Wolves 0
Ipswich Town 0
A lacklustre game with few goalmouth incidents between Wolves and Ipswich Town finished as a goalless draw – the second in succession at home for the Molineux men.
Returning to Molineux were Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor along with defenders Christophe Berra and Kevin Foley. There was just one change to the home line up with Bjorn Sigurdarson coming in for the injured Jed Wallace.
Town kicked-off attacking the South Bank end but it was Wolves that threatened first with dangerous centres from Jeremy Helan and Conor Coady the latter of which was punched clear, under pressure, by Bartosz Bialkowski in the Ipswich goal.
A foul by Matt Doherty to the right of the Wolves boss led to a Ben Pringle free-kick that was claimed in a congested area by Carl Ikeme.
In the 12th minute Liam Feeney’s cross was headed out by Dominic Iorfa as far as Jonas Knudsen who was wide with a low effort from 20-yards.
Town were close six minutes later, however, when Pringle’s corner was only half cleared as far as Feeney who struck the base of the post with a drive from the edge of the area.
Ikeme then made a comfortable save from Freddie Sears who tried his luck from a similar distance.
A great piece of work by Helan saw the on loan winger beating his man and taking the ball to the by-line before sending over a dangerous cross that Knudsen was happy to head behind.
Three minutes before the break, Kortney Hause got in a tangle on his own by-line and lost possession to Brett Pitman who chipped the ball over Ikeme from an acute angle. There was no power behind his effort though allowing Hause to recover and get across to clear off the line.
Half-Time: Wolves 0 Town 0
James Henry, back from a seven match injury lay-off, returned as a replacement for Sigurdarson at the start of the new half.
Five minutes in, it took a timely intervention by Jack Price to thwart Pringle who was taking advantage of a kindly bounce of the ball and bearing down on Ikeme’s goal.
Sears wasn’t too far away with a shot from distance and, at the other end, George Saville lifted the ball wide of the far post after Michal Zyro’s short pass into his path.
Wolves then made a second change when Joe Mason took the place of Helan.
Midway through the half it took a brilliant reflex save from Ikeme to thwart Ipswich. The keeper got down low to turn away Brett Pitman’s header from Feeney’s right-wing cross.
More changes followed with Adam Le Fondre replacing Zyro and, for Ipswich, Luke Varney and Kevin Bru took the places of Pitman and Pringle respectively.
Henry set up a chance for Doherty whose on target shot from a tight angle was well saved by Bialkowski. Then a Henry cross was headed out by Luke Chambers but only as far as Le Fondre who teed up a volley for himself that flashed narrowly wide.
Bialkowski made an easier save from Coady’s half hit drive from the 18-yard line and the keeper just won a race with Le Fondre to Henry’s deep through ball.
In the dying seconds Doherty had a shot blocked and then headed wide as Wanderers went for a late winner.
Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Iorfa, Price, Batth (capt), Hause, Sigurdarson (Henry 45), Coady, Zyro (Le Fondre 68), Saville, Helan (Mason 58).
Unused subs: Martinez, McDonald, Deslandes, Hunte.
Town: Bialkowski, Knudsen. Chambers (capt), Smith, Berra, Skuse, Pitman (Varney 68), Feeney (McGoldrick 87), Pringle (Bru 68), Sears, Douglas.
Unused subs: Gerkin, Hyam, Digby, Foley.
Referee: R. Lewis.
Attendance: 20,225.
