There was no way through for Huddersfield Town in general, and Nahki Wells in particular, on an afternoon of frustration.
A home defeat never looks great, and this was the seventh of the season, and fourth under David Wagner.
The injury to midfielder Jonathan Hogg, who could be out for two months with a damaged knee, added to the disappointment.
But it wasn’t total despondency as Town ended a second successive match with 10 men.
At least it wasn’t due to a red card, with Hogg’s injury coming after all three substitutes had been used.
And at least Town created plenty of chances, even if they couldn’t take them.
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To be fair, getting goals hasn’t been a problem under Wagner, with 28 scored in 18 league games.
And against Ipswich, Town bossed possession (67%) and had 22 shots, five on target.
The visitors had six, just one on target, but Ben Pringle’s effort was enough to earn them three points.
Once again a defensive lapse proved costly as Town conceded a 46th league goal of the campaign, and 23rd in the Championship and 30th in all competitions under Wagner.
Joel Lynch has been playing well, and didn’t do badly overall in this clash.
But the centre-back, who had to be substituted with a hamstring problem, lost out to Daryl Murphy when he could have put the ball dead.
The striker cut it back from the byline and wideman Pringle, on loan from
Fulham, fired home despite Jason Davidson’s attempt to clear off the line.
Left-back Davidson, handed a first start in five at James Husband’s expense, was among the Town players who fluffed decent chances.
So were Harry Bunn and Kyle Dempsey, also in the first XI for the first time in five and playing higher up the pitch than usual.
But it was Wells who will be most under the microscope, especially given his recent goal glut of four in five outings.
The Bermudian’s season’s haul of 14 so far certainly isn’t to be sniffed at.
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But this wasn’t his day as Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski came out on top of their duel.
And while Ipswich’s approach isn’t to everyone’s taste, there’s no doubt they defended their lead with determination to snap a three-game losing sequence and keep their play-off hopes alive.
They might even have stretched it through Republic of Ireland international Murphy, who put an angled second-half shot narrowly wide.
As Wagner said afterwards, and not for the first time, his side have to learn the lessons of games like this and move on.
A trip to Derby County awaits, and it would be great to see Town get a win against one of the sides in and around the promotion places, something they have been unale to achieve under any boss this season.
