Soccer Football - Premier League - Ipswich Town v Leicester City - Portman Road, Ipswich, Britain - November 2, 2024 Leicester City's Jordan Ayew celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Chris Radburn
IPSWICH, England (Reuters) - Leicester City denied promoted Ipswich Town their first win of the Premier League season on Saturday when a stunning second-half volley from left back Leif Davis was cancelled out by a late Jordan Ayew goal for the visitors at Portman Road.
Ipswich had Kalvin Phillips sent off for a second yellow card after 77 minutes with the loss leaving Kieran McKenna's side third-bottom with five points in their first campaign back in the top flight after 22 years. Leicester remain 15th on 10.
Ipswich looked set to claim all three points despite the dismissal but in added time Leicester created an opening through Ayew when the Ghana forward played a quick one-two with Jamie Vardy before finding the net to silence the home fans.
"It was a difficult game. I think a draw is a fair result. When you play this type of game, it's difficult away from home," Ayew told Sky Sports. "It was always going to be difficult and we managed to come away with a draw. We take it and move on."
Leicester were the better side early on and Stephy Mavididi has a golden opportunity to give them the lead when Vardy got in behind Ipswich's back line to find him open but the winger fluffed his shot to give the hosts a reprieve.
Neither side could find a breakthrough but Ipswich eventually grew into the game and the crowd held their breath when Conor Chaplin found space to aim for the top corner from outside the box, but his shot sailed inches wide.
The hosts finally broke the deadlock 10 minutes into the second half when Leif Davis marked his 100th game for Ipswich by latching onto Sam Morsy's cross and volleying it first time from a tight angle into the far corner.
Ipswich were aggrieved when they were denied a penalty for a foul on Chaplin by Abdul Fatawu, with McKenna saying the referee did not even need VAR to award a spot kick.
Moments later they were down to 10 men for a second straight week, however, when Phillips received a second booking for a foul on Ricardo Pereira to give Leicester a man advantage.
The red card forced McKenna into substitutions and Leicester nearly levelled through a counter-attack when Ayew was through on goal but Ipswich centre back Cameron Burgess made a goal-line clearance to draw a huge roar from the crowd.
But the home side's resistance did not last long and in the fourth minute of added time, Ayew scored his second league goal of the season to leave Ipswich still searching for their first win in the top flight since 2002 -- the year they went down.
"It's a tough one to take. I thought we were much the better team and it's on the referee's decision again. It's a clear penalty and it goes 2-0," McKenna said on the decision not to award Ipswich a penalty.
"They (the players) are fuming. There's a sense of injustice in the room. We can always look at our bit and what we can do better but I don't think the boys have had a fair crack at it."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon and Ken Ferris)
