After storming into the Premiership charts last season, George Burley and his players are finding the follow-up more difficult. To put it simply, Ipswich are just not on song at the moment. One win in their first five games is a long way from the form that won them a UEFA Cup spot on their return to the top flight and the spies from Thursday's first-round opponents Moscow Torpedo will have left quietly confident.
Martijn Reuser and Matt Holland went close before Ipswich opened the scoring on 13 minutes. Jim Magilton's pass inside the left-back chimed perfectly with Finidi George's accelerating run. The winger's chip hit the bar but Alun Armstrong was on hand to put away the rebound.
Reuser went close again and Hermann Hreidarsson should have done better with a far-post header. But Ipswich then gave the impression of a side who thought the job was done.
Imaginatively exploiting space down both flanks, Blackburn were denied an equaliser only by Matteo Sereni's acrobatics. First he produced a point-blank save from the dangerous Corrado Grabbi, then he blocked again as Damien Duff slammed in the rebound.
Henning Berg sent a close-range header over the bar and suddenly Ipswich were looking far from the fluent team of last season.
Within eight minutes of the second half Blackburn were level. Keith Gillespie had forced another save from Sereni when Tugay's long through ball found the lively Matt Jansen, who outpaced two defenders before lobbing the onrushing Sereni.
It was no more than Rovers deserved. Hreidarsson was lucky not to receive a second yellow card and Ipswich's prospects were further threatened when Armstrong was carried off after a clash of heads which left him temporarily unconscious.
Only in the closing minutes did Ipswich react to the urgency of their plight. Brad Friedel saved with his feet from the substitute Richard Naylor before blocking Hreidarsson's point-blank header. In between Stewart had an effort disallowed for an earlier debatable foul.
IPSWICH: Sereni, Makin, McGreal, Hreidarsson, Bramble, Holland, Magilton, Stewart, Armstrong (Naylor 64), Reuser (Counago 90), George (Wilnis 79). Subs Not Used: Branagan, Wright. Booked: Hreidarsson, Bramble, Reuser. Goals: Armstrong 15.
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Berg, Taylor, Mahon, Tugay, Flitcroft, Gillespie, Duff, Jansen, Grabbi (Bent 84). Subs Not Used: Hughes, Hignett, Johnson, Miller. Booked: Tugay. Goals: Jansen 54.
Referee: G Poll (Tring).
