Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich: Ollie Watkins cancels out Liam Delap's ...

Aston Villa could only draw 1-1 against an Ipswich team reduced to 10 players in the first half at Villa Park.

Axel Tuanzebe's sending off for two bookable offences left Kieran McKenna's side up against it but Liam Delap's goal put Ipswich on course for an unlikely win until Marcus Rashford's moment of inspiration produced a leveller for Villa.

The on-loan Manchester United forward fired in a shot from a direct free-kick that struck the crossbar and came out for Ollie Watkins to stick in the rebound. Marco Asensio came close to finding the winner but Ipswich held firm for a precious Premier League point.

That is enough to move Ipswich above Leicester into 18th spot in the Premier League table but still two points from safety. For Villa, it is a missed opportunity. They drop down to ninth in the table, now six points away from the top-four positions.

How Ipswich defied the odds

Villa supporters arrived hoping to see an inspired Premier League debut from a new signing and though there were flashes of quality from Rashford to encourage, it was Alex Palmer making his bow in the competition in the Ipswich goal who was the standout.

The 28-year-old goalkeeper, signed from West Brom earlier this month, produced a series of impressive stops, particularly from Morgan Rogers at the end, to ensure the efforts of those ahead of him were not in vain. Villa had 25 shots but beat him just once.

Unai Emery has options now, introducing Rashford and Asensio off the bench, but will also point to a congested fixture list - Liverpool are the visitors to Villa Park on Wednesday - and a growing injury crisis. Boubacar Kamara went off early in the game.

But the story of this one was the adversity overcome by their opponents. Julio Enciso went off early for Ipswich but McKenna's team battled on, showing great resolve. Upon the final whistle, the chant from the away end was, 'We are staying up'. They still believe.

Player of the match: Alex Palmer

"I've waited quite a while for it, putting the work in. I just want to say thank you to Ipswich for giving me the chance to do it.

"Togetherness, we spoke about it before the game. We knew we were going to suffer but it is about staying together. The sending off made it a bit tougher but we came off saying it was a point earned. We can be happy with our performance.

"That's what we need. The lads are putting everything into it. As a club we want to stay up. We need to just keep going, grinding out points."

McKenna praises Palmer

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna on the player-of-the-match performance by Alex Palmer:

"It's a brilliant day for him. I think it's always worth taking stock. I'm not sure how many we've had, but we're in the high teens for Premier League debuts. And every player who makes one is a hell of a story and a hell of a journey. And Alex is another player, certainly he's had to work his way to this point.

"So making a Premier League debut at 28 after all the loans and everything what he's done in his journey, and then to do it back in the Midlands, I guess, and then to perform like he did, make some of the saves that he did, and to end up helping the team get a point.

"Great day for him and a great start for us.

"He's worked his way up, done the hard yards to get to the Premier League. He's got his opportunity now, and he certainly took it.

"We needed to strengthen the department, and Alex has different qualities and is in a good rhythm. He's played almost every minute of the last couple of seasons. So to bring in a goalkeeper who's in match rhythm and confident at this stage of the season, and he's played with two of the back four today as well, at that stage of the season is pretty good business."

McKenna: It's a decision against a smaller team

McKenna on Axel Tuanzebe's sending off:

"I think the first yellow was a poor one, I didn't think it was a foul. Even if it was a foul, it's the first one he's actually made.

"It's a decision given against a smaller team versus a bigger team away from home. Two yellows that quickly, it was out of the pocket before the ball started rolling.

"But that has to be right: a full-back to be booked for a first foul like that, with the situation you're putting him in as a referee, you have to be sure.

"So I think that's a poor yellow. I thought that at the time and I would have thought that even if Axel hadn't got the second one.

"The second one, I don't have any complaints. So it's more about the position the referee put him in in the first place."

Emery frustrated by Villa team

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports:

"I was frustrated because we lacked how we wanted to play and how we try to dominate, how we try to impose our plan. We were sometimes playing with the crowd - supporting us of course, but not under the control that I want.

"I was trying to tell the players: please try to dominate the game, get good positioning, go higher, try to do passes and we are going to open spaces, trying to get into the box and getting chances. We were great doing it, we had chances to draw and win the match even.

"But my frustration is we were not doing what I usually want. Usually, we are building the team here with this style. They followed the instructions, but they were a little bit hurried in some actions.

"We played and deserved to win. We played like we are building a team and we keep going."

Story of the match in stats

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