Southampton v Ipswich

Southampton 1

Lambert 74′

Ipswich 1

Scotland 85′

FT 90 +5
HT 0-0

Southampton 1-1 Ipswich

Jason Scotland's deflected late strike gave Ipswich a point against Championship leaders Southampton.

The Saints dominated throughout but Adam Lallana was denied by Alex McCarthy and Guly Do Prado headed wide.

A rare Ipswich attack saw Michael Chopra denied by Kelvin Davis before Rickie Lambert put Southampton ahead from Steve de Ridder's cross.

But Scotland had the last word with five minutes left when he cut in from the right to fire past Davis.

The result means Southampton could be knocked off the top of the table by West Ham when they take on Watford on Wednesday, while Reading's 1-0 win over Portsmouth means the Royals close the gap to three points with a game in hand.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The Saints will know they should have made sure of all three points long before Scotland struck from the edge of the area.

Lambert had the best of their early chances, shooting wide and then heading over from Dan Harding's corner.

Lallana thought he had made the breakthrough when he latched on to a Tadanari Lee pass before slotting past McCarthy, but the offside flag cut short his celebration.

The home side's next attack ended when Dean Hammond found Lallana in the area but he was denied by a superb stop by McCarthy, who kept out another effort from the same player moments later.

Southampton's frustration continued when Do Prado was off target with a free header from a Lallana corner at the end of a one-sided first half.

Chopra brought an instinctive stop from Davis immediately after the interval as Ipswich threatened to score against the run of play.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Saints persevered, however, and looked like they were heading for a deserved victory when they broke the deadlock in the 74th minute.

The introduction of De Ridder from the bench had an almost instant impact when his cross found Lambert at the back post to drill past McCarthy.

But Ipswich responded by making their own decisive double switch, with Scotland and Ryan Stevenson replacing Andy Drury and Daryl Murphy, and were rewarded with Scotland's late strike.

Southampton boss Nigel Adkins on his side's title hopes: "We are still in the race for the league, as we have been for a very long time.

"This won't knock confidence in the changing room, we are still on a great run and we have as good a chance as anybody of winning this league.

"We had a lot of good chances and could have been well ahead by half-time. Adam Lallana could have had two or three and their goalkeeper made some magnificent saves.

"It is a little disappointing to only draw when we have been ahead until so late but we were playing a good team on an excellent run."

Ipswich manager Paul Jewell: "We were nowhere near our best in the first half and I could not wait to get them in at half-time.

"We showed them what we could do in the second half and deserved the draw. I am pleased with the result.

"Jason Scotland did very well when he came on and gave us that cutting edge we had been lacking.

"Southampton have a phenomenal record at St Mary's and are top of the league. A draw here is not bad."

Lineup, Bookings (2) & Substitutions (6)

Southampton

01 Davis
02 Richardson
03 Harding Booked
06 Fonte
26 Hooiveld
04 Schneiderlin
10 Guly (De Ridder - 70' )
14 Hammond
20 Lallana (Cork - 83' )
07 Lambert
19 Lee (Sharp - 75' )

Substitutes

16 Martin
08 Cork
33 De Ridder
11 Sharp
22 Connolly

Ipswich Town

32 McCarthy
03 Cresswell
05 Delaney
20 Smith
06 Leadbitter (Bowyer - 84' )
07 Edwards
09 Emmanuel-Thomas
11 Martin
17 Drury (Scotland - 77' )
10 Chopra
27 Murphy Booked (Stevenson - 77' )

Substitutes

12 Lee-Barrett
31 Sonko
08 Bowyer
16 Stevenson
14 Scotland

Ref: Drysdale

Att: 23,315

Match Stats

Possession 54 46

Shots

15 8

On target

9 3

Corners

8 5

Fouls

3 7

Live Text Commentary

90:00 +4:12 Full time

Full Time The referee signals the end of the game.

90:00 +2:30

Corner taken by Dan Harding from the right by-line played to the near post, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas manages to make a clearance.

90:00 +2:25

Frazer Richardson sends in a cross, blocked by Lee Martin.

90:00 +1:20

Frazer Richardson produces a cross, Carlos Edwards manages to make a clearance.

90:00 +0:58

The ball is sent over by Frazer Richardson, clearance made by Damien Delaney.

90:00 +0:28

A cross is delivered by Jason Scotland, save made by Kelvin Davis.