In a thrilling finale at the St Mary's Stadium, Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy salvaged a crucial point for the Tractor Boys with a dramatic 95th-minute equaliser. Alex Osborn reports.
A mixed first half
Ipswich dominated most of the first half but could easily have found themselves two goals behind.
Against the run of play, Town gave up a cheap goal after five minutes. Tuanzebe should have cleared his lines but hit a Southampton player instead, and we were punished. An excellent reverse pass from Lallana and a tidy first touch and finish from Dibling made it 1-0 and galvanised the home fans, who have had little to cheer about after Southampton's poor start to the campaign.
The Blues' reaction after conceding early was fantastic, and our high press pinned Southampton back. Although we had an overload of corners and set pieces, we could not capitalise on this dominance and lacked the killer instinct in the final third.
In fact, Southampton came close to doubling their lead when Archer was played through and took the ball around Muric; luckily for Ipswich, his resulting finish, which played out in slow motion, trickled onto the post from a tight angle, with Greaves sliding in to put him off.
Town finished the half strongly with a couple of decent chances, firstly through Davis at the far post, but Ramsdale made a smart stop to prevent him. Ramsdale then pulled off an even better save to deny Hutchinson with a trademark effort after cutting in on his left foot from outside the box.
A lacklustre second-half performance
Our levels dropped significantly in the second half, and we had Muric to thank for keeping us in the game with a strong close-range stop from Archer.
The Egyptian king then saved the day for the Tractor Boys in the 95th minute; Skip brought the ball down well from a headed corner clearance, and his powerful strike took a big deflection and flew right into the top corner, leaving Ramsdale with no chance.
A draw was a fair result on the balance of play, which makes it three draws in a row for Ipswich and three games unbeaten in the Premier League!
Captain Fantastic
I felt a sense of déjà vu when Sam Morsy took the game into his own hands, much like he did at Portman Road last season against Leicester (also with a massive deflection!), and another sense of déjà vu with another late game-changer against Southampton!
When Ipswich needs a hero, the skipper often steps up to the plate and provides that match-saving moment or the drive to keep the team going.
Morsy has now scored for Town in League One, the Championship, and the Premier League, which is a phenomenal achievement.
It emphasizes the group's spirit that even though the squad has had wholesale changes from last season, that never-say-die spirit remains, and you can never count us out of a football match if there is something to play for in the 90th minute!
A point gained
Before the game, a draw would have been a solid but not spectacular result, but getting the point in the fashion we did feels great.
We know we were far off our best, especially in the second half, but still found a way to come home with something.
Being realistic, it is very likely Southampton will be a relegation rival this season, so it was a game we could not really afford to lose and will have left them feeling deflated. The draw between Leicester and Everton was also helpful when we look at the wider relegation picture, even though it is very early in the season.
We are unbeaten in three Premier League games, and our only defeats have been at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester City. Although we will need to secure our first win sooner rather than later, our start to the season has been extremely positive, and we are proving that teams will have to work hard to beat us.
Positional debates
McKenna has been determined to deploy Szmodics out at left wing so far, and whilst he is not the usual profile we have in that role, you have to wonder whether he will be more effective in the number ten role where we can utilise his runs in behind.
I know it is a small sample size, and his off-the-ball work is fantastic, but Szmodics has struggled to get into the last three games, with very few touches of the ball. It feels it will only be a matter of time before Clarke is handed his first start, and we also have to consider Broadhead is back fit and can be introduced back into the frame at any time.
The left wing role is certainly up for grabs; Szmodics is yet to make a convincing claim, and Clarke and Broadhead are more natural fits for the role.
Woolfenden has harshly been left out of the team for O'Shea the last couple of games, who looked far from convincing up against a tricky customer in Archer. Both O'Shea and Greaves had a couple of nervy moments, which on another day could have very easily resulted in a couple of goals for Archer.
Woolfenden and Greaves' partnership was building up nicely, and I would like to see it return, although I can understand McKenna's rationale for wanting to get O'Shea up to speed in the team.
It is early days for a new-look Ipswich team, and given time, I am certain McKenna will find the right balance.
Lack of a clinical edge
The lack of a clinical final ball and inability to optimise key moments have been consistent features of our season so far, something McKenna acknowledged in his post-match interview. He also pointed out that he expects this area to improve as the team becomes more familiar with each other and the greater precision required at this level.
The drop-off in quality from set-pieces is apparent as we could not capitalise on ten corners against one of the worst defensive teams from set-pieces in the league. Hopefully, in the next few games, we can recapture the set-piece creativity from the last couple of seasons because set-pieces are an important avenue to goals, especially for a newly promoted team.
Our crossing was also uncharacteristically poor. Davis, usually so reliable with the low cut-backs, had an off day and failed to take advantage when receiving the ball in great areas. Burns' crossing was also a yard off the pace.
Moment of the match
It will likely be the easiest moment of the match to pick all season as there is an overwhelmingly obvious choice: Morsy's heroic last-minute equaliser.
Next up
Another huge test is coming up as we welcome an in-form Aston Villa to Portman Road. We will have to raise our levels significantly, especially in the final third, if we are to take anything from the game.
Unai Emery has done a faultless job since joining Villa and has taken them from relegation candidates to Champions League in such a short period of time. Realistically, a fourth draw in a row would be a good outcome, although Villa may have one eye on their midweek Champions League game against Bayern Munich and, if we are lucky, will rest some of their key players.
Player ratings
Muric 7, Tuanzebe 6, O'Shea 6, Greaves 6, Davis 6, Morsy 7 (MOTM), Cajuste 6, Burns 6, Hutchinson 6, Szmodics 5, Delap 6.
Subs: Taylor 6, Clarke 6, Chaplin 5, Hirst 6.
