Jordan Ayew’s late equaliser denies Ipswich first league win of season

Kieran McKenna branded referee Tim Robinson’s decisions “unacceptable” after Ipswich were denied a penalty and had Kalvin Phillips sent off against Leicester.

The Ipswich manager accused Robinson of taking centre stage when, with Ipswich leading through a fine Leif Davis volley, the official turned down what looked a clear penalty when Conor Chaplin was barged over by Abdul Fatawu.

Moments later Robinson showed Phillips a second yellow card for a challenge on Ricardo Pereira.

It proved costly for Ipswich in stoppage time when Sam Morsy attempted to run the ball into the Ipswich half, only to be robbed by Boubakary Soumaré. Soumaré played in fellow substitute Jordan Ayew, who played a one-two with Jamie Vardy before slipping the ball under goalkeeper Arijanet Muric to snatch a point.

“I think it was the defining moment in the match, it’s clear we were the better team when it was 11 v 11, and we should go 2-0 up,” said McKenna. “I think it’s a clear penalty and should have been given straight away. He steams into (Chaplin’s) stomach. I don’t think it’s a debatable one.

“And to compound that with a bouncing ball, and both players have the right to go for the challenge, and Kalvin’s tried to pull out… in the context of the game to compound it by giving a second yellow is unacceptable, in my opinion, for the referee to put himself into the centre of the match like that.”

Ayew’s equaliser means Ipswich’s search for a first Premier League win of the season goes on.

Leicester, with their manager, Steve Cooper, serving a touchline ban, should have gone ahead in the third minute when Vardy got in behind the Ipswich back four. But the 37-year-old opted to square the ball rather than shoot and Stephy Mavididi made a mess of his finish.

Moments later Leicester almost gifted the hosts a goal when Jannik Vestergaard miscontrolled a pass from goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. Omari Hutchinson nicked the ball away from the defender and stood up an inviting cross for Sam Szmodics, who headed wastefully over. Facundo Buonanotte then embarked on a mazy run into the penalty area, beating four players before his deflected shot was saved by Muric.

Ipswich passed up another good opportunity after half an hour when Dara O’Shea met a Davis corner unmarked at the back post, but the defender planted his header into the ground and wide. Ipswich, however, were playing some eye-catching stuff, and one slick move saw Liam Delap’s extravagant pass collected by Conor Chaplin, who curled inches wide of the far post.

“It’s 10 games we haven’t won, but five from which we got a result, and probably eight that we competed in,” added McKenna.

Cooper claimed he did not see the penalty incident but did admit “a draw was a better result for us than for Ipswich”.

He added: “Performance-wise we dropped off a little bit in our intensity and into what Ipswich wanted. They’ve scored a goal of great quality; that can happen in this league. But we settled again, responded, forced a red card which I’m told could’ve come a bit earlier.

“Then we had good chances in the latter stages. We have to accept a point away from home. We’re disappointed not to win but we saw some good things.”