Ipswich Town vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
Portman RoadAttendance25,690.
Sunday 2 September 2018 23:28, UK
Ipswich Town were denied a first win of the season - and their first victory over Norwich City for nine and a half years - by Moritz Leitner's maiden goal for his new club on Sunday.
Ipswich opened the scoring thanks to Gwion Edwards' deflected effort 12 minutes after half-time, only for Leitner to equalise for the visitors with a well-taken strike on 71 minutes.
That was how the contest finished at Portman Road - the third time in the last four meetings these two arch-rivals have drawn 1-1 -but a result that does at least lift Ipswich off the foot of the table.
Norwich, meanwhile, jump up to 17th place after avoiding a fourth defeat in their last six league outings.
It was a stop-start affair in the first half, perhaps reflecting two teams low on confidence, with Jon Walters' thumping drive that smacked against the outside of the post five minutes before the break the closest either side came to scoring.
The first period was extended by 15 minutes after a nasty-looking head injury to Cole Skuse, with the Ipswich defender eventually stretchered off in worrying scenes.
Paul Hurst's side came out on the front foot after the interval and their pressure told when Edwards - signed from Peterborough in the summer - opened the scoring from just inside the area.
The Welshman's strike took a huge deflection off substitute Ben Godfrey, though, wrong-footing Tim Krul in the process as a first win under Hurst appeared on the cards.
However, Norwich responded to falling behind by pushing their opponents back and deservedly drew level thanks to Leitner's well-taken goal 19 minutes from time.
Jordan Rhodes did well to get free to the left-hand byline and from his pull back, the German controlled the ball, before finding the bottom right-hand corner.
The young Welsh winger was a thorn in Norwich's side all game long and you can see why Ipswich were so keen to buy him from Peterborough.
The 21-year-old's crowning moment, of course, came just before the hour-mark after he collected Jon Walters' clever headed knock down, before firing a low shot - albeit with the help of a big deflection - into the bottom corner of the goal.
After the international break Ipswich travel to Hull City on Saturday September 15, while Norwich host high-flying Middlesbrough on the same afternoon.
