Ipswich Powerless to Stop Unbeaten Home Record: Newcastle 2-2 Ipswich (Fan Report)

Ipswich gained some revenge for their 4-0 drubbing at the start of the season by putting a slight dampener on Newcastle’s promotion parade as they held the Magpies to a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park.

An injury time strike from Jon Walters denied the 52,181 crowd a victory but they didn’t care as the team proudly showed off their Championship trophy that they have worked so hard for.

Before the game, Newcastle were expected to easily brush aside Roy Keane’s side and it soon looked as though a few goals could be on the cards when Andy Carroll smashed home a header just before the half hour mark. Good work from Wayne Routledge down the left flank culminated in an inviting cross which Andy Carroll would have been rude not to finish. The giant striker soared above any Ipswich defenders and connected with a Shearer-esque header which flew past Brian Murphy.

However it wasn’t as straight forward as the home side expected and just before the break the visitors were level. 17 year old striker Conor Wickham showed good touch before smashing his shot past Harper from the edge of the box.

Lovenkrands and Leadbitter went close for their respective teams before the end of the first half and the capacity crowd went into half time sufficiently entertained.

There was a farewell appearance at SJP for old-timer Nicky Butt, he replaced Kevin Nolan and took the captains armband for the last time. For once he actually had an impact and somehow managed to get himself in the Ipswich box, where he was promptly hacked down by former Mackem Grant Leadbitter. There were shouts for the ginger one to take the spot kick, but the duty was taken on by fellow sub Shola Ameobi, who converted well.

With just six minutes remaining, Newcastle thought they were going to preserve their unbeaten home record in style but a counter attack from the visitors in the 94^th minute denied them the chance to get over 100 points. Jon Walters looked offside when he tapped in a cross from close range to deny the home side all three points.

As soon as the final whistle went, the packed stands erupted and the players took centre stage as they wore special t-shirts and cracked open the champagne. The championship trophy was then to be presented to Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith and the team looked quite rightly proud of what they have achieved this season against the odds. In fairness, the league has been ours for some weeks now, but it was a special moment to see Chris Hughton lift the Championship trophy after all the adversity and hard work he has had to deal with over the course of the season.

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