West Brom confirmed their Sky Bet Championship status for a second time in a week after they held promotion-chasing Ipswich to a 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns on Saturday.
Albion were hit with a two-point deduction for breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules on Friday evening to leave them mathematically vulnerable to relegation with two matches left of their season.
A point here, though, meant they cannot be caught and Oxford have been relegated, with Charlton also beating Hull at lunch-time.
For Ipswich, they move back into second place and with all eyes on their meeting with top-two rivals Southampton on Tuesday evening.
The first meaningful effort on goal was a speculative one when home midfielder Ousmane Diakite was urged to let fly from 25 yards, which Christian Walton in the Ipswich goal needed two attempts to claim.
The next significant moment arrived within five minutes. There was a miscommunication between former Baggies defender Cedric Kipre and Walton, which allowed striker Daryl Dike to get in, but the visiting goalkeeper recovered to save with his legs.
Another ex-West Brom defender, Darnell Furlong, momentarily prompted concerns for his former employers, but his low drive from the edge of the box struck his own team-mate Ivan Azon and flew wide.
The Tractor Boys then passed up perhaps their best opening of the first half. Jacob Greaves swung a deep cross to Kasey McAteer on the far side of the penalty area and although his connection was not perfect, the ball instead fell for Azon who fired over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.
Albion ought to have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Danny Imray’s delivery from the right spun into the path of Aune Heggebo, who turned and struck just wide of the far post.
Alex Mowatt then played a cute one-two with Dike on the edge of the area and Walton was forced to beat away the low drive.
Walton came to Town’s aid once more early in the second half after Jayson Molumby and Imray combined down the right and the latter’s low ball was curled goalwards by Dike, but was superbly parried away.
Furlong’s long throw was glanced on by Greaves but Jack Clarke, with time and space at the back post, made a hash of his opportunity and missed the ball completely for visitors.
Ipswich began to assert dominance as the second half wore on. They even had the ball in the net with 20 minutes to go, when Max O’Leary spilled substitute Jaden Philogene’s bending strike from distance and Kipre turned the rebound home, only for Town to be denied by the offside flag.
Kieran McKenna turned to Wes Burns and George Hirst from his bench in order to inject more urgency and make the all-important breakthrough, but West Brom remained resolute to secure survival.
The managers
West Brom’s James Morrison:
To follow…
Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna:
To follow…
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