Ipswich Town 2-2 West Bromwich Albion - Tractor Boys twice level in Portman Road thriller
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Tom Fellows hit his third goal in five games for West Bromwich Albion
Omari Hutchinson hammered an injury-time equaliser to earn Ipswich Town a precious point against promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion.
The Tractor Boys had looked set to slip to a third defeat in a week after twice going behind to goals by youngster Tom Fellows and John Swift.
But, just as Nathan Broadhead had equalised at the start of the second half, Hutchinson did the same in the third minute of injury time - to ensure that fourth-placed Ipswich maintained their 11-point advantage over fifth-placed Albion.
And, had it not been for a fine late save by recalled Baggies keeper Alex Palmer to thwart Ali Al-Hamadi in a rousing finish, Town could have pinched all three points.
On a contrasting day of fortunes for Albion strikers, after Fellows had scored his first away goal for the Baggies, there was a further sad twist to the injury-plagued career of Daryl Dike, who suffered yet another serious-looking setback just 10 minutes after coming on as substitute.
After beginning 2024 without a goal to his name, 20-year-old Fellows put his side ahead with his third goal in five games to get a classic encounter truly off and running on 15 minutes.
Andi Weimann, on his first Albion start, turned well to loop a hopeful ball forward, Fellows raced onto it, controlled and muscled his way to the outside of the first covering defender Luke Woolfenden. He then rounded him before cutting back inside to drill an excellent low right-foot shot between the Harry Clarke's legs just inside the left upright.
Clarke almost made amends on the stroke of half-time when his curling left-foot shot was tipped over Alex Palmer.
But, just as tellingly, Albion lost centre-half Kyle Bartley then went down with a pulled calf - and was replaced in a half-time reshuffle. And less than two minutes into the second half the hosts took advantage to level.
George Edmundson flicked on a right-wing corner and Broadhead was unattended at the far post, cleverly adjusting himself as the ball came at an awkward height before volleying back across Palmer into the bottom corner.
Weimann then had the ball in back of the Ipswich net but the goal was disallowed - and he was rightly booked for deliberate handball - when it became clear that he had put it in with his left arm, in an attempt to protect his head crashing into the left upright.
Worse was to come when the luckless Dike lasted just 10 minutes after coming on as a 55th-minute substitute for Brandon Thomas-Asante.
Dike was taken off in tears on the back of a golf cart, following the latest in his painfully long line of injury setbacks.
Daryl Dike only returned to fitness in January after nearly nine months out with a ruptured Achilles tendon
With bizarre irony, it then looked as if the man who replaced him, Swift, might get the winner, when he was left in too much space and curled in a low right-foot shot from 20 yards for his first goal since October.
But Ipswich had other ideas as to who would grab the headlines, especially once former Albion loan man Jeremy Sarmiento came on in the 83rd minute - and Hutchinson capitalised on a strong home finish when his volley found its way home through a crowd of players.
Who's next?
Albion are back in action on Tuesday night when they host Cardiff City.
Ipswich play a day later when they travel to face Millwall.
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:
"We can be so proud of so many things, one and off the field, but we've given that a real good go.
"Against a team like West Brom, with the quality and experience they have, it's not easy to produce a performance like that. But it was a great game to be involved in. Going 2-1 behind was undeserved on the run of play.
"And, if if we had got the winner at the end, we'd have been talking about a Portman Road classic."
West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM:
"We knew how competitive it would be, how much fear Ipswich create at home.
"Losing Kyle Bartley was a big blow. He had a pull in the calf, which we knee to scan.
"But the more serious one was losing Daryl Dike. A big blow that we should lose him again. It's too early to know how long. It may be the same type of injury, hopefully less. It is an Achilles but in the different foot. We need to have the scan first."
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