Barnsley v Ipswich: Blues boss Paul Jewell says it was a case of a point gained rather than two dropped after his side’s 1-1 draw at Barnsley this afternoon

Town took a sixth minute lead when Aaron Cresswell’s effort squirmed under goalkeeper Ben Alnwick and then proceeded to stifle their in-form opponents with a matching diamond midfield formation.

After the break, Barnsley produced the same free-flowing football which saw them win 5-0 at Birmingham the previous weekend though and fully deserved a fine 74th minute equaliser from Stephen Dawson.

Ipswich were then camped in their own half for the remainder of the match and rode their luck to gain a share of the spoils.

“I thought first half we did okay,” said Jewell. “I thought we stifled and frustrated them. We didn’t have that quality to go and get that second goal, but we battled hard enough and it’s a point gained rather two lost – even though we were 1-0 up with 15/20 minutes to go.

“When you lose three on the bounce confidence isn’t going to be sky high, but in two of those games – against Wolves and Middlesbrough – we played well, created chances and came away with nothing.

“Today we didn’t play anywhere near as good as that but came away with a point. They’re unbeaten at home this season, they’ve got a way of playing and I think the manager (Keith Hill) has done a brilliant job here.

“You never like to say you’re pleased with a point, but we’ve dug in today. We just need a bit more quality at key times.

“We’ve stuck at it and arguably, with Duke’s (Nathan Ellington’s) header, we could have nicked something. That would have been unfair on Barnsley though.”

Luke Hyam was replaced by Massimo Luongo at half-time, while defender Jack Ainsley had to deputise in the holding midfield role after Guirane N’Daw – who had to be pulled away from Craig Davies during a heated exchange on the half-time whistle – was withdrawn in the 53rd minute.

Explaining the changes, Jewell said: “Luke got a knee in his back. He didn’t want to come off, but was honest enough to say he was struggling. He should be fine for Tuesday (away at Brighton).

“The referee had a quick word with me at half-time about N’Daw. Then when he got booked (in the 47th minute), I thought the last thing we needed was to go down to 10 men.

“It wasn’t ideal because we’re also without two of our front players (Paul Taylor and Michael Chopra). I’m not making excuses, but we were a little bit stretched.”