Ipswich Town take a point away to play off contenders West Brom, but deserved all three points

Living in Yorkshire, it's not very often I'll head to the Midlands to see Ipswich Town play. But, as I haven't been to West Brom before I felt this trip was one not to miss. 

And I wasn't wrong! From the pre-match pub, which swum with blue and white shirts all munching on delicious curries, to The Hawthorns, a smart ground with an away end packed with singing, happy fans - I loved it. 

I loved the ground, I loved chatting with relaxed Town supporters before the match, I loved the feeling of unity that we seem to have formed, despite the horrendous results we've been forced to sit through since August.

Sadly, the beginning of the game didn't instill quite so much joy. Within five minutes, Jonas Knudsen had conceded a free-kick in the exact same position that lead to his red card and suspension at Wigan just a few weeks ago.

The resulting free-kick was quickly taken and, as West Brom created a sly gap in the wall, it deflected off Knudsen and bounced slowly into the waiting goal. Keeper Bart had been sent the wrong way and, at the time, it felt like this was going to be the start of many goals for the home side.

But from this point on we seemed to take the game by the scruff of the neck. 

We weren't going down without a fight, Town reacted well to their goal with chance after chance of making the score level: 

• A nice run from Teddy Bishop(one of many), who passed to Alan Judge, who hit the ball into the box where it was easily collected by the keeper 

• A heel flick from Judge that was just a joy to watch 

• A shot from Luke Chambers which went over the bar (oh, how I'd have loved him to score after the criticism he received from a section of our fans last week)

• A cross, again from Judge, crossed the face of the goal, but Jon Nolan was clearly held back and walked away holding his head

• Bishop took on three West Brom players, neatly skipping around each, before being completely taken out, earning Town their first free-kick of the game

And there was a solid performance at the other end of the pitch too, as Bart had the best game I've seen from him so far this season. One shot tipped over the bar, another saved one-handed, at point-blank range.

Meanwhile, the man West Brom fan Nikki picked out as her 'one to watch' in my match preview, Dwight Gayle, was not endearing himself to Ipswich fans: after he went down injured in front of the away fans, Chambers kicked the ball out of play to allow him to be treated. Only for Gayle to happily jump back up again, cue angry reaction from the away stand.

Shortly before half-time, there was a handball appeal for Town, it was at the other end of the pitch so I can't claim to have had a good look at it - but what I did see was the response from three of our players and that was strong. These decisions never seem to come for us, do they? 

When half-time came I wasn't worried about us being a goal down. The performance from the boys had been so bright, I felt an unusual feeling of hope! 

Following the break, Collin Quaner, who had been decidedly quiet first-half, was replaced by Kayden Jackson. Now, I wasn't impressed by the latter last time I saw Town play at Wigan, but I'm pleased to say he was much better this time around.

The chances on goal just kept coming, with the vast majority continuing to be engineered by Alan Judge who is an absolute joy to watch. Our goal actually came from a James Bree cross, Nolan rose, unmarked, to meet the ball and head it into the net. 

What a feeling! I hadn't seen Town score a goal this season until Keane's equaliser against Stoke last month - but now I've seen 3 in 3 and it feels like Christmas! The away end erupted in an awesome roar, with absolute elation taking hold: this great day out just got even better.

There we were, 1100 fans and 11 men on the pitch, united in pure joy against this horrible season that is trying so hard to drag us down. The moment of elation felt so symbolic, of these people who are trying their best to pull together and make the best of a bad situation, of players and fans who aren't going to let relegation stop them working together for a better future.

And so it went on, chance after chance for Town. Just 3 or 4 months ago, I'd become used to them managing only a handful of shots on target in 90 minutes - and I'd often count myself lucky if they even managed that. Saturday was a new team the one we've been waiting for all year, possibly longer.

More lovely football from Bish who passed onto Judge, but his pass to Jackson went straight to the West Brom keeper. The three of them provided some real moments of quality during the first half until Teddy was subbed, presumably due to having only just returned from injury.

Jackson had a fantastic chance shortly afterward, when a terrible pass to the West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone went awry. He reacted quickly to try to take advantage but the keeper managed to clear. 

He also had a shot set up by Myles Kenlock which he probably could have taken better, but it was good to see him putting himself in positions that could lead to goals. I feel like this is where Kayden will see the most success, he seems to be a bit of a goal poacher.

Nolan, too, had a real chance to put us ahead, as he raced ahead of their defence to just outside the area. But, at the last minute, he appeared to get stage fright and scuffed the shot well wide of the post. 

There were chances at the other end, though it seemed to be far less. One moment, a one-on-one between their number 60 and Chambers really showed the quality of our captain. The man is awesome and I won't hear a bad word said against him!   

The Baggies' lack of ability to regain control of the game was clearly frustrating the home crowd and, by the 85th minute, there were sections booing the team. Shortly afterward, they were leaving their seats in droves - heading for the exits like lines of marching ants.

In a season filled with individual errors - yesterday showed some individual talent. 

Bishop was the highlight of the first half, a young man back to the highs from the early days of his first team career. In him, we have a real asset for the future (although I fear his value may only be experienced in pounds as we're surely likely to need to sell him over the summer?).

Meanwhile, Nolan was by far and away my man of the match overall. I wasn't a fan of his earlier in the season and have been rightly pulled up for it on the TWTD forum. I really felt he wasn't good enough to make the step up to our league, he was of absolutely no use to us at Forest and made too many errors at Accrington.

But on Saturday, he really came into his own. He's got better and better and that's hopefully a good sign for next season - if he can make himself into a decent Championship player in the remaining months of the season, it bodes well for his return to League One, in which he has more experience and may feel more comfortable.

Bart, too, has had a dubious season but was back on form. The man has saved us so many points in the last two seasons, I'd say he was the main reason we weren't dragged too far into the relegation battle last year, and he was well worth the alleged pay rise he received in the summer. There's still time this season to prove his worth some more.

Sadly, I suspect he, like Bishop, is at risk of leaving Portman Road at the end of this season and, to be honest, I think he's too good a keeper to be dropping down to League One. But I'd love to see him end his time with us on a high - he's a class act.

I could honestly pay tribute to every player on that pitch, each one played their part in our draw, but instead, I'll end this section by saying that Alan Judge is quickly healing the gaping wounds in my heart left by the departure of Marty Waghorn. 

He's by far the best player on the pitch every time I see him and I love the quality he has brought to the team. We MUST do whatever it takes to keep him at our club.

We genuinely could have won this game and I felt the performance deserved all three points. 

In my opinion, it's a performance we've been building to for a while. The defeat at Norwich could so easily have caused our heads to drop, but we followed that gutsy display with a shock draw against Derby and a further good performance against Stoke.

The following week, an away defeat to Wigan came despite another determined performance in which the players showed guts and withstood an hour of attacks from the home side with only ten men on the pitch.

True, Reading at home was reportedly not our best game. Perhaps the pressure of the 'must-win' game became too much for a side that has struggled for confidence this season. 

But that's why this weekend's result was unexpected, having not been able to beat a fellow relegation battler on our home turf, it's not entirely unfair to expect defeat against a team currently sat in 4th position. 

Despite Lambert's protests to the contrary, most of us know we're not going to survive this season with our Championship status in-tact. There's no doubt in my mind that League One eagerly awaits our arrival in the not-so-distant future. 

Perhaps that's what made the difference on the pitch. Perhaps, with the pressure off, the players are able to breathe a bit and enjoy playing at their best. We're certainly enjoying watching it much more from the stands.

Perhaps it's simply the case that every manager needs time for his team to click, for them to get to know how to play together and to start to turn those performances round - and that's exactly what this side is doing now.

I wondered after the game how different things might have been had we rid ourselves of 'the Temp' Paul Hurst just a few months earlier - might we have seen this turn in performances early enough in the season to save our skins?

Who knows. 

What I do know is I'm damned proud of the team we are becoming and when this ship goes down, there's a united team of fans, player and manager waiting to bring her straight back up again.