Shrewsbury Town 1 Ipswich 1 - Report

The Salop substitute made it home and away goals against The Tractor Boys with another super strike against the Suffolk side, who had led a strange and for-the-most-part lacklustre afternoon since James Norwood's fourth-minute headed opener.

Fans' favourite and Liverpudlian Whalley, recently back from injury having marked his 250th appearance for the club, stole the Aintree Grand National afternoon of otherwise few talking points in Shropshire, other than a daft late second yellow for Ipswich defender Cameron Burgess and a comical moment for the officials early on.

There was a pause of more than 10 minutes with just 10 minutes on the clock as assistant referee David Hunt limped off injured and had to be replaced by the fourth official, while a volunteer was sought from the crowd in a scarcely believable period of events.

Popular Whalley, with just his third goal of an injury-hit campaign, sees his Salop deal expire in the summer and, with his future up in the air, it remains to be seen whether his glorious seven-season stay at Salop will be extended, but his breath-taking highlight reel in blue and amber has a new addition.

Openings on goal were few and far between and Whalley's fine equaliser was out of the blue. For the hosts the goal was their only effort on target.

For visiting Ipswich it was consecutive dropped points with play-off ambitions already seemingly disappeared. For Salop and Steve Cotterill it was a welcome point on a niggling and stop-start afternoon of nine yellow cards to respond to a defeat at high-flying MK Dons seven days earlier.

Town were without injured skipper Ethan Ebanks-Landell, who was withdraw midway through the previous fixture at MK Dons seven days earlier.

Cotterill said the defender had been playing through the injury for a number of games and the knee injury could limit Ebanks-Landell's involvement in the final handful of games this season.

His replacement was the versatile Josh Daniels, as Cotterill opted to stick with his 3-5-2, with Luke Leahy again back on the left of the defensive three and Daniels at right wing-back.

It had been reported that illness had swept through the visitors' squad in the week, but Ipswich's three changes to the side that lost against Cambridge last time out all dropped to the bench.

In for Dominic Thompson, Bersant Celina and Tom Carroll came Matt Penney, Tyreeq Bakinson and Sone Aluko.

That surprise 1-0 Portman Road defeat against the U's effectively ended Ipswich's ambitious late play-off charge under new rookie boss Kieran McKenna.

The Tractor Boys were 11 games unbeaten prior to that clash but the setback meant they trailed the play-offs by eight points with five games to go ahead of kick-off.

A crackling atmosphere in front of a big attendance greeted the players in this first meeting between the clubs at this level in front of fans in recent seasons due to pandemic-related issues.

Cotterill's hosts were fortunate they weren't behind as early as the fourth minute as brilliance from Marko Marosi denied Conor Chaplin's header from a right-sided cross.

Shrewsbury did not head their lesson in the slightest. Barely 90 seconds later, with just six minutes on the clock, they were behind to a very similar move.

This time it was right centre-half Janoi Donacien's cross towards the near post and a perfectly-timed run from striker Norwood, whose glanced header across Marosi was perfect in front of the away fans.

What happened next was quite extraordinary and not what either side probably wanted or needed after the game's early goal.

There were just over 10 minutes on the clock when David Hunt, the assistant in front of the West Stand, was visibly struggling as he bent over struggling with some sort of knock.

Town physio Dan Green quickly made his way over to assess, by which point Shrews' PA announcer Ryan Jervis had addressed the crowd asking for a qualified official as a replacement for the officiating re-jig.

It was then apparent fourth official Lisa Rashid, of the Birmingham FA, would be the replacement - as players wondered around wondering what was happening and fans of both clubs sang cruel but humorous chants to the stricken assistant Mr Hunt after he hobbled his way across the pitch and down the tunnel.

The delay kept going. Town fans sang "what the f*** is going on?" and eventually a willing volunteer from the stands emerged looking somewhat sheepish in the dugout as Ms Rashid carried out some quickfire warming up in front of 7,000 spectators. She was given a hearty cheer as she made her way across the pitch to take her place as replacement.

The long pause did nothing to help any momentum in the fixture but Ipswich were the better side for much of the first half and had a couple of opportunities to extend their lead after action resumed.

The busy Chaplin tested Marosi again. His low deflected strike almost caught out the keeper, but his parry was cleared by Leahy.

Little of note troubled either goal as Tractor Boys' left wing-back Matt Penney swiped wildly over on the half-volley.

It took 40 minutes of regulation time for Salop to find any sort of rhythm or threat on the visitors' goal. Top scorer Daniel Udoh was at the heart of it, with some fine control, strength, skill and a cross to tee up Daniels.

The Northern Irishman, strong in the air for a short player, climbed to attack the ball above his defender well but his powerful header flew six inches over Christian Walton's crossbar. It was a rare first half moment to encourage the home faithful.

Ipswich could have added a second through experienced attacker Sone Aluko, who was released after a neat one-two, but Marosi closed down a narrowing angle to make the save.

Chaplin's volley was deflected off target before Ipswich defender Burgess became the fourth recipient of a niggly first half, following Sam Morsy, Luke Leahy and Matthew Pennington into the notebook.

Neither Cotterill nor McKenna opted for any changes at the interval. Injured assistant Mr Hunt took his place as fourth official for the crowd's willing volunteer.

Town played a decent tempo in the early stages of the second period as Cotterill instructed them to show more care with the ball and move it more swiftly.

A niggly rhythm continued into the second period, though. Referee Darren Handley was whistle-happy and stopped play at every available opportunity as the card count continued to rise. Efforts in either penalty box or on goal were few and far between.

Cotterill turned to ready Whalley on the hour and the popular No.7 arrived for Daniels with 25 eventful minutes remaining.

A lively, entertaining final quarter of the contest was about to switch the momentum of the game but not before Marosi made another staggering save to deny the visitors a two-goal lead.

An cross from Ipswich's left was swung dangerously low into the six yard box, where Leahy inadvertently sent a side-footed volley with his weaker right foot towards goal. The Slovak keeper reacted with superb instinct to paw the rebound away.

It didn't look as eventful on the pitch with some 15 minutes left as Town had still mustered just two efforts with zero on target.

But Ipswich hadn't offered up much more themselves and the Tractor Boys' grip on the contest loosened at that point as defender Burgess needlessly slid in late on Marosi and caught the keeper in front of the South Stand. Handley wasted no time in flashing the second yellow and the ironic cheers were loud.

McKenna's men failed to recover from that setback as Whalley helped influence the game in his side's favour.

Still, an equaliser didn't look like it was coming on a bad-tempered, niggly afternoon in which Norwood's opener felt a decade ago.

But there was to be one final, standout moment and it involved Shrewsbury's only substitute.

Out of nowhere, the ball fell sweetly to Town's favourite 34-year-old and he didn't have a second thought, striking across the ball for it to spin wickedly up into the air and over Walton into the keeper's bottom left corner. Visiting white shirts were stunned.

The wind was in Shrewsbury sails and it was the hosts who pushed for a winner in stoppage time, but a crucial second goalscoring opportunity would not arrive.

For Whalley, who is out of contract this summer and whose future remains unclear, it was wild celebrations and a moment to remember and savour. Another one in a glittering Salop career.

Teams

Shrewsbury Town (3-5-2): Marosi; Pennington, Flanagan Leahy; Daniels (Whalley, 65), Bennett, Fornah, Leahy, Vela, Nurse; Bowman, Udoh (Bloxham, 90+1).

Subs not used: Burgoyne, Pierre, Craig, Caton, Janneh.

Ipswich Town (3-4-3): Walton; Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess; Burns, Bakinson, Morsy (c), Penney; Chaplin, Aluko (Thompson, 77); Norwood (Bonne, 83).

Subs not used: Hladky, El Mizouni, Carroll, Celina, Pigott.

Attendance: 7,682 (1,560 Ipswich fans)

Referee: Darren Handley