Ipswich Town and Oldham Athletic will have to do it all again after playing out a 1-1 draw in their FA Cup first round tie this afternoon.
Town looked well on their way to round two after Wes Burns’ eighth-minute goal put a full-strength home side in front.
However, complacency crept in as Town’s tempo dropped, allowing Davis Keillor-Dunn to equalise just before the break.
Paul Cook’s side needed a Christian Walton penalty save, stopping Dylan Bahamboula’s spot kick, to remain level and, while Town did create chances in the second half, never tested visiting goalkeeper Jason Leutwiler enough to force a winner.
The Blues never really got going, with the flat display meaning Ipswich have now won just one of their last 20 FA Cup games and must now go to Boundary Park a week on Tuesday for a replay.
In a break from recent Ipswich Town tradition, Cook went with an unchanged side from the one which played the majority of Tuesday night’s victory at Wycombe, rather than making the wholesale changes we’ve come to expect from the FA Cup.
That meant one change to the starting XI, with Cameron Burgess taking Hayden Coulson’s place at left-back, having done so a little over 20 minutes into the game at Adams Park.
FA Cup rules meant Town could name a nine-man bench, with Janoi Donacien, Idris El Mizouni and Matt Penney coming into the 20-strong matchday squad.
Town had the game’s first chance, as Kyle Edwards stood up a cross to the far post which Macauley Bonne could only head straight at Oldham keeper Jason Leutwiler, but his next sight of the Oldham net led to the game’s opening goal.
The Ipswich striker found himself in space on the left side of the penalty area, where he flashed what looked like a curling shot towards goal, which allowed Burns to steal in and turn the ball home into the roof of the net.
The Blues were ahead and were surely heading to round two, even at this early stage, with Bonne then having another header saved as he found space to meet Lee Evans’ corner.
Cook’s men were having things their own way, playing at their own tempo and occasionally making errors as a result, with Oldham also maintaining something of a threat as Hallam Hope glanced a header wide of Christian Walton’s goal.
Bersant Celina was next to try his luck for Town, thundering in a shot which Leutwiler needed to watch carefully and turn away with his body, before Carl Piergianni fired another warning sign for the visitors as he met Benny Couto’s cross into the box.
Dylan Bahamboula shot wide from outside the box as Oldham continued to grow into the game, with their equaliser coming as Toto Nsiala failed to deal with a bouncing ball as he battled with Hope, before it was knocked back to Keillor-Dunn to sweep his shot past Walton and into the bottom corner of the Ipswich net.
A smart piece of defending from Kyle Edwards was needed to stop the visitors from taking the lead, as he intercepted a ball at the back post, before Cook no doubt made his frustrations clear to his players at the interval.
The Town boss made two changes at the break, replacing both his full-backs as Janoi Donacien and Matt Penney came on for Vincent-Young and Cameron Burgess, before Conor Chaplin was introduced for Edwards a few minutes later.
Then, out of nowhere, Oldham had a golden opportunity to take the lead after Donacien was adjudged to have fouled in the box, with all in Ipswich perplexed as referee Neil Hair pointed to the spot. Thankfully, though, Christian Walton came to the rescue as he dived to his right to push Bahamboula’s spot kick away.
That changed the mood inside Portman Road, bringing a previously quiet crowd into the game for the first time, but, try and Town might, they weren’t able to put enough pressure on the Oldham backline to force a second goal.
Ipswich Town: Walton; Vincent-Young (Donacien, 46), Edmundson, Nsiala, Burgess (Penney, 46); Morsy, Evans (Harper, 83); Burns (Aluko, 83), Celina, Edwards (Chaplin, 53); Bonne
Subs: Hladky, El Mizouni, Fraser, Pigott
Oldham Athletic: Leutwiler; Clarke, Piergianni, McGahey; Fage (Adams, 87), Bowden, Keillor-Dunn, Whelan, Couto; Hope, Bahamboula (Vaughan, 78)
Subs: Southerington, Dearnley, Da Silva, Diarra, Modi
Att: 8,845 (437 Oldham fans)
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