Leicester 1-1 Ipswich

Paul Gallagher's penalty earned promotion-chasing Leicester a point – and manager Nigel Pearson hopes the draw will herald a happy new year.

Gallagher struck on 68 minutes to cancel out Lee Bowyer’s early goal for Ipswich, who had missed a penalty in the first minute.

But Pearson, who was told in the match programme by his Thai owners that City were “playing catch-up” but promotion remains the target, will hope the second half of the campaign is better than what the fans endured under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

He admitted: “It was a bit ­frustrating to concede so early. We want to get back to a level of performances where teams don’t enjoy coming here.

“We are not making the inroads we would like and, if you talk to the players, they are frustrated with the first half of the season. We’ve underperformed and we’re not where we want to be.

“I’m still convinced we can make progress. If we can do some business in the transfer window, we will. But if we can’t then we will work on improving the spirit of the players we have.”

Both sides could have found themselves a man down within ten minutes if referee Darren Drysdale had been feeling less generous. And the Foxes were left thanking their lucky stars less than a minute into the match as Kasper Schmeichel saved Michael Chopra’s penalty.

Paul Konchesky was lucky not to get his marching orders after just 27 seconds when he brought down Ipswich winger Lee Martin in the penalty box.

Chopra had his spot kick saved, but the Tractor Boys were ahead three minutes later as Bowyer pounced on some scrappy defending to power home from close range.

Then, on nine minutes, Ipswich defender Ibrahima Sonko could have been shown more than a yellow card after bringing down Jermaine Beckford just outside the area.

And Beckford would have had the chance to score his first goal in over a month if Sonko had not bundled him over.

After Konchesky blew a chance to level just before half-time, the home side improved after the break and Ipswich had keeper Arran Lee-Barrett to thank for keeping out David Nugent’s shot 10 minutes after the restart.

Leicester were back on level terms after 68 minutes through Gallagher’s penalty, awarded after Jason Scotland handled as the Tractor Boys tried to clear their lines from a corner.

Ipswich boss Paul Jewell said: “It was a hard-fought point and a typical ­Championship game. Any point is hard-fought in this league.

“Chopra was keen to take the penalty but he didn’t hit it very well – and he won’t be taking another one.”

Lee West (Daily Mirror)