Kieran McKenna said losing out on a much-needed point at Crystal Palace was a “sickening” result. Ismaïla Sarr struck the winner eight minutes from time after both sides struggled to convert a number of chances.
It was another blow for the relegation-threatened visitors, with time to turn things around dwindling for McKenna.
“It was a really competitive game and we certainly played our part in that,” he said. “It was at least even in terms of the opportunities we had, Crystal Palace had their opportunity as well. We certainly feel like we were a good value for a goal and we were really, really close on a couple of occasions to getting the first goal. It’s a sickening result, to come away from home and be as competitive as we were against a strong Crystal Palace side.”
Thomas Tuchel paid another visit to the Eagles’ south London home, but it was a far less entertaining encounter than their 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on the England coach’s last trip.
There was an early chance for Eddie Nketiah, who found himself through on goal and tried to outsmart Alex Palmer, who was alert to it and denied the former Arsenal striker a quickfire opener.
Dean Henderson was called into action for the first time after an Ipswich counterattack, denying Jaden Philogene from near the penalty spot, while Liam Delap skied an effort.
But what had started entertainingly fell a bit flat by the break, neither side looking especially close to breaking the deadlock.
The contest remained stop-start but on the hour Jack Clarke had a chance only to fire straight at Henderson after Eberechi Eze lost possession.
Palace’s main threat was coming from Eze, who could not find the finishing touch on a few chances for the Eagles, while Sarr nodded just wide of the far post.
Daniel Muñoz missed a huge chance to fire Palace into the lead with less than 15 minutes remaining after Leif Davis allowed the Palace defender to pounce. He had just Palmer to beat, but the Ipswich keeper timed his block perfectly.
after newsletter promotion
The visitors then had their own difficulties finding the target, with a succession of missed chances they would come to regret when Sarr finally broke the deadlock.
It was some patient work from the Senegal international that finally paid off when he cleverly worked his way into position before dinking over Palmer. Sarr marked his goal with a corner-flag kick – copying the signature celebration of Mateta, who is recovering from the ear laceration that required 25 stitches sustained during their FA Cup fifth-round victory over Millwall last Saturday.
The Palace manager, Oliver Glasner, said: “It was tough game and we expected a tough game because Ipswich are doing well.
“What I’m really pleased with is that we stayed patient, waited for the next situation. We missed the first, we missed the second, we missed the third, we missed the fourth, but waited for the one and then we scored an amazing goal with Ismaïla. His celebration just shows the spirit in the group, the togetherness, the great characters we have.”
Palace now travel to a warm-weather training camp in Marbella and a friendly with Norwegian side Hamarkameratene before returning to England, where they next face Fulham in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on 29 March.