Chelsea's miserable record of failing to win an away match this season has been as frustrating as Roger Bannister's early efforts to break the sub-four-minute mile, according to striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.
This latest effort could be compared to one of Bannister's many failed attempts: Full of running early on when the dream burned brightly, only for them to stumble across the line.
It had been Gudjohnsen, with two goals in the opening 17 minutes, who had put Chelsea on track to break their appalling sequence.
There was a verve and swagger about the London dilettantes at this stage, but, once Ipswich had punctured that early arrogance, Chelsea threw away their advantage spectacularly. It extended the side's run without an away win to 15 matches, stretching back nearly nine months.
"We are afraid of winning at the moment," claimed Gianfranco Zola. "Sometimes we are too cautious and that is costing us a lot. The fact is we didn't hold our position on the pitch the way we should have. We should have been more in control of the situation."
Gudjohnsen had justified Claudio Ranieri's decision to partner him up front with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink when after only eight minutes he found a gap in the home defence to sidefoot home Mario Melchiot's low cross.
Nine minutes later there was a facsimile. This time Hasselbaink was the provider for the Icelandic to nip in and tuck away his sixth goal this season.
But Dennis Wise wasted an opportunity to put the match beyond Ipswich before half-time when he ran on to Hasselbaink's throughball in the 33rd minute only to shoot weakly at Richard Wright.
It proved to be significant because 10 minutes later James Scowcroft headed Fabian Wilnis's cross beyond Ed de Goey and Chelsea's self-belief drained away.
"When you have a two-goal lead and are playing quite well you don't expect to end up like that," said Zola. Wise spurned another fabulous opportunity in the 77th minute, somehow contriving to miss from less than two yards.
Just as in the first half, it was a turning point because seven minutes later the equaliser arrived. Herman Hreidarsson's cross was headed across the goalmouth by Scowcroft for Marcus Stewart to hit a shot which squirmed through De Goey's legs.
"There's a spirit at this club which has taken a long time to build up," said George Burley, the Ipswich manager. "We battled away, never gave up and never let our heads drop."
Ipswich: Richard Wright, Wilnis (Croft 74), Bramble, Venus, Hreidarsson, Clapham (Reuser 63), Holland, Scowcroft, Jermaine Wright, Armstrong, Stewart. Subs Not Used: Branagan, Johnson, McGreal. Goals: Scowcroft 43, Stewart 82.
Chelsea: de Goey, Leboeuf, Desailly, Terry, Melchiot (Bogarde 59), Wise, Morris, Dalla Bona, Zola (Harley 89), Hasselbaink (Jokanovic 68), Gudjohnsen. Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Poyet. Booked: Dalla Bona, Jokanovic, Desailly, Morris. Goals: Gudjohnsen 8, 17.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
