Nottingham Forest vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The City GroundAttendance24,354.
Monday 6 October 2014 15:55, UK
Michail Antonio struck deep into injury-time as Nottingham Forest preserved their unbeaten run in the Championship with a 2-2 draw against Ipswich.
Daryl Murphy's brace, either side of Robert Tesche's equaliser for Forest, looked as though it was going to inflict a first league defeat on Stuart Pearce's side.
But Antonio dramatically headed in Henri Lansbury's corner four minutes into added-on time to deny Town maximum points.
The Reds brought Matty Fryatt back into the starting line-up in place of Ben Osborn with boss Stuart Pearce opting for a 4-4-2 formation in order to end their goalscoring drought, while Ipswich gave loanee Jonny Williams his first start in his second spell at the club as Teddy Bishop dropped to the bench.
Fryatt almost put Forest ahead when he headed Antonio's cross against Dean Gerken's left-hand upright in the sixth minute, with the ball rolling out of play before anyone could pounce on the rebound.
In what was a lively opening, Ipswich could have taken the lead five minutes later, but Murphy lost all composure eight yards out and fired wildly over.
Christophe Berra then headed Jonny Parr's free-kick narrowly wide, before getting back at the other end to brilliant deny Britt Assombalonga with a well-timed tackle.
Murphy made up for his earlier lapse with a brilliant individual goal as Ipswich took the lead after 18 minutes.
Taking Cole Skuse's pinpoint pass down expertly, he cut inside from the right flank, bobbed one way then the other and curled a stunning effort into the bottom corner.
It could have got worse for Forest as Lansbury's woeful back pass let in Williams for a run on goal, but his progress was halted by Michael Mancienne's superb sliding tackle that got his team-mate off the hook.
Fryatt was pushed out wide on the left for the second half, but still the Tractor Boys dictated proceedings with Forest looking a pale shadow of the side that led the Championship table earlier in the campaign.
But the hosts finally shook off their lethargy and almost levelled just before the hour mark when Jack Hunt's cross sought out Antonio, whose first-time effort was well saved by Gerken.
Lansbury's corner was then scrambled off the off the line as Town began to get jittery at the back.
The equaliser came after 62 minutes as Tesche scored with a firm header from another Lansbury corner as Ipswich's defensive resolve crumbled.
Antonio cracked a shot just wide, before Chris Burke's curler bent narrowly past Gerken's left-hand post as Forest sensed the game was theirs for the taking.
But Ipswich hit back seven minutes later and it was Murphy again, who rose to powerfully head Tyrone Mings' cross past Karl Darlow to the joy of 1,672 away fans.
Darlow got down well to save from McGoldrick, before Forest should have levelled. A ball over the top put Antonio in on goal, but his shot was blocked on the line and from the rebound, Gerken made a superb save to deny Assombalonga with the goal at his mercy.
And just as it looked like Forest's unbeaten run was about to be halted, Antonio headed home Lansbury's corner deep into injury time to salvage a point.
