Amid a Suffolk squall, winds whipping, a constant drum of rain, an encounter full of half-chances, mistakes, the obligatory refereeing controversy and searching questions. Do Ipswich possess the stones to deal with the big league? Perhaps so. How long can Nottingham Forest's dip sustain before their president, Evangelos Marinakis, takes his usual course of action. Perhaps not much longer.
Ipswich's Gary O'Neil was the happier manager, Forest had created the cleaner opportunities, only for familiar failings to cost them. "We were never quite good enough with the ball to turn it into a football match," said O'Neil. Further adding to Forest's disappointment, Ipswich's Issa Diop escaped what looked, on first glance, a red card for a last-man foul. A first-half exchange of goals, both owing much to defensive laxness, determined the result.
Ipswich's aim is to establish themselves as Forest have in the Premier League. Though Forest and their manager cannot be presumptive of their statuses. "The result doesn't reflect the performance but I don't see another solution other than to keep going," said Oliver Glasner. Forest have six points from eight matches, just a single win.
Glasner admitted he is still "waiting for this click" while saying: "I see great togetherness. The spirit I start to feel … I loved everything I saw today, just not the result." A record of starting slow only to flourish at previous clubs offers partial protection, though Forest's ownership is not like other clubs'. Wednesday was the anniversary of Sean Dyche's appointment. That tenure lasted just 100 days.
Liam Delap's presence in the Forest ranks, the striker barracked at every touch by home fans, served as a reminder of Ipswich's failed mission two seasons ago. Unloved in Ipswich for decamping to Chelsea, Delap continues to be short of the confidence he showed back then.
Forest kicked off as lowest scorers in the division; no side had drawn a blank more often. Their drought did not take long to break but no flood followed. Neco Williams's goal came via an overlap and then a looping cross from Daniel Muñoz. Williams glided in unmarked, his finish low and true beyond Christian Walton.
Another Forest goal appeared likely before home fans, previously exasperated, were lifted by Jaden Philogene forcing a save from Matz Sels and Julio Enciso dancing through red shirts to force another.
The equaliser came via a collective loss of concentration characteristic of Forest's season so far, echoing defeat at Crystal Palace, and at home to Coventry. Jair Cunha gallivanted forward and, adrenaline coursing, lost possession. Dara O'Shea's punted clearance was poorly dealt with by Nikola Milenkovic, an under-amped back-pass allowed Enciso to show admirable calm when others had surrendered theirs.
Forest's failure to claim the rewards on offer from the first half told a familiar story. So too do repeated refereeing controversies, and howls of conspiracy among their supporters. How the officials, led by Thomas Bramall, the referee, did not view Diop's clattering of James McAtee as a foul defied belief. Play was waved on. More understandable, if still highly debatable, was the verdict via video assistant that McAtee had conceded possession with a heavy touch as the collision came. "Leif [Davis] was there to cover," said Diop, shown a yellow card. "I don't think it's a red."
"I think they came to the right conclusion, a good process," O'Neil said. As well he might. "It looks like the VAR was not from the East Midlands today," said Glasner. "It felt like it was a red card."
Injustice fuelled Forest though did not make them any more clinical, the best of their second-half flurry of chances involved Murillo missing a free header from a corner. That asked for staying power from Ipswich. So far this season, they have not been the soft touch under O'Neil they became in Kieran McKenna's survival attempt. "We had to show another side to get something," said O'Neil. "We can play better but if we think we're going to be dominant in every game … we'll be fighting for scraps a lot of the time."
Luck was definitely ridden. Callum Hudson-Odoi, as eight messy minutes of injury time were being added, received more than enough time and space to do far better than drag beyond the far post. The story of the night encapsulated for Forest. And of their season.
