Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Substitute Noah Ohio strikes late to deny Ipswich win in Championship promotion race
- Published
- comments
Omari Hutchinson scored two goals in Ipswich's 3-3 draw with Hull
Substitute Noah Ohio struck late to rescue Hull as they came from behind three times to draw 3-3 with Championship promotion-chasers Ipswich.
Two stunning Omari Hutchinson goals looked to have secured all three points for the Tractor Boys in their chase for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
George Hirst's opener for Ipswich was cancelled out by Ozan Tufan before Hutchinson sent an unstoppable curling effort past Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop in first-half added time.
Half-time substitute Liam Delap prodded home to level the score early in the second half before Chelsea loanee Hutchinson again beat Allsop from distance with a swerving effort.
But Ohio popped up in the 86th minute to smash the ball in via the crossbar after Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky's mistake to keep Hull's play-off dream alive, while Ipswich need four points from their remaining two games to secure promotion to the top flight.
The returning Hirst gave the visitors the perfect start with a goal in his first appearance since Boxing Day, calmly slotting home his seventh of the season - and first since 12 December - into the bottom corner after Hull's defenders failed to clear Wes Burns' weak cross.
Ipswich were then the architects of their own downfall for the equaliser.
Goalkeeper Hladky's short pass put Sam Morsy under pressure and the ball was nicked from him by Jean-Michael Seri whose pass to Tufan took the keeper out of the game, allowing the 25-year-old to coolly finish.
Hutchinson saved the best moment of the half for the third minute of added time with a sensational strike into the top-left corner.
The on-loan Chelsea forward picked up the ball wide on the right following an Ipswich corner, then cut inside the pressure of Jaden Philogene before unleashing an unstoppable left-foot shot past the diving Allsop.
Tufan could have had a hat-trick early in the second half but missed two big chances to level the score, first heading wide following neat build-up play from Philogene and Liam Delap.
The Turkish striker then headed over with the goal gaping and Ipswich keeper Hladky on the floor.
His strike partner Delap would then show him how it was done as he met Fabio Carvalho's first-time cross to poke the ball past Hladky for a deserved equaliser.
Cameron Burgess came within a whisker of giving Ipswich the lead for a third time in an end-to-end game, crashing a header against the bar when left unmarked from a Leif Davis free-kick.
They did go back with front when Hull failed to learn their lesson from Hutchinson's first goal, allowing him to pick up the second ball from a corner, switch on to his left foot and whip a second curling, dipping strike past Allsop.
Ipswich lost left-back Davis to injury late on and were left to rue their mistakes as Ohio levelled the score to set up a tense finish at the MKM Stadium.
Allsop saved well to deny Hutchinson a hat-trick before substitute Jeremy Sarmiento's effort was somehow scrambled off the line to prevent a late Ipswich winner that would have ended any realistic chance of Hull earning a play-off spot.
Instead, the Tigers know that victory at Plymouth next Saturday, coupled with West Brom losing at home to Preston, will see them finish in the top six.
Hull City boss Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside:
"Tonight we didn't win but what I saw was everything I've ever wanted to bring to this football club.
"There was a spirit and a connection between the supporters and the team that I'll never forget.
"To go toe-to-toe with a team of Ipswich's quality, and the fans kept us going, the players were magnificent in their responses.
"I'm proud of how far we've come, we're going to fight until the end and we've seen that today."
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:
"It was some game, I thought we showed some of the best attributes that we've shown this season tonight.
"So many positives to take, the spirit, the quality, the bravery that we played with and the threat that we carried against a very good side that were also fighting for the result they wanted, they have an awful lot of good players.
"Of course we feel we could have won it, we had the lead and had chances to win the game but it wasn't meant to be."
On Omari Hutchinson: "He works so hard, he's so humble, wants to practice all the time and improve his game."