Ipswich Town (A) 23/10/26

Ipswich Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest 

Enciso 41'                        Williams 13'

A 3 hour journey. A cold, windy night. Friday night football under the lights. Pure football felt like it was back.

Forest were making the journey to Ipswich, looking for just their second victory of the season. Their only win came over a month ago at Villa Park and they have lost all 3 games since (scoring just once), finding themselves in the relegation zone. The Reds have been dominating games and creating many opportunities for themselves yet have only scored 5 goals so far; they have the biggest xG to goals difference in the Premier League. Despite not having the points and it not looking good from a neutral’s perspective, Forest fans will know the signs are encouraging and there’s no need to panic just yet because when it clicks, it will click. In hope of that click coming on the night, Glasner named 2 changes from last week’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal. Milenkovic returned from injury to replace Diomande whilst Gibbs-White came in for Dominguez, who didn’t make the squad at all. This did confuse me as I thought Dominguez was brilliant against Arsenal so to not even make the bench, probably just to keep that academy record, I didn’t think was right. I do think it was harsh that Diomande was dropped as he has stepped up and not put a foot wrong, but Milenkovic brings that stability and leadership from the back that we’ve missed (if you ignore what he does later on!).

The hosts were chasing back-to-back topflight home wins for the first time since 2001/02. This is mainly due to their long spell out the Premier League before their return 2 years ago but on their comeback they didn’t impress, going straight back down. In this season, Forest took all 3 points from Portman Road, winning 4-2. On their promotion this time around, they have given it a better go, finding themselves 10^th after winning 3 of the opening 7 games. Last weekend, they took the difficult visit to the Etihad and almost came away with a point, narrowly losing 3-2. Gary O’Neil also named 2 changes as part of a formation change. Greaves made way for Philogene to revert back to a back 4 whilst Fatawu replaced Maeda.

Forest controlled the opening of the game, seeing majority of the possession. A key thing was the midfield pair of McAtee and Schlager being aggressive and winning the ball back when they did lose it, before getting their side up the pitch. After just 5 minutes, they had a good chance to take the lead through Cunha. Gibbs-White delivered in a free-kick from the right which was headed back across goal by Milenkovic from the far post to land at the feet of Cunha in a central position 10 yards out. He did well to control the ball before swivelling and hitting it on the volley. Unfortunately for him, Walton was alert to parry the effort away.

Due to their early domination and signs of scoring, it just felt like the Reds were going to find a goal early on. And they did exactly that! Cunha played a long ball up for former Tractor Boy Delap who was wrestled off the ball by Diop. The referee played advantage as Gibbs-White picked it up before playing a pass for Munoz to run onto. The Colombian put in a first time cross from the right and Williams ran onto it, opening up his body to side foot it on the volley from 6 yards out and into the bottom right corner. That just optimises Glasnerball: wing back to wing back. Ndoye has also had his critics but he made a run towards the near post, dragging in the centre backs and creating the room for Williams. Ipswich have now not kept a clean sheet in their last 11 games.

The game started to grow slightly end to end but it was Forest with the better chances. Gibbs-White cut in from the left after receiving a lovely pass from Schlager and looked to curl his effort into the right side of the net. Instead, he had to watch it whistle just wide of the post. The Englishman also had to watch one of his efforts cleared off the line. Schlager played Ndoye in down the right and he broke into the box before dragging a cross along the 6 yard box. Gibbs-White came sliding in at the far post and looked to be steering it over the line as it had Walton beaten but Leif Davis got back to clear it off the line.

Although Ipswich started to control the ball and Forest were only really hitting them on the counter, the visitors were keeping their efforts to a minimum, only allowing for shots over the bar. Their best effort was similar to Forest’s effort through Cunha as Emersonn’s header at the back post from a cross was hit on the volley by Philogene from close range and parried away by Sels. Like I mentioned Forest were getting some joy on the counter, but this is how they ended up conceding. Cunha broke away down the right but his touch was heavy, allowing O’Shea to come across and clear. Schlager and Milenkovic bought the ball down between them before the latter looked to pass back to his ‘keeper. Instead, the pass was short, allowing Enciso to run onto it, one-on-one with Sels, and fire the ball into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.

Just 2 minutes into the second half, the drama was already unfolding. McAtee won the ball back on halfway and the ball landed at the feet of Gibbs-White. McAtee had already began making a run towards goal and Gibbs-White played it to him. He continued to break away from all the blue shirts surrounding him with just Diop as the final defender. He came across to make a challenge, wiping out McAtee in the process. On field, Thomas Bramall didn’t even award a free kick but VAR sent him to the screen, deeming it a denial of a goal scoring opportunity. After rewatching the incident, the referee still didn’t see it as a red card offence, believing McAtee had knocked it away from goal. However, he did award a free kick and a yellow card. I don’t understand how the referee thinks that the ball changed direction when it carried on going in a straight line. There is also talk Davis would’ve come across but I think McAtee would’ve got there first and got a shot away as the ‘keeper retreated to his line.

The Reds were turning their anger into motivation, completely taking control of the second half. But the story was the same as previous games: they were creating chances and they just couldn’t take them. Murillo had 2 efforts from set-pieces which were a strong point for Forest on the night and have been a much improved aspect of their season so far. The Brazilian had one effort on the volley after the ball bobbled around from a corner which forced Walton into a diving save whilst his other was a header that bounced just wide of the right post. Davis also had to clear another effort off the goal line. Forest won the ball back deep into the Ipswich half and broke forward through Delap. He passed to Schlager to his right but the Austrian noticed the better option of Ndoye in space on the other side of the box. He took a touch before looking to roll it past Walton from the top left corner of the 6 yard box but Davis poked it off the line.

Delap also had chances to punish his former side. One was a header that came as the ball ricocheted back off Diop and into his path after Outtara’s failed clearance. It came at him unexpectedly and he had to fit it in the small gap between Walton and the crossbar but it still flew agonisingly just over the bar. Not even a minute later, Forest won the ball back from the resulting goal kick and Delap flew forward before unleashing a strike from 25 yards, looking for the bottom right corner. Instead he had to watch it sail inches wide.

Forest continued their pursuit of a goal and almost snatched a winner just before the 90. McAtee looked to play Hudson-Odoi in down the left with a lofted pass but it hit Diop on the way. Luckily for the winger, it deflected into his path and he headed it down into the box before running onto the ball, looking to find the bottom right corner as O’Shea came across. But just like his teammates, he had to watch his effort roll just wide of the post.

All 3 of Ipswich's Premier League wins this season have come from goals from the 90th minute onwards. Despite not registering a single shot at goal in the entire second half, they had almost done it again. That would’ve just been typical Forest. Clarke pinched the ball off Cunha in the Forest half. He drove forward, cutting inside from the left before shooting from the edge of the box. Thankfully for all of those Forest fans who had stood in the cold, the effort flew wide of the right post.

The game ended all square at 1-1 but once again Forest will be wondering how they didn’t take all 3 points. They are putting out encouraging performances, they just can’t find the back of the net when it matters. Before matters start getting worrying, they need to find a win, which they will hope to find away at Brentford next week. As for the Tractor Boys, they travel to fellow newly promoted side Hull.

Ipswich Town: Walton; Davis, O'Shea, Diop, Ouattara; Florentino (Matusiwa 85'), Palacios; Philogene-Bidace (Clarke 61'), Enciso (Akpom 86'), Fatawu (Maeda 73'); Emersonn (Flemming 60')

Forest: Sels; Murillo, Milenkovic, Jair Cunha; Williams (Netz 84'), Schlager, McAtee, Munoz; Gibbs-White, Ndoye (Hudson-Odoi 69'); Delap (Wood 90')