Ipswich Town were dealt a major body blow by Bristol City this evening as the Blues twice conceded leads before eventually succumbing to a 3-2 defeat.
Things had looked so good after two superb Freddie Sears goals, either side of a Bartosz Bialkowski own goal, had put the Blues in a winning position but they were unable to hold on and lacked the punch to get back into the game after falling behind.
Jamie Paterson and Famara Diedhiou ultimately scored the goals which condemned the Blues to defeat, meaning Ipswich remain bottom of the table, six points from safety, after not being able to capitalise on a kind set of results elsewhere this week.
The home supporters stuck with their team throughout, but with a drop in attendance of around 9,000 following Friday’s clash with West Brom, Portman Road was not able to roar their side back into the game.
The gap to safety remains six points, heading into Saturday’s away trip to Nottingham Forest, but this was a real chance missed to make some ground and move Ipswich back closer to the pack.
You fear it’s one which could take some coming back from.
It was a nervy start from the unchanged Blues as they struggled to get the ball under control, with the visitors taking the encouragement as they pushed forward early and nearly found away in the Ipswich back door as Andi Weimann stole behind Luke Chambers.
Jamie Paterson had the first real chance as he lashed over after an error from Jordan Spence, before Freddie Sears’ driven effort from outside the box clattered the stanchion and conned half the ground into thinking his shot had found the bottom corner.
The first real flash point of the evening came from the bench, as Lee Johnson and Lambert came together after the City manager collided with Gwion Edwards after the latter had committed a foul. The two managers received a stern talking to from referee David Webb, as did members of both staffs.
Ipswich had settled from their nervy start and found themselves ahead following a superb Sears’ goal just after the half-hour. It started with a diagonal ball from Skuse, was made by Sears’ superb first touch as he took the ball out the sky on his thigh and finished well into the corner after a drive towards goal.
Jordan Roberts’ free-kick was charged down as Town tried to grab a second, but they had to make do with a one-goal advantage at the interval.
The visitors introduced big striker Famara Diedhiou at the break, offering a new challenge to the Ipswich back four, and it was he who forced the equaliser as he prodded a wicked cross towards goal, with Bialkowski palming the ball into his own net.
It sparked a mad 10 minutes including three more goals and resulted in the Blues finding themselves 3-2 behind.
Sears got Portman Road rocking again with his second as he took a superb touch and drove home from the edge of the box, but the two City goals which followed brought about a deadly silence.
The first came within a minute, as Paterson arrived at the back post unmarked to turn home, before Diedhiou profited on a deflection off of Chambers to turn the ball past Bialkowski to make it 3-2.
Kayden Jackson and Jack Lankester were introduced from the bench to try and turn things around, before Ellis Harrison made his return from injury, but despite forays into opposition territory they were unable to make the difference as Ipswich slipped to defeat.
Ipswich Town: Bialkowski; Spence, Pennington, Chambers, Knudsen; Skuse, Downes (Harrison 78), Chalobah; Edwards (Lankester 72), Sears, Roberts (Jackson 65)
Subs: Gerken, Donacien, Bishop, Ward,
Bristol City: Maenpaa; Pisano (Hunt 76), Webster, Kalas, Kelly; Adelakun (Diedhiou 46), Pack, Walsh (Morrell 54), Eliasson, Paterson, Weimann
Subs: O’Leary, Dasilva, Baker, Eisa
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