Ipswich Town's Championship promotion hopes suffered a slight dent this afternoon as they were held to a goalless draw by Wigan Athletic at Portman Road.

Wigan started with some promise and they came close when James Perch found space on the wing to cross for striker Marc-Antoine Fortune, but he headed high and wide.

The hosts sought to hit back through Jay Tabb, and he climbed highest inside the box to meet a ball from Paul Anderson, only to see his effort fly wide of the post.

Town's next opportunity came via Tyrone Mings as he carved out a neat through ball to find Tabb, who fired wide from the left side of the Wigan box.

The home side should have gone ahead just minutes before the interval as Tabb guided a well-timed header towards the bottom corner, but he found Ali Al Habsi in good form and a crucial save kept things level.

In a tame start to the second half, it was Wigan who appeared the more creative side, with Emyr Huws picking out Fortune inside the box for a shot which crept just wide of the post.

Don Cowie finally brought himself into the contest and he whipped in a promising cross into the Ipswich box, where Perch proved wasteful as he headed off target.

Ipswich almost made Wigan pay for their profligacy when David McGoldrick found space inside the area, although the forward had not counted on Al Habsi diving full length to deny his header at the bottom corner.

Town sensed that the points could be there for the taking and introduced new striker Freddie Sears, with the young frontman shooting straight at the Wigan keeper from the centre of the box with just under 20 minutes to play.

On a wasteful afternoon at Portman Road, striker McGoldrick was to cap off a toothless display from the hosts as he headed wide to the left from Tabb's cross, leaving the game to finish goalless.