Promotion chasing City took the lead against the run of play at Portman Road, Chris Burke firing home a low shot from the edge of the penalty area in first half stoppage time.

That looked as though it would be enough to secure the points for the Blues and seal their place in the play-offs.

However, Emmanuel-Thomas, who had earlier hit the bar, converted from close range with 15 minutes left to secure a share of the spoils.

"JET (Emmanuel-Thomas) had an impact when he came on," said a delighted Jewell.

"When he plays like that, I wouldn't say he's unplayable but he's a really difficult opponent. He gets people off their seats, has got great feet and unbelievable natural talent.

"Now we've got to nurture that into a player who delivers consistently."

Speaking of his side's performance, Jewell added: "I thought we played really well - as well as we've played all season.

"The only thing missing was an end product, meaning goals. We didn't deserve to be losing at half-time and even their fans were singing 'one shot and we've scored one goal'.

"We said at half-time that we needed to keep playing the same way and although we were slow for the first five minutes, after that we were excellent.

"Our whole team were superb from start to finish and we showed a bit of character to come back."

No complaints

Birmingham boss Chris Hughton had no complaints with the scoreline, with his side still needing just one more point to secure a play-off place.

"It was a fair result," said Hughton. "Ipswich put us under a lot of pressure in the second half and they've got the players who can do that, especially in wide areas.

"At times they were excellent. They played with a certain freedom and we had to soak up a lot of pressure, but we're a resilient group and hard to beat.

"Ipswich missed chances, as did we, and in the context of the overall game I thought it was a fair result."

"We're close [to sealing a play-off spot] but we've still got to play two very tough games, and they don't come much tougher than Brighton away and Reading at home.

"I'm desperate for this group of boys to cross the line, because they've been excellent all season.

"They deserve it, because of the amount of games they've had to play and the spirit they've shown.

"I hope we can take the required point we need."