Barnsley 1-1 Ipswich: Tom Lawrence scores late on to earn point for Tractor Boys at Oakwell

Ipswich frontman Tom Lawrence struck late on to secure an unlikely point for his side away at Barnsley on Saturday afternoon.

The home side created the better goal-scoring opportunities in the game, and struck first through Marley Watkins after 58 minutes, before Lawrence popped up to level proceedings in injury-time.

The Blues arrived at Oakwell unbeaten in their last seven matches and Saturday's result extends their current streak to eight, although seven of those have now been draws. Meanwhile, the Tykes have gone five games without a victory, leaving them 11 points off a play-off place.

The visitors started brightly, with Christophe Berra flashing a header just wide of the front post from an early corner. Barnsley responded with chances of their own when Adam Armstrong headed over a mis-timed volley from Matty James, then Andy Yiadom blasted over a quickly taken free-kick.

The hosts' goalkeeper Adam Davies was called into action shortly after, when David McGoldrick burst into the area; Davies was equal to his first effort then reacted superbly to deny Ipswich the opener again.

Barnsley were unlucky not to break the deadlock several times, as Armstrong, Josh Scowen and Matty James all missed chances to take the lead.

And the visitors nearly punished them, when McGoldrick found a way into the box just before the break, squaring the ball to fellow striker Lawrence, but, tightly marked by Angus MacDonald, he only managed to poke it behind for a corner.

James nearly opened the second half with a spectacular goal, as he attempted a volley from the edge of the box that flashed just wide. Barnsley went in front with a brilliant counter-attack. James played in Watkins who held off the Ipswich defenders, before prodding the ball past Bartosz Bialkowski into the bottom right corner.

Hammill almost doubled the home side's lead, when substitute Ryan Williams found him in space inside the box, but his cross-goal shot was saved well by Bialkowski.

The Blues struggled for many clear-cut opportunities, but went close when second-half substitute Freddie Sears crossed for fellow sub Grant Ward. He managed to direct a looping header towards goal that was caught comfortably by a back-peddling Davies.

Ipswich struck when substitute Brad Pitman delivered a teasing ball into the box to find Lawrence, who arrived late at the back-post to slot the ball home and steal a point for the travelling side with almost the last kick of the game.

Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom:

"I always say it, you only get what you deserve and we didn't kill them off, simple as that. Ipswich showed what they're all about, why they've not been beaten in so long because they're resolute and keep going to the very end, which I think we like to think we do. Our disappointment today is we didn't put the game to bed earlier. We prepared as well as we could for this game and in terms of what we wanted from a performance, we delivered it."

Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy:

"It's the first thing I've stolen from here, actually. I was here a long time and never took a paper-clip, pen, piece of paper or anything else, but we burgled a point today. It's part of the game, the game goes for as long as the referee adds time on. We were poor today, they were much better. I thought they were so much better when they got the goal - we could've scored from the corner, but we concede, which is nonsense. That's poor on our part. The momentum was with them and 'Barts' (Bartosz Bialkowski) made a great save. But, you know, the game does last until the referee blows his whistle."