It was revealed on Saturday morning that Pompey's centre half Guy Butters had been sold to second division Gillingham for £230,000. With the money, Arsenal midfielder David Hillier, who Fenwick said he wouldn't buy on Friday, looks set to join Pompey on Monday. Terry Venables has stated that despite a striker being top priority, a player of Hillier's talent cannot be missed.
On the pitch Pompey made one surprising change before the game against Ipswich as Igoe dropped to the subs bench for Pethick. Butter's departure meant Thomson moved alongside Igoe.
The start was very poor with passes from both teams going astray and both sets of fans were not impressed. Pompey's defence was well organized and thwarted the movement of Mathie and Scowcroft up front for Ipswich. Pompey though were met at the other end by a similar barrage with the experienced Sedgley and Mowbray at the back.
The first shot came from Awford, with his new look hair style, but drove a shot from the edge of the area wide after Sedgley had given the ball away. Pompey's captain was then booked for bringing down Sonner down from behind in the 9th minute.
Another mistake at the back for Ipswich gave Carter the chance to shoot at goal but failed to test Wright in the home side's goal.
The home fans were off their feet in the 26th minute when from Sedgley's free kick was stabbed back into the area by Sonner and Mathie put the all in the net, only for the referee, Graham Pooley, to disallow it for offside.
Perrett then became the second Pompey player to receive the yellow card for a challenge on Scowcroft. In the 33rd minute Ipswich took the lead. Carter lost the ball to Scowcroft who knocked it down the line for Mathie to chase and he laid it across the edge of the area for Mason to smash home with a first time shot.
Scowcroft, who was becoming increasingly dangerous, then fired across the face of the goal three minutes later with only another Ipswich player needing a touch to score since the shot beat Flahaven.
With five minutes remaining Pompey won a penalty when Sedgley and Vaughan brought down Bradbury in the area. That gave McLoughlin the chance to score his eleventh successive penalty for Pompey which he gleefully took.
That lifted Pompey and forced Sedgley to get booked for a challenge on Durnin and the resulting free-kick was met by Simpson but Wright gathered it easily. The tempo of the game had risen slightly and Pompey were doing most of the work and a sharp interception by Wright prevented Turner to score from Bradbury's low cross.
The second half didn't get off to a pretty start with Sonner clattering into Awford, which the referee saw nothing wrong with, but did in Durnin's unsurprising follow up tackle. Awford was forced to go off but returned to the relief of manager Fenwick.
Pompey's boss though was forced to make a change a minute later when Perrett was caught by Williams' high kick. With three stitches in his head the youngster, who had done nothing wrong, was replaced by Thomson who had the chance to show that Butters won't be missed. Williams was then booked for dangerous play.
As Ipswich pushed up Pompey made the most of the spaces left and created the best chance so far in the 54th minute. Turner chipped a ball over the top which found Bradbury on the left and his square ball was badly spliced wide by Durnin who may feel he should have done better.
Ipswich then made a change with Petta coming on for Vaughan and so increasing their attack options. In the 65th minute Sonner had a go from 20 yards and looked meat and drink for Flahaven but he let it slip through his grasp and fortunately it went wide for a corner.
Williams then got in a shot four minutes later which just went wide but the style of play was just as bad as the first-half though.
Pompey's young keeper then made up for his earlier blemish by bravely coming out and claiming Scowcroft's knock down from Uhlenbleek's cross. Mathie followed up and Flahaven got a kick in the head for his bravery.
Scowcroft had been Ipswich's best player all afternoon and forced Flahaven into another good save when his 82nd minute shot looked to be going into the corner but Flahaven turned it around for a corner.
Hall then came on for Turner to add pace to Pompey's attack for a search for the winner. However, Flahaven kept Pompey in the game when he saved well from Petta's low, fierce, shot. A minute later Igoe replaced Carter.
As the matched entered stoppage time Pompey were certain they had another penalty when Sonner blocked Simpson in the area. The referee gave an indirect free-kick instead. Simpson laid it to McLoughlin and his shot deflected over and the chance of the win had gone.