Ipswich held but retake second as West Brom confirm safety

West Bromwich Albion vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.

>Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between West Bromwich Albion and Ipswich Town at The Hawthorns on Saturday; Tractor Boys retake second despite goalless draw, as Baggies secure safety in second tier.

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>West Brom confirmed their Sky Bet Championship status for a second time in a week after they held promotion-chasing Ipswich to a 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns on Saturday.

>Albion were hit with a two-point deduction for breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules on Friday evening to leave them mathematically vulnerable to relegation with two matches left of their season.

>A point here, though, meant they cannot be caught and Oxford have been relegated, with Charlton also beating Hull at lunch-time.

>For Ipswich, they move back into second place and with all eyes on their meeting with top-two rivals Southampton on Tuesday evening.

>The first meaningful effort on goal was a speculative one when home midfielder Ousmane Diakite was urged to let fly from 25 yards, which Christian Walton in the Ipswich goal needed two attempts to claim.

>The next significant moment arrived within five minutes. There was a miscommunication between former Baggies defender Cedric Kipre and Walton, which allowed striker Daryl Dike to get in, but the visiting goalkeeper recovered to save with his legs.

>Another ex-West Brom defender, Darnell Furlong, momentarily prompted concerns for his former employers, but his low drive from the edge of the box struck his own team-mate Ivan Azon and flew wide.

>The Tractor Boys then passed up perhaps their best opening of the first half. Jacob Greaves swung a deep cross to Kasey McAteer on the far side of the penalty area and although his connection was not perfect, the ball instead fell for Azon who fired over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.

>Albion ought to have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Danny Imray's delivery from the right spun into the path of Aune Heggebo, who turned and struck just wide of the far post.

>Alex Mowatt then played a cute one-two with Dike on the edge of the area and Walton was forced to beat away the low drive.

>Walton came to Town's aid once more early in the second half after Jayson Molumby and Imray combined down the right and the latter's low ball was curled goalwards by Dike, but was superbly parried away.

>Furlong's long throw was glanced on by Greaves but Jack Clarke, with time and space at the back post, made a hash of his opportunity and missed the ball completely for visitors.

>Ipswich began to assert dominance as the second half wore on. They even had the ball in the net with 20 minutes to go, when Max O'Leary spilled substitute Jaden Philogene's bending strike from distance and Kipre turned the rebound home, only for Town to be denied by the offside flag.

>Kieran McKenna turned to Wes Burns and George Hirst from his bench in order to inject more urgency and make the all-important breakthrough, but West Brom remained resolute to secure survival.

>"We had the cloud hanging over us, it had finally come out. We knew where we stood. We got the news but we concentrated on the football side. The lads were in a really good place, so we just cracked on.

>"It helped us because we knew what we had to do. We spoke to the players over dinner at the training ground, but I didn't have to say too much - the players made that clear.

>"After 70 minutes I could feel the momentum changing. The players they were bringing on, I could see the shift, so I wanted to get some energy on the pitch but my staff were telling me that a point was all we needed. The players left it out there on the pitch.

>"I want to remain unbeaten, and so do the players. They want to continue that run. We'll have a day off tomorrow and Monday and then come back in ready to work and finish the season well.

>"We'll reflect at the end and work hard to put it right, but I'll keep onto the lads until the end of the season. I'm going to have a nice beer tonight, though."

>"It was a really hard-earned point. It was going to be a tough game for many reasons and so it proved.

>"The first half was difficult, they had more momentum and energy than us. We had to see off some pressure and it was important to get to half-time 0-0. We haven't done that well enough away from home.

>"There were some good moments of resilience. We needed a good save from Christian but we moved the ball better in the second half, we pressed earlier so we could get the ball back quicker and in the last half an hour we were the team pushing to win it.

>"You don't know if it is a good point, I'll tell you next weekend.

>"It's a brutal league. West Brom are a good team - they're on a 10-game unbeaten run with seven clean sheets. It wasn't a day conducive to playing really good football. The pitch and the heat, which made it bobbly, made it tough.

>"A point, on a day like today, is something we can move forward with."

>The £250,000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.