You suspect that outside the blue corner of East Anglia, no one will have enjoyed this match more than Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany and his team.
In front of their flat-screen TVs in their luxury apartments, Bayern’s players will have watched in delight as Aston Villa took one blow after another from Ipswich and somehow managed to get out of Portman Road without be turned off.
How that leaves them for Wednesday’s Champions League meeting with Bayern, one of the biggest games in Villa’s recent history, is another matter entirely. Bayern themselves had a fierce clash with champions Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, but after seeing how Villa were stretched here they might think the extra 24 hours of rest could prove decisive.
Villa boss Unai Emery certainly seems ready for a rest. The Basque gave new meaning to the phrase ‘kicking every ball’ as he danced in his technical field, a study in agitation. The most famous result in Villa history was a 1-0 win over Bayern in the 1982 European Cup final. To repeat that will require something Villa find all too difficult: keeping a clean sheet.
Emery’s side had fought back to take the lead at half-time after Liam Delap had put Ipswich ahead, thanks to goals from Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins. Emi Martinez made fine saves to keep Ipswich out, but they could not be denied and Delap’s second with 18 minutes to go was fully deserved.
Liam Delap scored two goals as Ipswich Town held Aston Villa to a 2-2 draw at Portman Road
Ipswich started brightly and took the lead in the eighth minute thanks to Delap’s first goal
Delap, a £20m summer signing from Man City, celebrated by blowing a kiss into the crowd
Although Ipswich are still waiting for their first win of the campaign, they should take huge encouragement from this. Against one of the best teams in the country of the last 18 months, Town looked their opponents in the eye and Emery could not have complained if his team had left with nothing. They will also feel they have been on the wrong end of a number of controversial calls, most notably when Ollie Watkins was not even shown a yellow card after his elbow struck Dara O’Shea in the face.
Ipswich will be hoping to ride on the optimism that has taken them to successive promotions and are unlikely to see this season go away regardless of the results.
And with the crowd roaring for them, Ipswich took the lead in the eighth minute. When Sam Morsy’s shot was fired at teammate Omari Hutchinson, Ezri Konsa’s weak ball fell straight to Kalvin Phillips. Jack Clarke collected his former Leeds colleague’s pass and cut it back for Delap, whose low effort from close range crept in via Emi Martinez’s right hand.
Town were full of energy at this stage, making tackles and breaking quickly, with Morsy and Hutchinson impressive. However, all that positive work was ruined in the 15th minute.
Under little pressure, Jacob Greaves hit blindly from distance deep into his own box. Rogers intercepted the ball, collected the return pass from Watkins and smashed home from twelve yards.
It was a heavy blow, but Ipswich continued to create chances. Axel Tuanzebe headed a free kick from Leif Davis and Clarke missed an even better header chance from another cross from Davis. Villa boss Unai Emery took advantage of the break to give a pep talk to Pau Torres, Lucas Digne and Jacob Ramsey and Villa took the lead just after the half hour.
After a patient build-up, the ball was worked back to Leon Bailey – on for injured skipper John McGinn – and he crossed brilliantly with his weaker right foot, allowing Watkins to slip between Dara O’Shea and Tuanzebe and go past Arijanet Muric.
Villa equalized after fifteen minutes when Morgan Rogers scored his first goal of the season
It was 2-1 to Villa in the 32nd minute after No. 11 Ollie Watkins headed in from Leon Bailey’s cross
Watkins celebrated his fifth goal of the season for Villa by pointing to someone in the crowd
But Delap had the final say, giving Ipswich a fourth Premier League point since their promotion
If Martinez had been at fault for Delap’s goal, he would have more than repaid his side before half-time. First he showed fine reflexes to push away Phillips’ rising drive and then, with Delap closing in on him, the Argentinian managed to put the ball wide with his left foot. No wonder Martinez celebrated a save on par with his iconic stop of Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani in the 2022 World Cup final.
Ipswich were starting to get annoyed with referee Stuart Attwell. They were stunned to see Watkins escape punishment when his flying elbow hit O’Shea below the eye, and then Delap followed Morsy into the book for protesting the yellow card shown to his captain for a challenge on Rogers .
Although Ipswich gave it their all after the break, they found Villa a more difficult nut to crack. Diego Carlos started to gain more control over Delap and Martinez did not have to save his team as he had done in the first half.
Attwell was also not more popular with the home crowd. Still smarting from the calls they thought had gone against them in the opening 45 minutes, the Ipswich fans blew their tops in the second half. As Delap was about to burst clear down the left, Attwell stopped play with Villa substitute Jaden Philogene in the center of the field.
Their anger turned to joy soon after. Freed by a quick pass from Clarke, Delap drove into the penalty area, drew past Carlos far too easily and fired the ball past Martinez into the far corner. It was no more than McKenna’s men deserved for a performance packed with effort and skill – and it could have been even better had Pau Torres not made a good sliding block to stop Jack Taylor’s drive at the source.