Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance20,940.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Ipswich Town at St Andrew's on Saturday | Marcus Harness double denies Wayne Rooney first win in charge of Blues.
Saturday 4 November 2023 19:08, UK
Wayne Rooney was denied his first win as Birmingham manager after high-flying Ipswich recovered from two goals down to rescue a 2-2 draw at St. Andrew's.
Jay Stansfield's fifth goal of the season gave City a 13th-minute lead and it was followed by a Cameron Burgess own goal six minutes after the interval.
Ipswich were a different proposition after that goal though, and substitute Marcus Harness scored in the 79th and 89th minutes to earn a share of the spoils.
Rooney's first point ended a run of three successive defeats since replacing John Eustace.
It extended Ipswich's unbeaten league run to 11, during which they had dropped just four points out of 33 to go second in the Sky Bet Championship.
Birmingham's bright start was rewarded with an early lead.
Juninho Bacuna crossed with the outside of his right foot and it looked like the ball was going to carry through to goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, but Stansfield turned with his back to goal and fired home.
Koji Miyoshi's angled shot was then deflected straight at Hladky as Ipswich seemed to struggle with Blues' high pressing.
Ipswich's first attempt did not arrive until the 28th minute, when Nathan Broadhead volleyed a couple of yards wide after Burgess headed Harry Clarke's free-kick back across goal.
Out of the blue, Ipswich almost equalised in spectacular fashion in the 38th minute. Conor Chaplin tried to lob John Ruddy from 35 yards, only for the backpedalling goalkeeper to tip the ball over the bar.
Birmingham broke in the 51st minute to double their lead, albeit in fortunate circumstances. Bacuna crossed from the left and Burgess slid in to divert it past Hladky at his near post.
Oliver Burke was twice denied his first City goal by Hladky in a matter of minutes.
First the Scotland international was foiled from point-blank range from Stansfield's cross, and then the goalkeeper was a quick off his line as Burke slightly overran the ball.
Ruddy was called upon to tip over Broadhead's cross, then get a vital fingertip to Chaplin's toe poke as Ipswich came back.
The visitors' pressure told when three substitutes combined for Ipswich to score. Dane Scarlett crossed and Freddie Ladapo's shot was blocked by Ruddy before Harness tapped home.
Ruddy then smothered Scarlett's angled drive at his near post but Kieran McKenna's side were not finished, and when the excellent Omari Hutchinson's cross was partly cleared, Harness hammered home a volley from 12 yards.
Harness's brace made it four goals in his last six games and came on his 100th appearance as a substitute in the league.
Birmingham's Wayne Rooney:
"I'm disappointed. I thought there were lots of positives from the game today. First half, we made it very difficult for Ipswich; second half we tired a little bit, which is something we've been looking at and working on to try and improve that. Then we conceded two sloppy goals. I'm disappointed, but also, I can see progress, which I'm pleased about.
"We fatigued and Ipswich had momentum, so we were adjusting to that and trying to get defenders on the pitch, but also trying to still have that attacking threat with Demebele, Bacuna and Jutkiewicz up top, we just couldn't hold on. It's disappointing to throw away a two-goal lead, but there were some really good signs in there for us."
Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:
"I'm really pleased and proud of the players, and of the supporters as well.
"We found ourselves in a really difficult position in the game, but we kept going and we've seen it before with this group and we've built over time that resilience and that belief to keep playing our football and trust that if we do the right things we can always score.
"Big, big credit to the players and the supporters for the way they stuck with it at the stage of the game we were at."
