Ipswich Town suffer humiliating Carabao Cup exit to AFC Wimbledon on penalties after goals from Ali Al-Hamadi and Conor Chaplin

Ipswich Town crashed out of the Carabao Cup on penalty kicks at the hands of Sky Bet League Two outfit AFC Wimbledon after a 2-2 draw at Plough Lane.

Conor Chaplin’s late equaliser was not enough to prevent the Dons progressing on a night where former Wombles striker Ali Al-Hamadi looked set to fire the Blues on their way to a convincing victory when he opened the scoring after just three minutes.

After handing out six debuts, Town started in dominant fashion inside the opening 20 minutes but were undone by set-pieces as Omar Bugiel and Matty Stevens turned the tie on its head.

Chaplin’s leveller only delayed their elimination as the hosts progressed to the next round after a 4-2 victory in the shootout.

Town boss Kieran McKenna made 10 changes from the weekend’s defeat at Manchester City, with only Ben Johnson keeping his place from the trip to the Etihad Stadium.

Summer signings Conor Townsend, Dara O’Shea, Kalvin Phillips, Jens Cajuste, Jack Clarke and Chiedozie Ogbene, whose signing was only confirmed by the club this morning all started at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.

Johnnie Jackson made six changes of his own from AFC Wimbledon’s victory at Cheltenham Town in League Two on Saturday.

Isaac Ogundere, Callum Maycock, James Ball, James Tilley, Huseyin Biler and Stevens all came into the side, while former Town striker Joe Pigott was on the bench.

Town created the first opening with little more than two minutes on the clock. Chaplin’s effort was deflected wide for a corner from close range after initially rising highest, only to see Al-Hamadi’s strike blocked.

It was from the set-piece that the Blues took an early lead. Townsend’s corner found Al-Hamadi completely unmarked inside the six-yard box and the Iraq international slammed a powerful header beyond Owen Goodman.

Having scored 27 goals for the hosts in little over a year, Wimbledon’s record sale provided a respectful celebration and was warmly applauded by the home crowd.

The visitors remained in control of the contest, with the new additions looking to impress. Clarke raced forward and combined neatly with Ogbene and Cajuste, the latter seeing an effort on goal blocked.

Phillips went down under the challenge of Bugiel in the area to no avail, only for roles to be reversed minutes later as the Dons striker’s appeal to referee James Linington from the Manchester City loanee’s challenge was waved away.

The home side had thought they had levelled on 27 minutes when Bugiel had the ball in the net, but the linesman’s flag was raised for an earlier offside on Stevens.

The Blues responded and looked to make their reprieve from the officials count. Clarke, again looking very direct, cut inside and fired low at Dons goalkeeper Goodman.

Five minutes before the break, Wimbledon levelled the cup tie. An excellent free kick from Jake Reeves was met by Bugiel, who was not to be denied on this occasion as his low header was beyond the reach of Christian Walton with half-time whistle following soon after.

Marcus Harness entered the contest in a half-time substitution for the Blues, the wideman replacing fellow Irishman Ogbene on the right.

But it was Town’s left that was causing the most problems for the home defence early in the second half, with Clarke combining well with Townsend before Al-Hamadi blazed over.

The Dons would go in front on 56 minutes in familiar fashion as the Blues failed to deal with another set piece. Reeves’s free kick from the right was attacked in the box by Stevens, who rose highest to head into the far corner.

Joe Lewis was the first man into the book for bringing down Al-Hamadi as the striker turned away towards goal on the edge of the area, but Townsend’s free-kick flew over the crossbar.

As the visitors looked to get back on level terms, Biler produced a terrific sliding challenge to prevent Al-Hamadi a sight of goal after Clarke had danced through the Wimbledon defence.

McKenna then turned to his bench to replace his midfield duo, as debutants Cajuste and Phillips were withdrawn for Jack Taylor and Massimo Luongo.

Luongo was involved almost immediately as Townsend’s corner bounced dangerously inside the six-yard box. The Australian could not quite manage to flick it goalwards with his back to goal, allowing the home side to scramble clear.

Ryan Johnson was booked for the hosts, then O’Shea’s header from another Blues corner was blocked away.

Town had regained control of possession as they pushed for an equaliser, Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson proving attacking reinforcements for Al-Hamadi and the lively Clarke with 12 minutes to go.

Cameron Burgess was then booked for throwing Stevens to the ground on halfway, with the home support vocal in their frustration that the Blues defender was not shown red.

Town eventually found their equaliser with four minutes of regulation time remaining through a fourth header of the evening. O’Shea’s cross was met by Burgess and Chaplin somehow managed to beat the goalkeeper in the air to nod home from a few yards out.

Delap was booked for a flailing arm after losing possession in the dying seconds of the match, before the referee’s whistle confirmed penalty kicks would decide the winner.

Taylor and Hutchinson both saw their penalties saved before Ogundere struck the decisive blow to knock the Blues out of the Carabao Cup in their competition opener.

Town return to league action on Saturday as they look to pick up their first Premier League points when Fulham are the visitors to Portman Road (3pm).

AFC Wimbledon (3-5-2):Goodman; Johnson, Lewis, Ogundere; Tilley (Furlong 90), Ball (Smith 71), Reeves (c), Maycock, Biler; Bugiel (Pigott 71), Stevens. Subs: Ward, O’Toole, Kelly, Neufville, Hippolyte, Williams.

Booked: Lewis, Johnson.

Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Walton; Townsend, Burgess, O’Shea, Johnson; Phillips (Luongo 66), Cajuste (Taylor 66); J. Clarke (Hutchinson 78), Chaplin (c), Ogbene (Harness 46); Al-Hamadi (Delap 78). Subs: Slicker, Davis, Woolfenden, Tuanzebe.

Booked: Burgess, Delap.

Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight).

Attendance: 7,934 (1,834 Ipswich).

SuffolkNews Man of the Match: Jack Clarke.One of Town’s debutants impressed on the left during his time on the field. The most lively of the Blues’ attackers and showed glimpses of what we can expect from the £15m signing from Sunderland going forwards. Could have taken a shot on earlier on occasions before being replaced.