Morsy salvages draw for Ipswich at Leicester

LONDON: Sam Morsy’s deflected stoppage-time shot gave second-placed Ipswich a 1-1 draw at home to English Championship leaders Leicester on Tuesday. Morsy’s effort from the edge of the penalty area struck Ricardo Pereira and then hit the head of Jannik Vestergaard to leave Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen stranded.

Leicester had led for most of the match at Portman Road thanks to Stephy Mavididi’s strike from just inside the penalty area in the 24th minute. Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna told Sky Sports: “The goal comes from a fortunate deflection but we deserved it for the performance.”

Leicester remained six points clear at the summit of English football’s second tier as they bid to return to the lucrative Premier League. Ipswich, thrashed 4-0 by Leeds on Saturday, ended the day five points ahead of Southampton, who moved up to third following a 5-0 rout of Swansea featuring two goals from Ryan Fraser.

Joe Aribo put the Saints ahead and Samuel Edozie doubled their lead just three minutes into the second half before substitute Fraser found the top corner. The midfielder scored his second and Southampton’s fourth in the 87th minute before Che Adams rounded off a dominant display by the south coast side.

Victory meant Southampton leapfrogged Leeds into third place following the Yorkshire club’s 2-1 loss to Preston. Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier was shown a straight red card early in the second half following a clash with Ben Whiteman.

Alan Browne opened the scoring for Preston soon afterwards before Pascal Struijk equalised from the penalty spot. But Liam Millar’s goal a minute from full time settled the match in favour of hosts Preston.

West Bromwich Albion returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Norwich. Borja Sainz was sent off for the Canaries following two yellow cards collected within three minutes, with Brandon Thomas-Asante scoring the only goal of the game five minutes into the second half.

The Baggies are fifth and are three points ahead of Sunderland, who secured a first win under new manager Michael Beale thanks to a 1-0 victory over Hull achieved with a goal by Jack Clarke. Bristol City were left eyeing a play-off place after a convincing 4-1 win away to Watford.

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored twice as Coventry beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0. But there was trouble after the final whistle when a clash between Liam Kitching and Bambo Diaby led to the pair being sent off.