Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Omari Hutchinson scores two screamers as Tractor Boys miss chance to move second

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Hull City and Ipswich Town at the MKM Stadium on Saturday evening | Omari Hutchinson hit two stunners, but Noah Ohio's late equaliser earned a point for the Tigers

Dan Long

Digital football journalist @DanLong__

Sunday 28 April 2024 12:47, UK

Ipswich missed the chance to leapfrog Leeds and move to the cusp of automatic promotion after a gripping 3-3 draw with Hull on Saturday night.

Kieran McKenna's side took the lead inside 20 minutes, when George Hirst scored on his first appearance since Boxing Day, but though Ozan Tufan took advantage of an error at the back to level for Hull, Omari Hutchinson's screamer restored the visitors' lead before the break.

Substitute Liam Delap made it 2-2 shortly before the hour mark, before the Tigers failed to learn their lessons and allowed Hutchinson space and time to thump in another from the edge of the box.

That looked to have done the job for Ipswich, but Noah Ohio - formerly on the books of Man City and Man Utd in his youth - pounced after Town goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky could only parry a free-kick straight into his path.

Ipswich stay third, level with Leeds on 90 points, although they do have a game in hand when they will face Coventry on Tuesday night, which is live on Sky Sports Football.

Hull, meanwhile, also keep their play-off hopes alive going into the final day next Saturday.

How Ipswich were pegged back three times in thriller

The rescheduling of Ipswich's game against Coventry - due to the Sky Blues' participation in the FA Cup semi-finals - meant the Tractor Boys had not played in 14 days before they travelled to the MKM. The enforced lay-off had given them a rare chance to recover.

Meanwhile, Leeds' implosion against QPR on Friday night had put them in the automatic promotion driving seat once again.

The break also represented a chance for some players to return from injury, with two combining to put McKenna's refreshed side in front. Wes Burns - who had not played since March 16 - rolled a ball into the box, which Hirst swept home after Tyler Morton's failed attempt at a clearance.

The Tigers looked the more threatening after that, and deservedly levelled when Jean Michael Seri robbed Sam Morsy of the ball on the edge of the box and swept it out to Tufan, who emphatically finished off the move.

On the stroke of half-time, though, Hutchinson produced a moment of magic to restore Ipswich's lead. He collected the ball on the right-hand side and, with nobody coming to close him down, found the net with a screamer from the edge of the box.

Delap came off the bench to help in the second equaliser of the night after a slick move crafted by Abdulkadir Omur and Fabio Carvalho, yet after Cameron Burgess and Kieffer Moore had tried their luck, Hutchinson helped himself to a sublime second, which was almost a carbon copy of his first.

Town's evening turned slightly sour when creator-in-chief Leif Davis was taken off injured - and it got that bit worse when Vaclav Hladky pushed a free-kick straight into the path of Ohio, who followed up his midweek winner at Coventry with a priceless equaliser to ensure the points were shared.