. The xG at the end: 0.46 to Ipswich, 2.31 to Forest. Yes, Ipswich will probably drift off happier as everyone goes to sleep tonight.
FULL TIME: Ipswich Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest
The whistle goes again, this time to signal the end of the match.
90 min +8: The whistle goes … because the ball’s gone flat.
90 min +7: Palacios dribbles his way into the Forest box down the right but can’t sort his feet out to shoot.
90 min +6: Schlager sends a free kick long … but Murillo pesters Davis to the extent of conceding a foul. The pressure on Ipswich needlessly released.
90 min +5: A long ball pumped into the Forest box. O’Shea cushions the ball into the path of Akpom, who lashes an acrobatic effort wide right. Then the flag pops up for offside.
90 min +4: One last throw of the dice for Forest. Wood comes on for Delap, who has been poor tonight.
90 min +3: Forest have been the dominant team. Is their bluntness in front of goal going to cost them yet again?
90 min +2: Clarke powers down the left, cuts infield and aims for the top-right corner. Wide. That’s Ipswich’s first effort on goal since the equaliser.
90 min +1: Forest’s xG is now up to 2.31.
90 min: A loose McAtee pass down the middle balloons off Diop’s head and inadvertently releases Hudson-Odoi down the inside-left channel! Hudson-Odoi enters the box before dragging a weak effort across Walton and wide right. A huge chance to snatch it at the death! Though having said that, there will be eight additional minutes.
88 min: Delap has the chance to shoot from distance, but thinks twice before attempting to find Munoz to his right. He clanks the pass to the nearest blue shirt.
86 min: Ipswich make a double switch, sending on Matusiwa and Akpom for Florentino and Enciso. When the game restarts, Milkenkovic meets a right-wing cross and flashes a header harmlessly wide left.
84 min: Yep, very strange, especially as once Netz is sent on in place of the stricken Williams, the referee restarts the game with a drop ball. Eh? Forest blooter it clear, which is probably just as well, all round.
83 min: McAtee stops when there’s no whistle, and for a second it looks as though Enciso is going to race clear down the inside-right channel in farcical conditions. But then the whistle does go. All very strange.
81 min: Delap and Hudson-Odoi combine cutely down the left. They nearly open up Ipswich … nearly, but not quite, and the ball pings through to Walton.
80 min: The game restarts, but Williams does not. Forest are down to ten men for now.
79 min: Williams chases after a lost cause down the left. He stops the ball going out for a goal kick, but at some personal expense, landing awkwardly on the pitch surround. Maeda might have fallen on him too. He’s in some pain.
77 min: McAtee has a dig from distance. Straight at Walton. Forest look like the only potential winners right now. Ipswich haven’t had a shot on target since equalising, while Forest currently lead the xG by somed distance: Ipswich 0.4, Forest 2.06.
75 min: McAtee has an opportunity to shoot from the edge of the D but hesitates and is eventually dispossessed.
74 min: Delap has another go, this time a shot at the end of a long dribble down the middle. He whip-curls an effort towards the bottom right from 25 yards, but it whistles wide of the upright. Not sure Walton had that 100 percent covered.
73 min: Fatawu is replaced by Maeda. Then after the restart, Munoz crosses from the right. Ouattara makes a hash of a high-kicked clearance, and the ball loops to Delap, who heads over from six yards. Big chance.
71 min: The pace of play drops a bit. Both teams sizing each other up after those subs.
69 min: Hudson-Odoi replaces Ndoye.
68 min: Enciso is bundled over, 35 yards from goal. Ipswich consider their options for quite some time, before Davis hoicks the free kick straight out of play for a goal kick. Not worth the wait.
66 min: Ndoye romps down the left and feeds Williams on the underlap. Williams should shoot, but hesitates on the edge of the Ipswich box and the chance is gone.
64 min: Ndoye steals the ball off Florentino and Forest steam foward en masse. Delap makes good down the middle, then feeds Ndoye, who forces a shot from a tight angle on the left past Walton … but once again Davis is on point to clear off the line! Schalger then bundles the rebound out for a goal kick. Forest are getting closer and closer.
63 min: Williams earns Forest a corner down the left. He sends it long. Murillo wins a header in a central position, eight yards out. He sends it wide right. Had he managed to keep that on target, it wasn’t clear that Walton was getting anywhere near it.
61 min: Ipswich twist first, replacing Philogene and Emersonn with Flemming and Clarke.
60 min: McAtee’s speculative cross from the left earns a corner. One corner leads to another, and from that second one, Williams and Murillo take turns to shoot through a crowded box before Schlager ripples the side netting.
58 min: Murillo clanks a poor pass straight to Emersonn, who can’t take advantage despite space opening up in front of him down the right. A low-quality exchange.
56 min: Enciso tries to release Emersonn into the box with a sliderule pass down the left, but overhits it. Sels gathers.
54 min: Murillo follows Diop into the book for a cynicaly clip on Emersonn’s ankle.
52 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick. Ipswich and Diop got away with a big one there. It wasn’t clear that McAtee had played the ball to the right of goal; it wasn’t clear that any covering defender would have stopped him shooting for goal. Forest are fuming, and you can’t blame them. Nine times out of ten, you’d have expected the player to be sent packing, especially once VAR stuck its neb in.
51 min: “After review … a foul by Ipswich number six … however, because the player knocks it to the right side of the goal, the final decision is direct free kick and a yellow card to number six.” The referee giving Diop a big benefit of the doubt there. So surprised that wasn’t a red card.
50 min: McAtee took a heavy touch before being cleaned out by last man Diop, but he was taken down nonetheless. VAR gets involved, and the referee goes over to the screen.
48 min: McAtee snaffles a loose ball in midfield and looks to burst into space down the middle. Diop slides across and brings him down in the agricultural fashion. The referee waves play on, but surely that’s a foul at the very least? Very strange.
47 min: Ipswich win a throw, then a free kick in short order down the left. Enciso curls the set piece into the mixer. Sels punches powerfully clear under some pressure. The hosts quickly back up to speed.
46 min: Philogene hares after a long pass down the left. Forest are very fortunate Milenkovic is immediately switched on; the defender blocks a low cross.
Ipswich get the second half started. No changes yet.
Half-time postbag. “There’s always one relegated team per season which is too good to go down. I don’t think it’ll be Forest this season, because they really do look too good to go down, but it could be them if they don’t start putting away their chances. That said, the team too good to go down will probably be Manchester City” – Kári Tulinius.
“Just to underline how early in the season it still is, the live table has had Forest in 18th, 10th and 17th in the space of half an hour” – Dave Estherby
“With a clever Austrian manager, a feisty Austrian midfielder (Xaver Schlager) and a crafty Swiss winger (Dan Ndoye), Forest have got a bit of Alpine sturdiness about them these days” – Peter Oh
The story of first half … told via the medium of mid-80s Scottish indie pop.
Not sure this feature has legs, to be honest.
HALF TIME: Ipswich Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest
That was good fun, and the scoreline is about right.
45 min +2: Delap literally rips O’Shea’s shirt off his back. O’Shea sporting a racy off-the-shoulder number now.
45 min: Enciso romps down the right and swings in low. Emersonn can’t reach the ball before Sels, who snaffles. There will be two additional first-half minutes.
43 min: Forest were thinking about a two-goal lead for a few seconds there. But then the ball was turned over, and after one big clanger by Milenkovic, now look! Forest may go all the way back to the Ouattara challenge on Ndoye, but that’s water under the bridge now.
GOAL! Ipswich Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Enciso 41)
Cunha leads a four-on-two counter but takes a heavy touch. He’s easily dispossessed, and that allows O’Shea to blooter clear. Milenkovic should deal with the ball on halfway, but his attempt to pass back to his keeper is mishit. Underhit. Seriously so. Enciso tears away with it, reaches the edge of the box, and slots past Sels and into the bottom left!
39 min: An Ipswich free kick in a dangerous position, 25 yards out on the right. But Enciso’s delivery is no good, and it’s an easy clearance for Cunha.
37 min: Gibbs-White tries to release Ndoye down the inside-left channel, but his team-mate is clumsily brought down by Ouattara. The referee waves play on, much to Forest’s annoyance. Was Ouatarra the last man? Probably not, but that should have been a free kick at the very least.
36 min: It’s been a really entertaining match. Very open. No point playing the percentages in this wind.
34 min: Walton may have got a little bit on that Gibbs-White bundle, by the way, taking some sting off the ball to make things a bit easier for his team-mate Davis to hack clear. Either way, the Ipswich defence mucked in and got the job done.