Ipswich Tn 2 Sheffield Weds 1: Westwood injury blow as Owls suffer defeat

After a first defeat, Carvalhal said: “I am unhappy about the result but I am proud of my players, who fought for the whole 96 minutes, and also our fans, who supported us throughout.

“We knew this would be one of the hardest matches in the Championship but in some parts we controlled the game and we put Ipswich under pressure in the last 15 minutes.

“But my players are learning and if this was played in three months’ time it would be a different test.”

Carvalhal faces selection dilemmas ahead of Wednesday night’s home game against Reading after Sam Hutchinson and Glenn Loovens were also injured.

A week after witnessing his players lose a two-goal lead in stoppage-time at Brentford, Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy saw his side deservedly hold on.

Wednesday took the lead on 19 minutes when Ross Wallace fired home after the impressive Marco Matias had pulled the ball back.

The advantage lasted just two minutes when Freddie Sears pounced on indecision between Loovens and Jeremy Helan to beat Westwood at his near post.

Ipswich went in front eight minutes after the restart when Ryan Fraser showed his own impressive wing play before his cross was parried by Westwood into the path of Tommy Smith, who headed home.

Ipswich Town: Bialkowski, Chambers, Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Maitland-Niles (Pitman 74), Skuse, Douglas (Coke 87), Fraser (McGoldrick 74), Sears, Murphy. Unused substitutes: Gerken, Tabb, Emmanuel, Toure.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood (Wildsmith 59), Hunt, Lees, Loovens, Helan, Lopez, Hutchinson (Nuhiu 62), Wallace, McGugan (Lee 79), Marco Matias, Lucas Joao. Unused substitutes: Sougou, Palmer, Semedo, Sasso.

Referee: J Linington (Isle of Wight).

Man of the match: Freddie Sears.