Delap scores twice as Ipswich draw with Aston Villa

A superb individual strike from two-goal Liam Delap earned Ipswich Town a draw against Aston Villa, who missed a chance to move level on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool.

With Ipswich trailing 2-1 in the second half, striker Delap collected the ball just inside Villa territory, raced into the penalty area and tricked his way beyond Diego Carlos before firing low past goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

The former Manchester City forward had turned in Jack Clarke’s cutback to give Ipswich an eighth-minute advantage, but visitors Villa recovered to lead by half-time at Portman Road.

Morgan Rogers collected Jacob Greaves’ poor clearance and exchanged passes with Ollie Watkins before crashing in his first goal for the season to equalise.

Leon Bailey’s cross from the right then picked out unmarked England striker Watkins, who nodded past Arijanet Muric from six yards.

At that stage Villa looked set to achieve a comeback victory for the third Premier League match in a row.

However, Delap’s intervention secured a fourth successive league draw for Ipswich as the Tractor Boys climbed to 15th in the table.