Liam Trotter netted a 95th-minute equaliser on his Nottingham Forest debut to deny his first club Ipswich three points.
Jonathan Parr looked to have piled more pressure on Dougie Freedman, the man who gave him his first chance in English football at Crystal Palace, when he put Ipswich ahead in the 74th minute at the City Ground.
But just as Mick McCarthy's side looked close to ending their previous run of five games without a win, Trotter made it 1-1 on the day he sealed his loan move from Bolton.
It meant both sides had notched up six games without victory and left Freedman, in particular, under pressure.
It took 11 minutes for either side to muster an effort on goal, with Ryan Mendes not too far away from giving the home side the lead as he flashed the ball across goal and wide, following good work from Jonny Williams and Jamie Ward.
Ipswich were forced into a change a minute later, with Parr coming off the bench to replace Jonas Knudsen at left back.
This was a game between two sides who had both failed to win in their five previous games - and they both seemed more intent on keeping things tight, to avoid another defeat.
Forest almost broke the deadlock in the 30th minute, as the lively Mendes launched into a swift counter and sent Trotter angling into the box, where the big midfielder was denied by a fine save from Dean Gerken. As the ball bounced loose, Ward saw his shot deflected into the side netting.
Mendes was the most likely to spark the game into life, with the winger carving out another chance for Forest, carrying the ball across the face of the box before rolling a simple pass to Nelson Oliveira, who stung Gerken's palms with a rising shot.
When Ward delivered a cross from the left, Oliveira was appealing for a penalty, feeling that he had been held. Mendes was alert enough to play on, but saw his shot fizz wide.
Forest began the second half brightly, but saw Ward fire wildly over when their pressure was rewarded with an opening.
Freddie Sears forced a save from Dorus de Vries, who also had to be alert to push away a David McGoldrick effort, either side of a driven effort from Ward that tested Gerken.
But, after Mendes had fired another effort over, it was Ipswich who were to take the lead, against the run of play.
Forest failed to properly clear a Kevin Bru cross and, when the ball fell, Parr sent a looping finish over the head of De Vries and into the far corner.
Oliveira sent a shot over from the edge of the box, but it was not until deep into injury time, after Jorge Grant had seen an effort cleared off the line by Piotr Malarczyk, that Trotter swept home the rebound for an equaliser.
Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman:
"We got a letter from the Football League at 6.45pm on Friday night telling us that we were good to go with a signing. The Liam Trotter deal was agreed more than a week ago, so he was signed for us by 10.15am this morning. Obviously I am very pleased about that, given the impact he made for us. We should have been 3-0 up at least by half-time. It was a good performance, which did not get us the right result - which is a common theme at the minute."
Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy:
"I can't believe I am standing here with only one point instead of three. It sums up how tough it is proving to be for us just at the moment. Against Forest, who put good players out there despite all this transfer embargo business, we have produced a good performance. We will study what happened and why, then get out on the training pitch and sort things out. I am not downhearted, I am just disappointed."