Somebody in the heavens must have been smiling on Pompey as they battled to hold an impressive Ipswich side to a draw. Twice in the first half Ipswich hit the woodwork and Flahavan also had to make some blinding saves. Pompey only got going with 15 minutes remaining but Ball will just be pleased with a point.
Aaron Flahavan had recovered from his rib injury to take over in goal. Sammy Igoe and Michallis Vlachos also returned from injuries. New Greek striker Nikos Kyzeridis was dropped to the subs bench. The history between the two sides saw Pompey having not beaten Ipswich since 1966 at Fratton Park with the last three meetings ended in 1-0 defeats.
John Aloisi gave Ipswich some early worries with a couple of dangerous runs into the box. The visitors though went close to taking the lead in the 10th minute. Firstly they appealed for a penalty when Johnson fell down under Thomson's challenge. That was turned down by referee Wilkes but Ipswich quickly regained possession. Stockwell received the ball and his clever chip shot from the edge of the area looped over Flahavan but bounced off the underside of the cross bar with Thomson clearing.
At the other end Aloisi claimed a penalty as Taricco appeared to pull his shirt after he tried to meet a Durnin cross. That wasn't given and as Dyer broke forward Whitbread tripped him which resulted in the first yellow card of the game.
Ipswich had a good chance to take the lead when Johnson set up Holland 12 yards out but Flahavan pulled off a great save to push the shot away. The woodwork saved Pompey again in the 26th minute as Ipswich piled on the pressure. From a 25-yard free kick, which as given away by Vlachos for a foul on Petta, Venus curled a shot over the wall and against the inside of Flahavan's right hand post. Fortunately the blue shirt was there to clear the rebound.
Two minutes later the tricky Petta nipped into the area from Johnson's flick. He got past Flahavan but Awford was on hand to stop his pull back reaching an orange shirt. Claridge put a shot wide before Ipswich went close yet again. Petta whipped in a cross which Mowbray headed inches wide when it seemed easier to score.
Four minutes before half-time an own goal could have given Ipswich the lead. A free kick was needlessly given away right on the edge of the area on the left apex of the box. Mowbray's attempted shot clipped Awford's head and luckily for him Flahavan made a fine stop.
How Ipswich weren't in the lead was difficult to explain, somebody was surly smiling on Pompey who to be frank were awful with some dreadful passing and lacked ideas when in attack.
Three minutes into the second half Pompey could have taken an undeserved lead. Simpson stormed down the left and then in the area where he set up Claridge who, with lots of time, could only fire a poor shot which Wright got down to save. Stockwell then grazed the post with a well struck shot as Ipswich pushed forward in search of that elusive goal.
The visitors perhaps knew they were never going to score after a mad scramble in the 56th minute. From a Petta corner Flahavan made a brilliant point blank save to keep out Mowbray's header. Thomson cleared Holland's effort from the rebound off the line and Pompey's defender was there again to stop Venus's stab shot at goal. The Pompey fans immediately cheered with relief as they couldn't believe their good luck.
The pacey, skilful, runs of Petta and Dyer were carving holes in the Pompey team with Alan Ball's side somehow hanging on. Mathie may have scored had he got a better touch on Clapham's long range shot with the ball eventually going wide.
There was a scare when influential defender Awford went down injured and despite carrying on for a few minutes he was replaced by Robinson. Vlachos moved into the defence with Simpson taking his midfield position. Kyzeridis also came on a couple of minutes later with Claridge, looking a tad unfit, going off. The Greek's skilful play began to give Pompey some spark at last and they won a dangerous free kick with about 10 minutes to go. Durnin's shot though was well flicked over by Wright.
A frustrated Ipswich seemed to be losing their way with Pompey now doing most of the attacking. Simpson and McLoughlin were starting to get a grip in midfield, but they couldn't find a way past a stubborn Ipswich defence.
Alan Ball will be pleased that his side hung on in there, but even he must admit luck was on Pompey who managed to keep their first clean sheet of the season, although on another day it could have been a drubbing.