Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1 at Portman Road on Friday night, which was early Saturday morning in Singapore. Neco Williams put Forest ahead, Julio Enciso levelled before half-time, and Ipswich then held on through a second half Forest controlled.
Williams strikes first
Forest went ahead on 13 minutes. Daniel Muñoz crossed from the right and Williams arrived unmarked at the back post to finish. Sky Sports and the Suffolk News both noted it was the seventh league game in a row in which Gary O’Neil’s side had conceded first. For Williams, the Suffolk News added, it was his 150th Premier League appearance.
Forest kept coming. Morgan Gibbs-White, back in the side, saw a shot stopped by the toe of Christian Walton before Leif Davis hacked the ball off the line.
Enciso pounces on a loose backpass
The equaliser came four minutes before the break. Nikola Milenković dwelt on the ball near halfway and his backpass towards Matz Sels was short. Enciso nipped in, ran clear and slotted low at the near post on 41 minutes. The BBC reported it as his first goal for the club since his summer move.
A red card that never came
Three minutes into the second half, Issa Diop brought down James McAtee as the Forest midfielder broke towards goal. Referee Thomas Bramall waved play on, then VAR sent him to the pitchside monitor to check for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. He showed Diop a yellow card. The BBC reported his explanation that McAtee had knocked the ball to the right side of the goal.
Davis keeps Ipswich level
That decision lit a spark in Forest. Murillo headed a free chance from a corner wide, and Davis cleared off the line again on 64 minutes, this time from Dan Ndoye. Liam Delap, back at his old club, headed over from six yards and later curled a low shot just wide. Callum Hudson-Odoi dragged another chance off target, while Jack Clarke curled wide for Ipswich at the other end.
Sky Sports put Forest’s expected goals at 2.31 against 0.46 for Ipswich, with the shot count at 17 to seven. The BBC gave the attendance as 29,198.
Where it leaves them
The point keeps Ipswich ninth on 10 points. Forest climb to 16th on six, out of the bottom three on goal difference for now, with one win from eight games under Oliver Glasner.
Ipswich travel to Hull City next Saturday. Forest host Brentford.
