Wolverhampton 0-0 Ipswich: Match Report

02 April 2016 16:34

Ipswich held in Wolves stalemate as play-off hopes suffer setback

Ipswich Town's fading play-off hopes suffered a fresh setback as they were held to a goalless Sky Bet Championship draw by Wolves at Molineux.

The visitors dominated in terms of possession and chances created but failed to make that pay against an ineffective Wolves as they collected just their fifth point from their last five games.

Wolves, who faced chants of "boring, boring" from their own fans in the second-half, have drawn three successive games and scored just once in the process, while their last two games at Molineux have been goalless draws.

Following a pedestrian opening spell, Ipswich sparked the game into life thanks to busy winger Liam Feeney.

On-loan Bolton man Feeney set-up their first chance in the 11th minute when his cross was only half-cleared to Jonas Knudsen, whose shot from the edge of the area whistled just the wrong side of the post.

Feeney himself came even closer to breaking the deadlock seven minutes later when his 20-yard drive beat goalkeeper Carl Ikeme only to crash to safety off the outside of the post.

Boosted by that near miss, Ipswich pressed forward again with Freddie Sears trying his luck from long range only to see his drive well held by Ikeme.

Wolves struggled to find any attacking intent of their own before on-loan Sheffield Wednesday winger Jeremy Helan made strides down the left wing and saw his dangerous cross headed out by Knudsen in the 28th minute.

Wolves captain Danny Batth looked set to connect with the resulting corner but was unable to steer his header on target.

Despite that rare moment of menace from Wolves, Ipswich still looked the team most likely to break the deadlock and they really should have done so through Brett Pitman three minutes before half-time.

Wolves defender Kortney Hause tried to shepherd the ball out of play on the goalline while under pressure from Pitman, but Hause lost the ball to the former Bournemouth forward who then chipped the ball over Ikeme.

Fortunately for Hause he was able to spare his own blushes as he raced to clear the ball off the line.

Wolves withdrew the ineffective striker Bjorn Sigurdarson at the break and replaced him with winger James Henry but that initially did little to boost their threat as the Tractor Boys continued to press.

Knudsen blazed over the bar when well placed after a cross from Sears who then saw a shot of his own drift wide.

Henry then started to have the desired effect for Wolves with a surging run in the 57th minute that ended with him driving his shot over Bartosz Bialkowski's crossbar.

Unfortunately for Wolves that was something of a false dawn and they needed the intervention of Ikeme to prevent Ipswich taking the lead in the 66th minute.

Visiting skipper Luke Chambers delivered a right-wing cross that Pitman stooped low to head goalwards only to see Ikeme block the ball at his near post.

Ikeme's heroics almost paid a near-instant dividend when Wolves finally forced Bialkowski into his first save of the game.

Henry's 74th-minute pass released left-back Matt Doherty and his fierce low shot was beaten out by Bialkowski with George Saville blazing the rebound over the bar.

Conor Coady tested the Ipswich stopper from distance four minutes from time but a goal proved to be beyond either team.


Source: PA