Southampton<\/a>, leaving Kieran McKenna\u2019s hopes of completing the job before Saturday\u2019s finale looking bleak. A rescue mission was now required, and it arrived through Jack Clarke\u2019s lashing late finish.<\/p>\nClarke rattled a post soon after in the frantic chase for a winning goal that would have elevated Ipswich back to the Premier League. \u201cYou probably can\u2019t come much closer to getting promoted than we were at the end, it was a matter of inches,\u201d lamented McKenna who took solace in the adrenaline rush from what he had just witnessed. \u201cAn outstanding game, one of the best certainly in my time here, certainly in the Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
He will know his fate by 3pm on Saturday. Facing QPR, at Portman Road, will decide Ipswich\u2019s destiny. How much more of this tension can either club stand? Southampton must regroup for the ultimate jeopardy, the pleasure-pain principle of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo top teams, we tried absolutely everything to win the game of football,\u201d said Tonda Eckert, the Southampton manager. \u201cWe have clarity now and we need to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
As at Wembley, Eckert\u2019s team were a credit to a manager only appointed in November. If Saints losing Saturday\u2019s semi-final to Manchester City had been a disappointment, it had been a close-run thing. There, City became the first team to beat Saints since 17 January. Their unbeaten league run extends to 18 matches, form that must be sustained, with Wembley again on the horizon.<\/p>\n
For Ipswich, St Mary\u2019s represented another stall on a path to promotion that has become a nervous attempted re-entry into the Premier League galaxy. \u201cIt\u2019s another opportunity to achieve the goal we set at the start of the year,\u201d said Clarke, casting forward to QPR. His manager previewed Saturday as having the \u201cpotential to be a very special day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cyle Larin celebrates putting Southampton 2-1 up. Photograph: Sean Ryan\/IPS\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to make an advertisement for the Championship I think that was the game to watch,\u201d said Eckert, another for positivity with so much ahead to consider. From the start, challenges were full-blooded, those in possession given no time to think, as is customary in the full-throttle world of a Championship both clubs so dearly wish to escape.<\/p>\n
Larin, later to score his fifth goal in five Southampton starts, had his team\u2019s first real effort. Ipswich\u2019s first-half attacks were sporadic even if, during one flurry, Wes Burns wasted a pair of decent chances. For Southampton, Finn Azaz, scorer of a Wembley blockbuster, and L\u00e9o Scienza, Saints\u2019 outlet down the left, grew in influence as the first half was played out.<\/p>\n
Southampton\u2019s equation had been win or bust since drawing with Bristol City the previous Tuesday. They approached the second half with suitable vigour, Larin\u2019s header forcing a fingertip Walton save. Ipswich\u2019s objectives were just as clear. They made the breakthrough when Iv\u00e1n Az\u00f3n\u2019s header dropped to Burns after a Jacob Greaves interception had begun a pressing pincer movement. Burns\u2019 finish was decisive where he had previously been wasteful.<\/p>\n
Now with even less to lose Southampton surged forwards in numbers, to quickly equalise. Manning\u2019s low free-kick zipped through a poorly constructed wall, the deflection off Marcelino N\u00fa\u00f1ez\u2019s heel confounding Christian Walton. Game \u2013 and multiple promotion possibilities \u2013 back on. After Shea Charles whipped a rising shot over the Ipswich goal, McKenna threw on Kasey McAteer with top scorer and talisman Clarke.<\/p>\n
George Hirst was also added to the Ipswich attack, as the evening took on the chaotic energy dimensions of an actual playoff game. As Ipswich defenders and Walton lost their footing, Larin kept his cool to convert from Manning\u2019s pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe showed where we are as a team, that we are able to turn games back in our direction,\u201d said Eckert. If Ipswich do fall through the playoff trapdoor, Saints have given McKenna plenty to fear should they be reunited. Much yet to be decided, many twists await.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Championship\u2019s automatic promotion race will go down to the final day. Ipswich\u2019s plans of \u00adreducing Millwall\u2019s hopes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-556384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}