Ipswich Town stutter in the Championship promotion race as Leeds United given final day hope — YEP 27/4/24
Leeds United remain second as Ipswich Town were held to a 3-3 draw by Hull City on Saturday night
By Will Jackson
Ipswich Town missed the chance to knock Leeds United out of
the Championship's top two as they drew 3-3 with Hull City on Saturday night.
The Whites' disappointing loss at QPR on Friday night left the door open for
Ipswich to re-enter the automatic promotion spots and push Leeds down to third,
but the point they picked up at the MKM Stadium wasn't enough for the Tractor
Boys to take advantage.
Ipswich remain third in the Championship, behind Leeds on
goal difference alone, and that means Daniel Farke's side are now guaranteed to
enter the final weekend of regular Championship season with something to play
for, regardless of the Tractor Boys' result in their game in hand at Coventry
City on Tuesday night.
A win for Ipswich at the CBS Arena would ensure Ipswich
remain firmly in the driving seat going into the final round of Championship
fixtures with a three-point advantage, but Leeds would still be able to surpass
them and achieve automatic promotion should the Suffolk side slip up on next
Saturday.
Ipswich started the game brightly in East Yorkshire and when
George Hirst took advantage of a Tyler Morton error to give the Tractor Boys
the lead in the 19th minute the live table saw the visitors move up to second.
Hull hit back through Ozan Tufan but Ipswich took control once more thanks to
an Omari Hutchinson screamer from the edge of the box.
Liam Delap levelled for the Tigers just after the break but
Ipswich took the lead for a third time when Hutchinson bagged a second with a
carbon copy of his first effort, curling the ball beyond the City stopper Ryan
Allsop.
The Suffolk side looked to be heading back into the
Championship's automatic promotion spots, but Hull had one last sting in their
tail as Noah Ohio levelled proceedings late one to peg back Ipswich and keep
their own hopes of claiming a play-off spot alive.
Of course, Ipswich's fate is still firmly in their own hands
and they know that should they pick up four points from their remaining two
fixtures, with Huddersfield Town set to travel to Portman Road on Saturday,
that they will be promoted. One loss and they will give Leeds the opportunity
to pip them to second on the final day.
As it stands, though, Leeds' most likely route to promotion
appears to be through the play-offs and should they be resigned to third, a
trip to either Norwich City, West Bromwich Albion or Hull City will be waiting
for them in the semi-final first leg on May 12, with the return leg at Elland
Road to follow on May 16. The play-off final will be played at Wembley Stadium
on Sunday, May 26.
