Ipswich’s hopes of retaining their Premier League status took a huge knock as they lost 2-1 at home to Wolves. The visitors came from behind to extend the gap between the two clubs to 12 points with seven games remaining. Ipswich took the lead through Liam Delap after 16 minutes but Pablo Sarabia equalised in the 72nd minute and Jørgen Strand Larsen completed the turnaround with six minutes remaining.
Kieran McKenna said of his team’s defeat: “I think it was a really competitive first half, the players gave absolutely everything to the first half and second half. If you don’t manage to get a second goal then they [Wolves] are going to go and put some pressure on and we probably weren’t able to maintain our energy levels.”
Wolves’ midfielder João Gomes came close to opening the scoring with a rasping shot which went just over Alex Palmer’s bar, following a one-two with Rayan Aït-Nouri. Palmer then got down to deflect a shot from Strand Larsen for a corner after 10 minutes, and Ipswich took the lead six minutes later.
Axel Tuanzebe drifted a pass out to Dara O’Shea, who beat Aït-Nouri in the air and headed the ball into the danger area for Delap to poke home from close range for his 12th goal of the season. There was a delay before the goal was allowed, after the video assistant referee checked for a possible offside.
Moments later Aït-Nouri’s corner from the right evaded everyone and was going in until O’Shea made a superb clearance on the line under pressure from Toti.
An error by Palmer in the 36th minute resulted in the ball going under his foot following a back pass from O’Shea but the goalkeeper recovered and managed to claw the ball away at the last moment. Peter Bankes awarded a free-kick on the six-yard line with all 11 Ipswich players on the goalline but Emmanuel Agbadou’s shot struck the blue wall and was cleared to safety.
There were appeals for a penalty when the ball appeared to strike the arm of André and the visitors equalised with 18 minutes remaining through Sarabia. Strand Larsen controlled the ball in the penalty area and clipped it back to the edge of box. Sarabia’s first attempt was blocked by Jens Cajuste but his follow-up found the bottom corner.
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The visitors then deservedly took the lead through Strand Larsen, despite a lengthy VAR check. Sarabia cushioned a first-time cross through substitute Leif Davis’s legs and the Wolves and Norway striker bundled the ball in from close-range.
The 2,955 Wolves fans among the 29,549 crowd chanted: “We are staying up,” at the final whistle. Vítor Pereira was similarly delighted. The Wolves manager said: “We prepared to come and win and I’m very happy for the players, for the club and especially for the supporters.
“The first half was not in the way we wanted. The pace and the pressing was not what I asked. Second half we changed tactically and I think we started to create problems with what we did. [There was] better quality with possession, [we] created chances to score and we deserved to win. The players from the bench played very well.”