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Paul Anderson equalised for Ipswich before half-time

Substitute Paul Anderson's equaliser ensured Ipswich go into the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against local rivals Norwich level after a draw at Portman Road.

In the 98th East Anglian derby, Jonny Howson slotted the visitors in front from Cameron Jerome's delivery.

But Anderson, on for the injured Luke Varney, turned home the equaliser after Freddie Sears' initial shot was saved.

The tie is in the balance ahead of next Saturday's return leg at Carrow Road.

Eight points separated the two sides at the end of the season, as the Canaries just missed out on an immediate return to the Premier League automatically, despite winning 15 of their 22 games since former Hamilton boss Alex Neil took charge in January.

Ipswich, who scraped into the play-offs for the first time in 10 years despite a final-day defeat by Blackburn, are hoping to end a 13-year stay in the second tier.

Championship play-off semi-finals Friday: Brentford 1-2 Middlesbrough Saturday: Ipswich Town 1-1 Norwich City Friday, 15 May: Middlesbrough v Brentford Saturday, 16 May: Norwich City v Ipswich Town

They had the first real chance of a match Neil billed as one of the biggest East Anglian derbies ever, when Canaries keeper John Ruddy did brilliantly to deny Sears, before recovering quickly to keep out Varney's headed rebound.

Norwich, though, grew into the game and came within inches of the lead when Alex Tettey curled just past the post from outside the area.

Play had to be halted for an extended period when Varney was stretchered off with what looked to be a nasty ankle injury, but Ipswich regrouped and both Anderson and Murphy missed headed chances as Town pressed.

However, Jerome was too strong for Tommy Smith and he played in a pinpoint left-wing ball for the onrushing Howson to sidefoot home into the corner past Bartosz Bialkowski and give the visitors the lead.

Town would not be deterred, and in the six minutes added on for Varney's injury, they levelled when Ruddy parried Sears' shot into the path of Murphy, and although he was kept out, midfielder Anderson found a gap to slot past two defenders on the line.

The second half struggled to live up to the pace of the first, but Canaries midfielder Bradley Johnson saw a fizzing shot deflected wide by Luke Chambers.

Murphy, Town's top scorer with 27 goals this season, then broke through on goal but his shot was blocked by a Norwich defender and the two sides had to settle for a draw in a hotly contested game.

Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy: "I would say it was a terrific, hard-fought football match. When two teams are competing for a big prize it will never be expansive football.

"I thought it was a good game, for us we'd like to be in front but there's no away goals that count.

"I've always been proud of my team, and to go behind when we were on top and come back shows everything that my team's about."

McCarthy on Luke Varney's injury: "We think he's snapped his Achilles. He's in bits, the poor lad. For a lad who's come on loan, he's been great, so we'll have to look after him."

Norwich manager Alex Neil: "I thought the first half was as we expected - 100 miles per hour and fighting for second balls.

"I thought in the second half we controlled the ball, but couldn't create chances. Did we do enough to win the game? Probably not.

"I thought the goal we conceded was sloppy for our point of view. It was a straight punt up the park, we switched off and it led to a goal."

More than 29,000 fans were inside Portman Road to watch the 98th East Anglian derby

Ipswich's Mick McCarthy is the only one of the four managers involved in this season's Championship play-offs to have won promotion from the second tier before

Alex Neil guided Norwich to third in the Championship after replacing Neil Adams as manager in January

Jonny Howson (centre) has scored nine goals from midfield for Norwich this season

Paul Anderson levelled for Ipswich, despite Martin Olsson's best efforts to clear