Match Report: Ipswich Town 2-2 Huddersfield Town

The terriers took the long journey to Portman Road to take on Ipswich Town just three days since losing their prolific goalscorer Jordan Rhodes in a £8m deal which has seen him head to Blackburn Rovers. The line-ups were typically announced before the game & it was clear to see that Grayson was keen to play the 4-4-2 formation which had seen his Huddersfield side take all three points previously against Burnley last week;

Starting XI; Smithies, Dixon, Lynch, Clarke (c), Hunt, Southern, Norwood, Clayton, Ward, Vaughan, Novak,

Huddersfield immediately started well and pushed Ipswich back in the first few minutes & Norwood gave Loach something to do just five minutes in when he fired in a freekick. Loach punched it away and the home side broke quickly which ended in Chopra firing wide for Ipswich. Five minutes later Norwood caused more problems for Ipswich with yet another free-kick which unfortunately resulted in Joel Lynch heading wide as he tried to emulate his goal against Burnley last week.

A promising start by the terriers could well of seen them go behind as Ipswich received the first real chance of the game as Murphy was able to get on the end of a drag back but he failed to connect with the ball properly and allowed Peter Clarke to clear his teams lines. Ipswich were now the team enjoying the majority of the possession and they were threatening to take the lead as Taylor cut inside from out wide & lined up a shot but Keith Southern managed to get a hard tackle in before he could release his drive.

Ipswich continued to attack this time through Taylor who skipped away past four tackles but he could only fire straight at Alex Smithies. Moments later Dixon was able to find the run of Novak who in turn found Clayton on the edge of the area and he burst into the penalty box but he could only hit the side netting with his effort. Ten minutes until the break it was Huddersfield Town who managed to secure the opening goal through a superb low drive from Adam Clayton.

The terriers had won the corner which Norwood swung into the box and Ipswich did well to clear but both Ward & Clayton fired efforts in from the edge of the box until Clayton hit the target and made the net ripple. One minute before the break Novak put the ball over the Ipswich defence and Loach came out but he made a mess of the clearance. Vaughan tried to lob it over the goalkeeper but he couldn't lift it high enough.

Half Time: Ipswich 0-1 Huddersfield

Ipswich started the second half on the upper hand and were making a nuisance of themselves but the terriers defence held strong and the game slipped into the 55th minute with no chances being created by both sides. Danny Ward tested Loach as he cut infield before firing a right footed effort which the keeper spilled but he redeemed himself by smothering the ball from a Vaughan follow up.

An hour of football had been played and Vaughan was making an impressive start to his Huddersfield career as he pulled a ball out of the air with incredible finesse before volleying just over the bar. However, Ipswich managed to get the equaliser after Drury's free-kick created havoc in the box before Chambers hooked the ball in from a few yards out. Now it was the terriers on the ropes and just 18 minutes from time the home side scored a somewhat unfair goal. Chopra was completely unmarked way behind the Huddersfield defence and as Smithies came out he coolly chipped over him to send the home side wild. Huddersfield players surrounded the referee & the linesman arguing that Chjpra was offside but the goal remained.

Grayson had switched formations to 3-5-2 when Huddersfield gave away the lead and he continued to try his best to get the terriers back into the game by replacing Novak with new loanee Adam Hammill. The winger immediately made his mark on his debut and was involved in the equaliser for Huddersfield as he pushed the terriers forward before Ward crossed for Vaughan to fire home to the amazement of the faithful 830 fans which had travelled to Portman Road.

The equaliser had set the game wide open for the last ten minutes and Murphy smashed the post as Huddersfield failed to clear their lines with sloppy defending. The terriers saw the chance to break and flew up the pitch with Hammill who slotted Hunt in only for the young full back to be fouled in the box. After a few seconds of talks with hs linesman the referee awarded the visitors the penalty. Vaughan stepped up but it was incredibly saved by Loach onto the bar and it bounced onto the line as Vaughan argued intensly claiming it had gone over the line with Ipswich players & officials.

The goal wasn't given and a crazy final five minutes followed but the scoreline finished 2-2 in a thoroughly entertaining game at Portman Road. Huddersfield will feel hard done by not to be taking home all three points especially with a clear offside goal not being picked up by the officials was allowed to stand for Ipswich. Nevertheless an away point in The Championship is something for the terriers to build upon.

Full Time- Ipswich 2-2 Huddersfield
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