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Brentford emerged from an entertaining clash at Portman Road with a rare, but what could prove to be very precious, single point against Ipswich Town.

With Championship fixtures elsewhere serving up some tasty surprises within the play-off pack, negating the threat of Ipswich and Wolves, and not losing ground with the top dogs, was vital… So in that respect the trip to Suffolk was mission accomplished.

In truth the result against Mick McCarthy’s men could have gone either way – the home side certainly enjoyed the lion’s share of the clear cut chances, with Daryl Murphy blasting over with the goal at his mercy early in the second half to conjure up the miss of the season – that gaff, along with several excellent David Button saves, suggests that, on reflection, it was a point won rather than two points dropped.

The Bees played some lovely, slick football on the break, and were always a threat as we once again bossed the possession stats against one of the divisions better teams, but Andre Grey was caught offside too often and, in truth, we rarely got in behind the last line of defence. We looked dangerous though, and Town were on the back foot for significant chunks of this clash.

After going behind to an early Murphy poke after he’d evaded the Bees defence at a corner, the Reds upped the ante and cranked the pressure… It was certainly a better reaction to going behind than a week before at Birmingham, and Jonathan Douglas pulled Brentford level inside half an hour with a rebounded header – a cool finish to delight another excellent away following.

listen to ‘Ipswich v Brentford post match podcast from the pub’ on audioBoom

The game ebbed and flowed with Ipswich looking threatening, but over all, the home side were pretty unconvincing as promotion candidates… The Bees looked the most dynamic of the two sides and pushed forward looking for another away win rather than defending a valuable point. Even deep into injury time Warbs could be seen urging his troops forward and this uncharicteristic draw is only our fifth of the campaign.

They say that fortune favours the brave, and in Brentford we have exactly that, a spirited attack-minded, brave bunch of players who are clearly revelling in their role of unfancied, and off the media’s radar, promotion contenders. On this showing the Bees are more than worthy, and capable, of a top six finish. With the table as tight as it is above us, anything is still possible. Anything!

Dave Lane