Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich Town: Visitors battle to morale-boosting point
- Published
After watching their side lose their last four Premier League games, Ipswich fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst against an Aston Villa side whose last home reverse came against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup three and a half months ago.
The task facing Kieran McKenna's team was made a great deal more difficult by Axel Tuanzebe's second yellow card late in the first half, but the visitors stunned Villa Park when Liam Delap turned home Omari Hutchinson's cross 11 minutes into the second half.
Ollie Watkins' 68th-minute equaliser set up a nail-biting end to the contest, but goalkeeper Alex Palmer - making his Premier League debut at 28 - made several superb saves to preserve a hard-earned point.
Having already denied Marcus Rashford and Morgan Rogers, the February signing thwarted Marco Asensio with a one-handed save before producing a moment of goalkeeping brilliance to prevent Conor Townsend's inadvertent flick from ending up in the net.
With games against Tottenham and Manchester United to come in February, Saturday's impressive battling draw could provide the confidence boost Town need to pick up further precious points in their battle for survival.
