Ipswich 0 Brighton 0: Seagulls survive late Dale Stephens sending off to earn a point in Championship clash
The central midfielder was given his marching orders with eight minutes to go as the promotion hopefuls held on for a point
BRIGHTON had Dale Stephens sent off as they blew their chance to move into the automatic promotion places.
Midfielder Stephens saw red in the 82nd minute for a second bookable offence when he brought down Jonathan Douglas.
The only plus for Chris Hughton’s men, who remain third in the table, was that they kept a seventh clean sheet in 10 Championship games this season.
But this will have to go down as a missed opportunity against an injury-hit Ipswich side minus several key players.
Despite his many problems home boss Mick McCarthy made a big call in relegating striker Freddie Sears to the bench after a run of 35 games without a goal.
And it was the Tractor Boys who landed the only two shots on target in an otherwise mediocre first half.
Douglas let fly from 25 yards four minutes before the break and Brighton keeper David Stockdale needed two attempts to gather his low drive.
Stockdale coped much better when on-loan Leicester man Tom Lawrence tried his luck in stoppage time from a free-kick even further out.
Brighton went in at the interval having looked nothing like a side chasing their fourth straight league win.
But soon after the restart Anthony Knockaert tested Bartosz Bialkowski with an angular drive that the keeper held confidently.
Then the Frenchman threatened again when the visitors launched a menacing counter attack but his shot from the edge of the area cleared the bar with plenty to spare.
The Seagulls had another great chance to break the deadlock in the 63rd minute as Ipswich struggled to clear a corner but defender Shane Duffy fired over.
Sub Jamie Murphy was close to making an instant impact for the visitors with a sizzling drive that flew inches wide of the far post.
Ipswich piled on the pressure after Stephens’ dismissal but Brighton stood firm to hang on for a point.