Ipswich Town 0-0 Leicester City - Half-Time
Tuesday, 25th Aug 2026 20:46
Town’s Carabao Cup tie at home to League One Leicester City remains 0-0 at half-time.
Boss Gary O’Neil made nine changes from the team which beat Sunderland 2-1 at the weekend with only skipper Dara O’Shea and Marcelino Nunez keeping their places.
Christian Walton was in goal with Darnell Furlong at right-back, O’Shea and Cedric Kipre, who was with the Foxes as a youngster, the centre-halves and Abdoul Ouattara at left-back.
Cameron Humphreys partnered Nunez in central midfield behind ex-Foxes winger Kasey McAteer unusually on the left, Sindre Walle Egeli on the right and Jack Clarke as the number 10, with Chuba Akpom the out-and-out striker.
Town’s other former Leicester wideman Abdul Fatawu was absent from the squad, but the Blues included youngsters Tudor Mendel and Charlie Compton in a senior 20 for a competitive game for the first time.
Leicester handed a debut and the captain’s armband to returning Blues legend Conor Chaplin, while Wes Burns was on the bench alongside one-time Town loan keeper Alex McCarthy.
Overall, the Foxes made seven changes from the team which lost 2-1 at home to Burton Albion at the weekend.
Leicester, playing four full-backs across their defence and no recognised central defenders, immediately got themselves in something of a mess on the edge of the own area, Akpom eventually hitting a shot on the turn across the face and wide.
The Blues played themselves into trouble of their own in the second minute but Tom Watson’s shot only just avoided going out for a throw on the far side.
On four, McAteer, who came through the youth ranks at Leicester, scuffed his volley through to keeper Jakub Stolarczyk having been found by a deep cross from the right.
Two minutes later, Watson struck an effort from distance which Walton batted away to his right.
In the 10th minute, the ball briefly fell for returning Blues hero Chaplin inside the box but Nunez stabbed it away before the forward could get in his shot, then moments later a ball in from the right flashed across the Town area and wide.
McAteer curled over on 17, referee Lewis Smith, taking charge of his fourth Town Carabao Cup tie in four seasons, going back to speak to Nunez for an earlier foul having waved play on.
Four minutes later, the visitors created their best opening up that point when Christian McFarlane was fed in on the left of the box by Louis Page but Walton did well to spread himself, then claim McFarlane’s looping second effort.
Moments later, Burns began warming up on the touchline towards the North Stand end to warm applause and cheers from his old fans and ex-teammate and close friend Leif Davis, who was already stretching by the corner flag.
On 23, McAteer did well to turn away from his man on the edge of the area but his shot was blocked and looped harmlessly away from goal.
Four minutes later, Clarke played Akpom through on goal battling with Olabade Aluko, who did well to get in the way of the striker’s shot, although referee Smith gave a goal-kick, much to the former Ajax man’s bemusement.
As the game reached the half-hour mark, a corner on the right was poorly dealt with by Stolarczyk and his teammates, the ball bouncing up to Akpom at the far post before referee Smith awarded a free-kick to the Foxes, although for what precisely it was unclear.
From another corner on the right in the 33rd minute, Stolarczyk palmed away a header from his line, the ball appearing to have come off a Leicester head under pressure from Kipre and O’Shea.
Two minutes later, the Blues won a corner on the left. It was half-cleared to McAteer, who headed goalwards from outside the box but too close to Stolarczyk, who claimed under his bar.
On 38, Chaplin curled an effort from just outside the area towards Walton’s right corner, but the keeper was equal to it and bundled his ex-teammate’s effort wide.
Aluko was shown the game’s first yellow card in the 40th minute for hauling Akpom back as Town broke quickly into the Leicester half.
In the 43rd minute, the Foxes counter-attacked after a Town move had broken down, but Harry Howell’s shot from a tight angle on the right was blocked by Kipre.
In the final scheduled minute, keeper Walton gave away a corner after taking too long over a goal-kick. From the flag-kick McFarlane headed powerfully just over, the final action of the half.
Both sides had looked more than a little disjointed with opportunities at each end, McAteer and Akpom both having had decent chances for the Blues, while McFarlane and Chaplin had forced Walton into good stops.
McAteer had caused his old side more than a few problems but with the final shot or pass lacking, while Aluko was struggling with Akpom’s physicality.
Town will feel they had controlled the game well in spells but with loose passing, perhaps unsurprisingly given the change of personnel, having allowed Leicester a number of promising breaks.
Town: Walton, Furlong, O’Shea (c), Kipre, Ouattara, Nunez, Humphreys, McAteer, Walle Egeli, Clarke, Akpom. Subs: Scherpen, Greaves, Davis, Lukic, Compton, Mendel, Ogbene, Enciso, Maeda.
Leicester City: Stolarczyk, Coulibaly, Aluko, Thomas, McFarlane, Braybrooke, Howell, Page, Chaplin (c), Watson, Bristrić. Subs: McCarthy, Joseph, Souttar, Neale, Carr, Burns, Alves, Cullen, De Cordova-Reid. Referee: Lewis Smith (Lancashire).
Photo: Matchday Images
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jas0999 added 20:49 - Aug 25No excuses. 7 changes for Leicester as well. A league one side. Reserve side.Awful First half. None of these players demonstrating they can deputise in the PL. Leicester the better side.Hopefully Ashton is spending the second half on the phone signing at least one, preferably two strikers. Hope Akpom bucks up and comes into his own but 1/10 for his first half is generous..
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