Ipswich Town 1 PNE 1
North End and Ipswich Town must do it all again at Deepdale on Tuesday 14th January after a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup third round at Portman Road.
The home side took the lead when substitute David McGoldrick scored from the rebound after his penalty had been saved by Declan Rudd on 37 minutes, but North End were level within four minutes, Kevin Davies taking advantage of an Ipswich injury to play him onside, stroking home into the bottom right hand corner from ten yards out.
Manager Simon Grayson had made three changes to the side that overcame Port Vale on New Year’s Day with Tom Clarke and Jack King rested and top scorer Joe Garner on the bench, Paul Huntington – who returned from suspension – started alongside the Keith Keane and Kevin Davies.
The yellow clad North End started brightly and had some good early possession and pressure, a flurry of corners and shots in the opening 12 minutes, the best of the chances coming from a Huntington header from Paul Gallagher’s inwinging cross.
Kevin Davies looked lively in attack and was being fed well by Neil Kilkenny, pulling the strings in the middle of the park and it was from a Kilkenny ball into Davies' strike partner Iain Hume that saw the No.27 nod down for Davies to test Scott Loach – in goal for Ipswich – from 25 yards, the former Watford man getting down low to save well.
Davies was again involved on 21 minutes, cleverly nicking the ball on the right off Luke Hyam, driving down the right hand channel and whipping a ball across. Hume got the outside of the right boot onto the ball, but Luke Chambers did brilliantly to get back and block the effort on the line with his keeper beaten.
The best spell for the home side came shortly after the half hour mark. David McGoldrick had replaced Tractor Boys’ debutant Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in attack and his additional pace was a threat and with eight minutes to go in the half their pressure brought the opener.
They won a corner on the right which skipper Carlos Edwards delivered into the box, but was blocked by a raised arm of Huntington, referee Michael Naylor immediately pointing to the spot.
McGoldrick stepped up to take it, but saw it brilliantly saved by on loan Norwich man Declan Rudd, diving away to his left, only for the rebound to run back out to McGoldrick, who just managed to get enough on it to get the ball back past Rudd and into the empty net.
Three minutes later the game erupted into incident. Firstly Rudd was flattened by Frank Nouble – who when the play finally stopped three minutes later was incredibly lucky to still be on the pitch, not even being given a caution – however, the referee let play go on and Iain Hume latched onto a through ball by Bailey Wright. The Candian skipped past a defender and was one-on-one with Loach, but the Town keeper made a brilliant block – the ball then came back out to Paul Gallagher, whose shot seemed to be blocked by Wordsworth’s hand, but unlike the one at the other end, referee Michael Naylor said no.
Play continued though and North End kept the pressure on, grabbing the equaliser they thoroughly deserved.
Tyrone Mings was down injured in the left hand corner of the pitch and the yellows took advantage. Lee Holmes picked up the ball just inside the opposition half and powered forward before sliding the ball into Kevin Davies – who would have been offside but for Mings' injury – the former England frontman taking advantage controlling and coolly sliding the ball into the bottom right hand corner from ten yards out.
The home side started the second half brightly, Anthony Wordsworth stinging the gloves of Rudd on 55 minutes to bring the first corner of the half.
But North End came back to life in the 65th minute, a great ball from Huntington playing Hume in down the right; he couldn’t quite get the ball in his path, but did well to finally get a curling shot away, Loach palming the ball round for a corner. The corner from Gallagher almost went straight in, Loach again making an excellent block to deny the No.12 a fourth goal in two FA Cup games this season.
Gallagher had another an excellent chance to test Loach further with 16 minutes left, the ball falling to the loanee on the edge of the box, where he beat two men before eventually firing over the Ipswich keeper’s bar from 18 yards.
In the penultimate minute of normal time an almighty scramble from an Ipswich corner was eventually cleared by Huntington and then back in on the break for the home side McGoldrick was denied by a fine save by Rudd at point blank range - his only ral save of note in the second half, showing the excellent performance of the Lilywhites defensively.
Three minutes were added to time by the officials and in the first of it North End won a corner through substitute Will Hayhurst and Davies saw a shot blocked on the line by Edwards, however, the time petered out and both sides had to settle for a replay.
: Loach, Cresswell, Chambers, Berra, Edwards, Wordsworth (Tunnicliffe, 78), Mings, Tabb (Taylor, 68), Hyam, Ebanks-Blake (McGoldrick, 29), Nouble. Subs not used: Skuse, Anderson, Hunt, Crowe.Ipswich Town line-up
: Rudd, Keane, Buchanan (Laird, 88), Kilkenny, Huntington, Wright, Holmes, Welsh, Hume (Garnerm 78), K Davies, Gallagher (Hayhurst, 90). Subs not used: Stuckmann, Beavon, Byrom, Brownhill.PNE line-up
: 13,534 (359 away fans)Attendance
: Mr M NaylorReferee