‘Resolute’ Owls impress boss Darren Moore despite seeing two-goal lead wiped out

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore said the most pleasing aspect of the pulsating 2-2 draw with Ipswich was the way his team “stayed in the game” and did not let it “get away from them.”

The Owls led the Sky Bet League One contest at Portman Road against their promotion rivals 2-0 through Michael Smith’s header and a strike by George Byers.

However, the Tractor Boys, who saw Conor Chaplin’s penalty saved by goalkeeper Cameron Dawson, hit back to earn a point with goals from Nathan Broadhead and Leif Davis.

Two corners in quick succession led to the spot-kick being awarded but Chaplin’s penalty was deflected clear by the legs of Dawson.

Wednesday took the lead from Smith and extended it to 2-0 when Byers pounced on a loose ball to score.

However, Broadhead pulled one back when he curled a free-kick over the wall and they were level in the 51st minute when Davis’ free-kick took a deflection and looped over Dawson.

Moore said: “Cameron Dawson saves it (the penalty) and we’re still in the game.

“After that, the game plan was to start well and then to get the two goals in the first half really knocked the stuffing out of them. The momentum and the atmosphere changed in the ground.

“I thought the pivotal moment in the game swung when we had a chance to get the third goal and I think if we get the third goal I believe it’s game, set and match.

“Coming down here and taking the game to Ipswich…I thought the boys did it.

“I thought the lifeline for them was a tremendous free-kick scored by Nathan Broadhead, it just gave them something to hold on to before half-time.

“We regrouped second half and we knew they would come at us throwing caution to the wind with gaps for us to exploit.

“We gave away a needless free kick and the boy Davis takes it and George (Byers) trying to deflect it away ends up deflecting it beyond the reach of Cameron Dawson.

“The most pleasing thing for me was how the boys stood resolute and stayed in the game and didn’t let the game get away from them.”

His Ipswich counterpart, Kieran McKenna, said: “It was a roller coaster of a game, both teams had spells.

“Of course the big point in the first half was the penalty, we missed an opportunity to get big momentum in the game and push on from there.

“It gave them a big boost psychologically and spread tension around ourselves and around the ground and that’s doubled when they go and score a fantastic goal really.

“It put us in a difficult situation in the game, we had a really difficult period and we can take a lot of positives from the way we came out of that and getting the goal back and going into half-time with the momentum and carrying that on in the second half and delivering a very strong second-half performance.

“There’s not many teams who are going to come back against that Sheffield team, they are strong physically and have a lot of experience and are on a hell of a run so at 2-0 everyone thought we were done in the game.

“I think the players need to take big positivity from that situation and the way we came through it and the way we performed in the second half in general.”