The Championship rematch ended in a 1-1 draw, with Sindre Wale Egeli scoring just before stoppage time as Ipswich missed out on a much-needed victory over Blackburn.
Egeli scored his first goal for the Tractor Boys with a late kick, canceling out Andri Gudjohnsen’s 76th-minute header and it looked as if Blackburn would have only their second home win of the season.
Back in September, the match was abandoned in the 80th minute with Blackburn winning 1-0 against 10 men after a sudden downpour left the pitch waterlogged, but for much of the night the rematch looked like a damp squib, but came alive in the second half.
Todd Cantwell, who scored Blackburn’s goal in the abandoned match, returned from injury as a substitute in the 71st minute, and five minutes later his corner kick was deflected by George Platt for Gudjohnsen to finish easily.
However, with four minutes remaining in stoppage time, Leif Davies put Ipswich forward, Jack Clarke laid the ball off for teenager Egeli to fire into the bottom corner with a composed finish.
Blackburn manager Valerian Ismael said it was “disgraceful” that the game was replayed in its entirety after it was called off, but he may feel a little better after seeing his side concede a second successive stoppage-time equalizer.
Sindre Wale Egeli scored Ipswich’s equalizer in the 94th minute.
Two more important points slipped through the ranks in a battle near the bottom of the standings, leaving them in 18th place, four points behind them.
Ipswich showed little attacking threat as their six-game unbeaten run was defeated by Oxford on Friday, but Blackburn, who have not kept a clean sheet at home since February (15 in a row) and have won here only once all season, could not hang on.
Blackburn avoided a poor performance in the first half, helped by Ipswich’s sloppy play in front of their own goal.
Town goalkeeper Christian Walton gave away the ball more than once, but Ryan Alebios squandered his first chance and from the second goal Cedric Kipre was forced to beat Yuki Ohashi on the edge of the box, earning a booking before Taylor Gardner-Hickman hit the free-kick against the wall.
Andri Gudjohnsen scored Blackburn a 1-0 win.
Blackburn fans called for a penalty in the 39th minute when Ohashi fell down as he tried to break into the box, but there was no contact.
And supporters’ anger descended on Oliver Langford at half-time after the referee only showed Azor Matsuiwa a yellow card after the Japan forward tripped Morishita as he invaded the goal. Langford pointed to Davis as a covering defender.
Blackburn gained momentum after taking the lead with the introduction of Cantwell, and although Kipre’s powerful volley was blocked, it looked like they would keep the game, but the death of Egeli spoiled the celebrations.
managers
Valerian Ismael of Blackburn:
“Enough is enough. I can list all the decisions made against us this season.
“The decision not to issue a red card is shameful and terrible. It’s unacceptable. It’s a penalty for Yuki. The last situation puts us in a corner again. The standards of refereeing in the Championship are terrible.”
“Teams who are fighting for promotion, have a very good championship and invest a lot of money to play football, but every three days of games they always get the same calls and the standards are really, really low and when you look at the list of calls against us it’s unacceptable.
“At some point it could happen. One or two decisions I didn’t say anything. But now the red card is clear. Maybe it’s because… it’s a former Premier League club. He wanted to help them, because no one will understand.”
Kieran McKenna from Ipswich:
“From my perspective on the sidelines, I think it could have gone either way.
“(Morishita) is ahead of Azor and he has a very fast player (Leif Davis) following him from the angle.
“If it was borderline in the first half, normally you would want the referee not to send a player off. But if I was on their side, I’m sure I’d want a red card too. Tonight it was our way.”
