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Ipswich Town 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0: Wednesday walk tightrope but Grant ensures they earn point
SHEFFIELD Wednesday manager Brian Laws was pleased with the point his side earned at Portman Road – particularly after his defence threatened to be undermined by early cautions.
"It was a solid performance from our defence," said Laws.
"I was a bit nervous when three of our back four had been booked in the first 20 minutes.
"We had to be really disciplined after that, especially on a wet surface, and if one of them had made one mistimed challenge they would have been off."
He said: "I was pleased with the clean sheet and our second-half performance.
Ipswich, who were guilty of missing some decent, were repeatedly denied by Owls goalkeeper Lee Grant and remain in the bottom three following the stalemate.
Of Grant's heroics, Laws added: "Goalkeepers get you points.
"When your back four has been penetrated you have to rely on your goalkeeper.
"He made two or three important saves and it would have been very harsh had they scored.
"It was a very solid, workmanlike performance from us and now we've got to build on this."
Ipswich manager Roy Keane bemoaned his team's lack of killer instinct.
Keane said: "It wasn't a great game but I think we had the better of the chances.
"I was pleased with the clean sheet.We're looking a bit more solid at the back, but we're obviously not scoring enough. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition goalkeeper but I still feel we had one or two other chances.
"There was one on the line and you just need someone to have that killer instinct and put the ball in the back of the net.
"We're lacking that at the moment.
"The plus was that we kept a clean sheet, but I don't think we played particularly well.
"I always knew it was going to be pretty hard, with them playing three in the middle.
"I know our fans want us to play attractive, attacking football but it was hard to open them up.
"When you talk about the team scoring goals, you end up talking about the strikers, but it's not against the rules for defenders or midfielders to score either.
"And if you're going to achieve anything as a team, you need one or two of your strikers to put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis."
Wednesday felt they should have had a penalty, for what appeared a handball by Damien Delaney, and just after Marcus Tudgay's fierce shot from just inside the box was pushed away by goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Ipswich Town: Begovic, Rosenior, Bruce, Delaney, David Wright, Edwards, Leadbitter, Garvan, Martin, Walters, Priskin. Unused substitutes: Richard Wright, McAuley, Peters, Stead, Quinn, Trotter, Wickham.
Sheffield Wednesday: Grant, Simek, Buxton, Hinds, Spurr, Johnson, Potter, O'Connor, Gray, Tudgay, Varney. Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, Purse, McAllister, Jeffers, Esajas, Beevers, Clarke.
Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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