Ipswich Town 1-2 Wolves: Blues let first-half lead slip at Portman Road with faint survival hopes crushed by Pablo Sarabia and Jørgen Strand Larsen goals
Ipswich Town’s great escape was very much on at half-time at Portman Road but by full-time Wolverhampton Wanderers’ two unanswered goals, to seal a 2-1 victory, crushed any lingering hopes of avoiding falling through the Premier League trapdoor.
With seven games to go the gap to safety stands at 12 points meaning a return to the Championship now beckons for Kieran McKenna’s side, who had only themselves to blame after failing to build on a positive first-half performance that had seen Liam Delap’s 16th-minute close-range finish put them into a dream lead.
But the warning signs were clear for all to see from the start of the second period with the breakthrough eventually coming from substitute Pablo Sarabia’s left-footed finish from the edge of the box in the 72nd minute.
And in-form striker Jørgen Strand Larsen hammered the final nail into Town’s relegation coffin in the 84th minute, turning home a volleyed cross when their previous scorer repaid the favour for his goal by turning provider for the big Norwegian.
McKenna had resisted the urge to change a winning team following Wednesday’s 2-1 victory at AFC Bournemouth, despite the close proximity of the games, as he sent out an unchanged XI for the first time this season.
The only new name in the squad came on the bench with Leif Davis, back from injury, coming in for Jacob Greaves.
Visiting boss Vítor Pereira, who along with his assistant Luis Miguel was serving a one-match touchline ban for an accumulation of yellow cards, also went with the same line-up that earned three points on Tuesday by a 1-0 scoreline at home to West Ham United.
Spurred on by a wall of noise from the home fans, Town started brightly but it was Wolves who created the first sight of goal six minutes in. A piercing João Gomes run into the box led to a cutback for Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, whose turn left Sam Morsy on the floor on the edge of the box before lifting his effort comfortably over the top left-hand corner.
Four minutes later Alex Palmer was called into action to turn a low Jørgen Strand Larsen effort around his near post after he latched onto a throughball before pushing a bouncing Toti header from the first of three successive corners over his bar. The second saw João Gomes’ shot deflect wide before André’s far-post header went comfortably wide.
Town soon replied with a couple of corners of their own without making a connection before Jens Cajuste and Julio Enciso linked up beautifully in the area before Conor Townsend saw an effort blocked.
But the Blues found a way through the Wolves rearguard via a deep cross to take the lead in the 16th minute. Axel Tuanzebe, in plenty of space, went early with a long diagonal to find Dara O’Shea at the far post whose downward header was perfect for Delap to stab in ahead of keeper José Sá. There was a nervous wait for VAR to clear a potential offside against O’Shea before the England Under-21 international had his 12th goal of the season confirmed.
Wolves went close to providing an almost instant response from another corner but after Delap missed his header O’Shea was able to clear Rayan Aït-Nouri’s inswinging delivery almost off the line under pressure from Toti.
The tension for the home crowd continued as they saw a Bellegarde free kick out on the left hit the side netting with Toti unable to get a telling touch.
Good high pressing saw Matt Doherty kick a clearance straight to Morsy 25 yards out with the Egyptian going on to send in a spearing shot that Sá was comfortably behind.
Enciso drew applause for chasing back and slide-tackling João Gomes after feeling he was denied an obvious foul with the Paraguayan geeing up the crowd after.
But what should have been a routine O’Shea backpass to his keeper in the 36th minute had hearts in mouths as Palmer saw it go past his foot before managing to claw it off his line. The subsequent six-yard free kick, touched off by Aït-Nouri to Emmanuel Agbadou was charged down by Morsy to wild cheers. Palmer had been booked preceding the kick for encroachment.
What had been a lively half ended with a series of niggly fouls before Tuanzebe made an important header from a cross to see out the danger from a late Wolves attack.
McKenna’s side were on the backfoot again from the restart and, after receiving the ball in acres of space on the half-turn, João Gomes struck the left-hand post from a shot from the fringe of the area, with his follow-up effort deflected away off Conor Townsend. And Doherty was unable to make a wide angle work as the Old Gold pressure continued.
When Town did eventually get a bit of the ball in their opponent’s half, O’Shea could not get his header on target from a Cajuste cross.
With the ball bobbling around in the home area, Aït-Nouri wasted a good chance by slicing a half volley well wide.
McKena made his first change in the 65th minute with Nathan Broadhead, who had not been involved in any notable action, replaced by the late match-winner at Molineux in December, Jack Taylor.
Looking to catch Town out, Marshall Muntesi drove into space after crossing the half-way line before sending a long-range effort straight at Palmer.
But their equaliser did arrive with 18 minutes to go when a deep clipped pass found the run of Strand Larsen into the area and the big Norwegian cut it back to the edge of the box for substitute Sarabia whose initial effort came back off Cajuste before his second flew low inside the right-hand post. Another VAR check had the home fans praying but it was deemed Strand Larsen was onside.
Strand Larsen almost got his side in front soon after, heading over from a deep right-wing cross.
McKenna reacted with a quadruple substitution in the 81st minute with Chaplin, Hirst, Philogene and Davis replacing Cajuste, Delap and Tuanzebe.
But three minutes later Palmer was picking the ball out of his net after a cross from deep from Sarabia in the box and the Spaniard knocked it across the six-yard box for the unmarked Strand Larsen to nudge it over. Another long VAR check for offside saw home hopes crushed once again.
Seven minutes of added time were signalled but Town could not find a response as another punishing 90 minutes of Premier League football drew to a familiar painful ending at Portman Road.
Read more: Town skipper underlines determination to go down fighting
Read more: Town boss on Wolves defeat and where it leaves his side
Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Palmer, Tuanzebe (Philogene 81’), O’Shea, Burgess, Townsend (Davis 81’), Johnson, Morsy (cpt), Cajuste (Chaplin 81’), Enciso, Broadhead (Taylor 65’), Delap (Hirst 81’).
Unused subs: Walton (gk), Woolfenden, Phillips, Clarke.
Booked: Palmer (38’), Enciso (90’).
Wolves (3-4-2-1): Sa, Doherty (R. Gomes 65’), Ait-Nouri (Bueno 88’), Munetsi, Andre, J. Gomes, Strand Larsen (Djiga 90+6’), Agbadou, Semedo (cpt), Toti, Bellegarde (Sarabia 65’).
Unused subs: Johnstone (gk), Hee-Chan, Doyle, Forbs, Guedes.
Booked: André (71’).
Attendance: 29,549 (2,959 away)
SuffolkNews Man of the Match: Dara O’Shea. Liam Dealp got his goal and threw himself about but it was O’Shea who edges the award with his contributions in both boxes having kept his side’s hopes alive longer than they otherwise would have.
