Liam Delap's Struggles Highlight Forest's Draw at Ipswich

Liam Delap’s return to Portman Road was meant to be a reminder of what he once was. Instead, it underlined exactly what he is struggling to become.

Back on the turf where 12 goals for Ipswich earned him a big-money move to Chelsea, the striker – now on loan at Nottingham Forest – walked away with his head down after a glaring late miss in a 1-1 draw his side had dominated from almost the first whistle.

Forest were sharper, braver and far more coherent than a home side managed by Gary O’Neil, yet Oliver Glasner’s team emerged with only a point and just one league win from eight under the Austrian. The performance screamed progress. The table still says trouble.

Forest fly out, Williams finishes the move

If Forest’s league position suggested fragility, their football told a different story.

Glasner kept faith with Delap despite his costly profligacy at Crystal Palace, and the visitors almost punished Ipswich inside six minutes. Jair Cunha threatened first, then Delap, fed smartly by the fit-again Morgan Gibbs-White, thrashed a wild effort well off target. It set the tone: Forest on the front foot, Ipswich hanging on.

The opener arrived in pure Glasner fashion after 13 minutes – vertical, aggressive, wing-backs flooding the box.

Delap held the ball up strongly against Issa Diop, buying a vital second. Gibbs-White nipped in ahead of Dara O’Shea and slid play out to Daniel Muñoz. The right wing-back lifted his head and picked out his opposite number, Neco Williams, ghosting in at the far post. Williams met it flush on the volley, right-footed, drilling past Christian Walton.

A training-ground pattern, executed at full tilt.

Ipswich tried to respond through Julio Enciso, who curled a free-kick over, but Forest controlled the tempo. Gibbs-White buzzed between the lines, missing one decent chance himself, and only a superb goal-line clearance from Leif Davis denied him a second opportunity after more incisive play from the visitors.

Portman Road, restless and subdued, knew who were the better side.

Milenkovic’s gift and Enciso’s ruthlessness

Then came the lapse that changed the night.

With four minutes left in the first half, there seemed little on when O’Shea hoisted a long ball forward. Nikola Milenkovic brought it down with minimal fuss. The danger looked dead. It wasn’t.

His attempted pass back to goalkeeper Matz Sels was horribly underhit. Enciso, alert and hungry, pounced. He surged clear, drew Sels and slid a precise finish into the bottom corner.

From control to chaos in a heartbeat, and Ipswich were level without having constructed anything of note. Forest trudged off knowing they had done most things right and still been punished for the one thing they got badly wrong.

VAR, leniency and a missed chance to kill

The second half opened with controversy that left Glasner seething.

Barely two minutes after the restart, James McAtee burst forward and Diop hauled him down in full view of referee Thomas Bramall. No foul given. VAR intervened. After a review, Bramall produced only a yellow card when many inside the stadium expected red.

Forest failed to make the most of the resulting free-kick, but the pattern of the game barely shifted. They stayed on the front foot, Ipswich relying on blocks, last-ditch defending and the odd hopeful break.

On the hour, Williams saw another effort charged down, then Murillo spun smartly in the box and forced Walton into a save. Moments later, Murillo again threatened before Dan Ndoye went close, Davis once more throwing himself into a crucial intervention in front of goal.

The pressure built. The away end sensed a winner coming. So did Delap.

Delap’s moment, and the one that got away

Sixteen minutes from time, the script offered Delap the perfect line.

Abdoul Ouattara sliced a clearance horribly, sending the ball looping into a dangerous area. Delap attacked it, rose well, and with the goal gaping… headed over. Portman Road, the ground where he once finished everything, watched him miss the simplest chance of the night.

He tried to atone from distance, thundering a 30-yard drive fractionally wide, Walton rooted. It would have been spectacular. It was nearly. Nearly doesn’t move you up the table.

Forest kept pushing, kept playing the more convincing football, yet the final whistle arrived with the score still locked at 1-1. Ipswich, grateful, escaped. Glasner, arms folded and eyes fixed on the pitch, knew his side had left two points behind.

For Forest, the system is bedding in, the patterns are clear, and the performances are starting to look like a mid-table side rather than a relegation candidate. But until someone in red turns dominance into ruthlessness, nights like this – and questions about Delap’s next step – will keep coming.