Ipswich snatch late point at Birmingham in Championship opener | OneFootball

Ipswich Town left St Andrew’s with a point, nicking a 1-1 draw against Birmingham City in the dying moments of the Championship’s curtain-raiser.

The opening 45 minutes were tight and tense, with neither side willing to give much away.

Chances were at a premium, though Demarai Gray nearly lit things up for the hosts on the stroke of half-time, only to be denied by a sharp Alex Palmer save.

After the break, the League One champions began to turn the screw. Their persistence paid off on 55 minutes when Jay Stansfield swept home a tidy left-foot finish after Kyogo Furuhashi’s strike came crashing back off the post.

From there, the visitors finally found some urgency, but despite a couple of decent openings, the breakthrough didn’t come - until stoppage time.

In the 93rd minute, Lyndon Dykes was caught handling inside the area, and the referee pointed straight to the spot.

George Hirst made no mistake, sending the keeper the wrong way to level things up.

The closing stages were frantic, with both sides flinging men forward for one last chance, but in the end, honours were shared.