Stoke City 0-0 Ipswich Town: Fourth draw in five games for Tractor Boys

Ipswich’s winless run continued as they laboured to a goalless draw with Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium, where Jordan Thompson was sent off.

Second-placed Ipswich are now without a win in five matches and have scored only once in their past four games.

Stoke, meanwhile, remain unbeaten under Steven Schumacher, having won one and drawn three of their four matches since he took over.

Both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances, although Ipswich keeper Vaclav Hladky was called upon to deal with an early effort from Lewis Baker.

Hladky also kept out a shot from Ryan Mmaee, while Stoke counterpart Jack Bonham, making his 250th career appearance, denied Chaplin before the interval.

In the second half, Bonham produced a near-post save to foil Wes Burns, and Stoke’s Wouter Burger found the net but was ruled offside.

Ipswich’s poor run has enabled leaders Leicester, who beat Huddersfield 4-1, to extend their lead at the top to 10 points.

They were at least helped by their East Anglian rivals Norwich earning a 1-1 draw against third-placed Southampton, leaving Saints three points rather than just one away from the Tractor Boys.

Stoke, meanwhile, have looked solid under their new manager – this was their second clean sheet since Schumacher took charge and they are unbeaten in six matches in total.

The Potters remain 19th in the table, but eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Stoke boss Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Stoke:

“Every point is crucial at this stage of the season. It’s been a tough week – four games in 10 days and it took its toll physically – but the effort the lads showed today was outstanding, especially at the end when we were down to 10 men.

“It’s another good point and loads more positives. Ipswich are a brilliant team and I know how hard they are to play against. Some of the football we played was really good and that’s what I want.

“We played really well and at times we had to dig in and keep the door shut, and we thankfully kept a clean sheet.

“The longer we keep practising like that and the longer we stick together the more we’ll get better.”

Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:

“It was a little bit frustrating that we weren’t able to put as much pressure on their goalkeeper as we would have liked – on the other hand, I saw some good things from the team.

“It was the fourth game in nine days, a tough away game and despite the depletion to our squad I thought there some really good individual performances.

“We were playing against a back four and capitalising on the spaces but it goes to 10 men, they go to a back five with three big centre-backs and it was really difficult to get the advantage in terms of crosses.

“They were doubling and tripling up, the crowd were galvanised behind their players and they were prepared to suffer to get the point.”