Ipswich 0 Leicester 0

Stalking the touchline like a surly teenager, Roy Keane cut a man becalmed.

Patiently he watched as his Ipswich side laboured to their third winless game of the season. Now and again, he took the fourth official to one side to politely raise a couple of points. At the moment, the Cork terrier is being provided with precious little to bark about.

Yesterday’s tame draw means Ipswich have now failed to win any of their three games this season, losing their opening fixture against Coventry and scraping past League Two Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup on penalties. Their tepid start to the season seems to have had an inhibiting effect on their manager.

“Very, very sluggish in the first half,” he drawled truculently. “We were all disappointed with the way we performed.” Any positives? Keane fixed his questioner with the kind of stare he used to reserve for Patrick Vieira. “Clean sheet. Point.”

Keane knew Ipswich had had an escape. Leicester were the better side and created the game’s two best chances in the first 20 minutes. Just two minutes into the game, Wayne Brown found himself unmarked six yards out, but could only steer his header over the bar. Steve Howard should also have done better when he skewed his shot into the North Stand.

With forward Paolo Counago still missing, Ipswich looked short of artillery up front, and it was no surprise when new signing David Priskin and 16 year-old Connor Wickham were brought on at half-time. A precocious talent who scored twice against Shrewsbury in midweek, Wickham is being fiercely protected by Keane, and his radiant flicks and deft back-heels showed tantalising flashes of his promise.

In a blunt game, however, both sides seemed to sense the inevitability of the outcome. Howard’s near-post flick-on ten minutes from time was the closest Leicester got in the second half, while a Damien Delaney free-kick could easily have burgled an ill-deserved victory for Ipswich.

“Whether it’s a point gained or two points dropped, I don’t know,” Leicester manager Nigel Pearson observed afterwards.

“We possibly shaded it, but it wasn’t a game with too many clear-cut chances. The second half got a bit scrappy, but I was pleased with the way we kept our concentration.” ‘Kept awake’ might have been a more apposite choice of words.

“There’s only one Bobby Robson,” the Ipswich fans sang as the game sauntered towards a subdued stalemate. How they must wish for just a twinkle of the great man’s magic.

Jonathan Liew (Telegraph.co.uk)