Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Ipswich Town: Sindre Walle Egeli scores 94th-minute equaliser for Tractor Boys in replayed clash

  /  autty

Sindre Walle Egeli scored deep into stoppage time as Ipswich denied Blackburn a much-needed victory with the replay of their Championship fixture ending in a 1-1 draw.

Egeli stroked home his first goal for the Tractor Boys with almost the last kick of the game, cancelling out Andri Gudjohnsen's 76th-minute header which looked to have given Blackburn only their second home win of the season.

Back in September this fixture was abandoned in the 80th minute with Blackburn winning 1-0 against 10 men after a sudden downpour caused a waterlogged pitch, but for much of the night the replay looked like ending in a damp squib before it came alive late on.

Todd Cantwell, who scored the Blackburn goal in the abandoned fixture, made his return from injury as a 71st-minute substitute and five minutes later his corner was flicked on by George Pratt to leave Gudjohnsen with an easy finish.

But in the dying seconds of four minutes of added time, Leif Davis drove Ipswich forward and Jack Clarke laid the ball off for teenager Egeli to find the bottom corner with a composed finish.

Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael had called it "disgraceful" that this match was to be replayed in full after the abandonment, and his mood will have been little better after seeing his side concede a stoppage-time equaliser for a second consecutive game.

Two more crucial points in their battle near the foot of the table slipped through their fingers to leave them in 18th, four points clear of the drop.

Ipswich, who saw a six-game unbeaten run end in defeat at Oxford on Friday, had offered little attacking threat but Blackburn have not kept a clean sheet at home since February - a run of 15 games - winning here only once all season, and they could not hang on.

Blackburn had shaded a poor quality game in the first half, aided by plenty of sloppy play from Ipswich in front of their own goal.

More than once Town goalkeeper Christian Walton gave the ball away, but Ryan Alebiosu wasted the first opportunity and from the second Cedric Kipre was forced to bring down Yuki Ohashi on the edge of the box, earning a booking before Taylor Gardner-Hickman sent the free-kick into the wall.

Blackburn fans wanted a 39th-minute penalty when Ohashi went down as he tried to break into the box but there was little in the contact.

And supporters' fury poured down on Oliver Langford at half-time after the referee showed only a yellow card to Azor Matusiwa after he tripped Morishita when the Japan forward was through on goal, with Langford pointing to Davis as a covering defender.

Cantwell's introduction spurred Blackburn as they took the lead and it was one they looked like holding as Kipre's well-struck volley was blocked, but Egeli dampened the celebrations at the death.

The managers

Blackburn's Valerien Ismael:

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Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:

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Related: Blackburn Rovers Ipswich Town
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