THIS is the moment when Ipswich Town's goalkeeping curse struck, yet again!

Carl Marston

THIS is the moment when Ipswich Town's goalkeeping curse struck, yet again!

Roy Keane's men recorded a deserved 1-1 draw at play-off chasing Leicester City yesterday, but that was only half the story.

Ironically, the main talking point, in the Portman Road camp, occurred even before a ball had been kicked.

New keeper Brian Murphy, looking forward to being a part of the 18-man squad for the first time since his arrival from Bohemians, damaged his ankle during the warm-up at a slippery Walkers Stadium.

A dejected Murphy, picked as a substitute, hobbled off after twisting his right ankle while making a save.

It was just the latest in a terrible sequence of goalkeeping mishaps for Town, which this season has already featured Shane Supple's surprise retirement, loanee Asmir Begovic's recall to Portsmouth and Richard Wright's long-term knee injury.

"Brian (Murphy) has injured his ankle ligaments, so the curse has struck again," confirmed Keane.

"I know what it's like to damage your ankle ligaments. It will be very sore, and he could be out for several weeks.

"Brian was in lots of pain. We'll get more news in the next day or so, but he could be out for a while. He stayed in the dug-out for us, but there's no way he would have been able to come on," added Keane.

Arran Lee-Barrett enjoyed another good outing between the posts, but Keane will now almost certainly have to recruit another new loan keeper as back-up, due to Murphy's terrible misfortune.

During the game itself, Town broke the deadlock after just 20 seconds with left-back Ryan McGivern turning the ball into his own net under heavy pressure from David Norris, although the Town midfielder wants to claim the goal.

Target man Steve Howard equalised in the 38th minute, but it was Town who finished the game looking the more likely winners.

Keane insisted: "I think it was a fair result, but I'm not sure it was a good point, because we can play better.

"Arran (Lee-Barrett) perhaps made the best saves of the game, but we had the chances. It was not a classic.

"All these draws are giving us a foundation, which is different to the start of the season, when we weren't even giving ourselves a hope.

"But we're simply not scoring enough goals," concluded Keane.