The spoils were shared in an entertaining Friday night tussle at Portman Road.
The 1-1 draw sees Ipswich Town move up to ninth in the table, albeit before the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. As for Forest, they continue to stutter along and they remain with just one win from their opening eight league games.
Forest were much the better team and created a vast amount more chances than their hosts but failed to convert a second, after Neco Williams had put them into a 13th-minute lead.
Ipswich toiled and eventually got a leveller, just before half-time, with Julio Enciso equalising albeit he was gifted the chance after a defensive slip-up for the visitors.
Neither side could force a winner despite the best efforts of Oliver Glasner’s side.
It was a fast start from Forest, with Jair Cunha’s acrobatic early effort bringing a good stop from home goalkeeper Christian Walton. Forest built on that and took the lead when both their wing-backs combined to open the scoring. Daniel Munoz provided the ball across the area and Wales international Williams applied a fine finish to make it 1-0.
It was all Forest and Morgan Gibbs-White drifted inside before lashing a fierce shot wide of goal, not long after. Jaden Philogene drew a good save from Matz Sels in response as Ipswich started to get back into the contest.
Another Gibbs-White attempt came and went before Ipswich made them pay, although Forest played a big part in it. Nikola Milenkovic dawdled on the ball for too long and his eventual backpass was too short and allowed Enciso to take advantage and slot past Sels to make it 1-1.
There was a controversial flashpoint in the second half when Issa Diop appeared to be the last man when he brought down James McAtee. The referee had waved play on but VAR intervened, suggesting a red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity. The referee, Thomas Bramall, then reviewed the footage and instead warranted a yellow card to Diop.
Forest sprang back into life but just couldn’t convert the glut of chances they fashioned, as spoils were shared.
Speaking post-match, Glasner had his say on the flashpoint involving Diop. He said: ” “It doesn’t make sense [to speak to the referee] because it is what he decided and we have to accept it, it looks like the VAR was not from the East Midlands today. It felt like it was a red card but we couldn’t have played a more dominant game than we did in the second half. Not to blame the referee, we will keep analysing, and practising. Maybe I am wrong or I don’t know if the referee was a former football player. He won’t change it anymore, so we accept it.”
Ipswich chief Gary O’Neil reflected: ” We had to hang on and fight, that’s what we needed. Tough game in tough conditions. We were never good enough with the ball and it ended up being Forest’s direct balls that took control. We had to try and match that but the conditions were tough.
“They are a good side but to go 1-0 down and fight back, there are lots of ways to be successful in football matches and we rolled our sleeves up and dug in. Massive second half to get a point and keep a clean sheet in the second half.”
The result sees Ipswich move to tenth, with Forest up to 16th ahead of the Saturday matches.
