Sheffield Wednesday 1 Ipswich 1: Boos ring out following Owls defeat

Woeful defending proved the Owls’ undoing as Ipswich Town took full advantage thanks to goals in either half from Tom Lawrence and Luke Chambers.

The second of those had an air of fortune with the Town captain not seeming to know a lot about Christophe Berra’s header as it cannoned off him and into the net.

But the Tractor Boys had just missed two excellent openings so the hosts cannot claim that the 87th minute winner came out of the blue.

The game was a poor one, Wednesday looking laboured for long periods as they followed home reverses to Leeds and Brighton with another disappointing loss in SW6.

Earlier, Gary Hooper had raised hopes of Carlos Carvalhal’s men bolstering their promotion hopes with an equaliser that came just four minutes after Lawrence had put Ipswich in front.

It was a wonderful solo effort from the Town wideman. Having dispossessed Jack Hunt wide on the Owls’ right flank, Lawrence raced forward before beating two defenders on the edge of the box and firing an unstoppable shot beyond Kieren Westwood and into the corner of the net.

Hooper’s equaliser came from two yards out after Bartosz Bialkowski had only been able to parry a low drive from David Jones.

Wednesday were unfortunate not to go ahead within a minute of the restart, Bialkowski getting down smartly to keep out Hooper’s low drive. Kieran Lee then tried to reach the rebound but, under pressure from Adam Webster, could only shoot wide.

Steven Fletcher also missed an excellent opening on 55 minutes when picked out by Jack Hunt’s right wing cross.

At the other end, Kieren Westwood did brilliantly to force Freddie Sears so wide he couldn’t finish after being played in behind a static home defence.

Tom Lees then also denied Ipswich with a sublime block just as Jonathan Williams looked set to tap in a Grant Ward cross.

Wednesday, though, could do nothing three minutes from time as Christophe Berra’s header back across goal struck Luke Chambers before bouncing into the net.

TEAMS

Sheff Wed: Westwood, Hunt, Lees, Hutchinson, Pudil, Bannan, Lee, Jones, Reach, Fletcher, Hooper.

Subs: Abdi, Loovens, Palmer, Dawson, Wallace, Buckley, Forestieri.

Ipswich: Bialkowski, Chambers, Webster, Berra, Knudsen, Lawrence, Skuse, Bishop, Ward, McGoldrick, Sears.

Subs: Gerken, Best, Varney, Bru, Williams, Emmanuel, Kenlock.

Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)

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