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A Birmingham fan looks set to receive a lifetime ban after he attempted to punch Ipswich Town star Jack Taylor during a chaotic Championship opener. The Blues, who sat two divisions below the Tractor Boys last season, were on course for a shock win after Jay Stansfield's second-half goal on Friday night at St Andrew's. Chris Davies' men looked to have the beating of the Championship promotion favourites until deep into added time. With five minutes elapsed, an Ipswich corner to the far post was headed onto the arm of an unaware Lyndon Dykes. The Scottish striker believed he was being fouled after Jacob Greaves tugged on his shirt, but referee Andrew Kitchen pointed to the spot. Ipswich, who hadn't had a shot on target all night, turned to George Hirst to rescue them a point, and he duly found the back of the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time. The 26-year-old cupped his ear to the home fans in celebration where he was caught on camera, saying 'That's what I do' near the corner flag. His teammate Conor Chaplin meanwhile was shown a yellow card for accidentally kicking the ball into the stand behind the goal. Birmingham star Christoph Klarer reacted angrily to the gesture, with both sets of players ultimately squaring up to each other in heated scenes. Chaplin's Ipswich teammate, Taylor, came over in support, but got caught in the middle of the melee against the advertising board. The 27-year-old then narrowly avoided a wild swinging punch thrown by a fan in sunglasses before he was subdued by security. Explaining what was happening on talk SPORT commentary, Joe Shennan said: "Oh wow! "There was a Birmingham fan at the front of the stand trying to come forward and get involved in a melee. "And that is absolutely not right. " Former Birmingham striker Deeney then stated: "Just to give the listener what happened, so, Hirst has scored. "As the ball has come back out, to be fair to Chaplin, he's gone to smash it in the net to celebrate. "Absolutely missed it and has kicked it straight into the Birmingham City fans. "Again, that's no excuse for the fan then trying to get involved. There's no place for that. We've seen what happens before. " Deeney also remarked: "Look, Birmingham City can be frustrated and they can blame the referee. "This is of their own doing. This is of their own doing. Fair play to Hurst. He's had a poor game. " Deeney had already been left fuming that Birmingham's opening goal had been controversially ruled out. Kyogo Furuhashi thought he'd given the Blues the lead, but his strike was disallowed for a foul on Greaves in the build-up. Stansfield then gave the League One champions a deserved lead over the relegated Premier League side, before Hirst equalised late on. Speaking to Sky Sports at full-time, Hirst said: "[Scoring the penalty] is what I'm paid to do. It is my bread and butter. "The centre half said it was a rubbish penalty in different terms, but it went in the back of the net. That is what matters at the end of the day. "We fought it out; we knew what it was going to be coming here. We stuck together, got the point, and we'll move on. " Ipswich defender Jacob Greaves added: "It was very tough. For the first 15 minutes, we found it tough. "When they went 1-0 up, we got back in the game and it only looked like us to equalise and go on and get three points. "I thought he gave a foul on the keeper. I knew George was going to score, and he probably got the point we deserved. " © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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