It might have been a breezy afternoon at the Pirelli Stadium, but there was absolutely no wind left in any Burton Albion sails at 5pm on Saturday.

Players and fans alike looked shellshocked as they traipsed to the tunnel and the exits, questioning just how the Brewers had got nothing from the visit of Ipswich Town.

There were several reasons, in the end.

One is that this wasted opportunity came down to wasted opportunities.

Ipswich Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski denies Lloyd Dyer with his legs

Wasted opportunities in front of goal and wasted opportunities to clear their own lines played their part in the most disappointing defeat of Albion's season so far.

Ben Turner may have been on hand to end the team's 546-minute wait for a Championship goal - and prove Burton's extra time working on set-piece training in midweek had been well spent - but the Brewers should have broken the deadlock long before his 57th-minute header.

Then, when the lead was theirs and a steely nature was needed at the back to ensure Ipswich could not get back into contention, Nigel Clough's side could not see it out.

In the build-up to both Ipswich goals, the Brewers had chances to get rid of possession and ease the pressure.

Just like at the top end of the pitch, those chances were not taken.

Every Championship side, on their day, has the quality to ensure such moments are punished, and Martyn Waghorn and Manchester City loanee Bersant Celina did just that at the Pirelli, the latter bending home a suckerpunch of a late free-kick to decide the game.

Not that this was Ipswich on their day - and that is the most frustrating thing of all for the hosts.

Burton Albion celebrate Ben Turner's goal in the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town

Even more so than at Nottingham Forest seven days previously - another 'what if?' match - the Brewers could and should have got themselves into a commanding position by the break against an average Town outfit.

Where they tried to play with a counter-attacking punch at the City Ground, Albion's return to the Pirelli saw them firmly back on the front foot, perhaps energised by a couple of outfield switches.

There were three changes altogether, with Middlesbrough loanee Connor Ripley coming into the starting XI for his league debut, as Stephen Bywater moved to the bench for personal reasons.

The irrepressible Lucas Akins shook off a hamstring injury to start again, slotting in at right-wing-back for the injured John Brayford, while Stephen Warnock continued on the other flank and the centre-half trio of Jake Buxton, Kyle McFadzean and Ben Turner remained.

Matty Lund's return to the central midfield three would inject a dynamism to Albion's play that had been lacking at times.

Matty Lund in action for Burton Albion
Matty Lund in action for Burton Albion

That urgency across the park is why Lund was signed, and there were signs here, both with and without the ball, that the Northern Ireland international can take on the 'Jackson Irvine' role that he seems the likeliest fit for.

Jamie Allen and Luke Murphy were his midfield partners, while Lloyd Dyer's second successive game up front saw him joined by the returning Marvin Sordell, with Joe Mason still out with a back problem and a hip injury picked up in training ruling Sean Scannell out.

Sordell's quality around the box may have marked him out as a likely candidate to end Albion's goal drought as a starter.

Such was Burton's dominance for the first 45 minutes, there looked to be several such candidates.

With a strong wind at their backs, the Brewers blew out of the blocks. The midfielders raced to win every second ball, the centre-halves outjumped and outmuscled the likes of David McGoldrick and Waghorn in the air to power long balls clear, and the wing-backs stayed high upfield to deliver a series of early crosses.

There were some quick, accurate passes and movement that helped stretch the visiting defence.

Ipswich looked short of the pace Burton wanted to play at, and they were not helped by the wind holding clearances and goal-kicks up, allowing Albion to continually knock it back over the heads of the visiting defence and keep themselves on the front foot.

Clough has repeatedly spoken this season about how his players need to sense when they are on top and ensure they capitalise.

There is no doubting the Brewers understood just how crucial it was to seize the initiative as they took an increasingly strong hold on the first half - but they again lacked that killer instinct to make the most of it.

Lund gambled well when Sordell shot from range and latched onto the ball as Bartosz Bialkowski parried in the Ipswich goal, only for the visiting keeper to stick out an arm and trap Lund's effort from the rebound.

Matty Lund is denied from close range by Bartosz Bialkowski of Ipswich Town

Bialkowski was in sharp form again to deny Dyer's angled effort following a clever through-ball from Sordell, while Murphy produced an even nicer pass to pick out Lund on the edge of the box, the ex-Rochdale man catching the ball well as it dropped but sending the shot just wide of the far post.

Crosses too often did not find their mark, and neither did Sordell's shot from an angle when he sprang the offside trap on the stroke of half-time.

Ironic cheers from the Town supporters met a McGoldrick shot which was well held by Ripley before the break, emblematic of the frustration they felt at seeing their side outplayed so.

But you can imagine Mick McCarthy will have told his players at half-time that the game was there for the taking with the wind in their favour for the second 45.

Albion clearly sensed that too, because their intensity immediately after the break was on another level still.

Ben Turner in action for Burton Albion
Ben Turner in action for Burton Albion

Murphy came close to opening the scoring in the 56th minute when he latched onto Dyer's pass just outside the D and sent a well-struck shot curving away from Bialkowski and towards the far post.

The Ipswich stopper dived superbly across to tip it wide - but he was picking the ball out of his net a minute later.

Lund's delivery from the corner was a good one, and Turner outleapt his marker to loop the header over Bialkowski and the despairing McGoldrick on the line to end Burton's wait for a league goal at 546 minutes.

The stat-loving Brewers fans in the crowd will have noted at that point that their side had never lost a Championship game after scoring the first goal.

Reason to be optimistic.

But crucially, Albion failed to kick on from there - and they rarely created an opening for the remainder of the game.

Instead, a mix of Ipswich's improvement and the difficult conditions kept Burton camped in their own half.

That situation has often been one that Clough's side have thrived on. They defended brilliantly to see out the win over Fulham, their last in the league back on September 16.

But they would not hold out this time.

Connor Ripley tips a corner wide as Burton Albion defend against Ipswich Town

Waghorn had not offered all too much going forward, but his unerring eye for goal will always make him a threat.

And he notched his seventh of the season in the 66th minute with aplomb, drilling a loose ball from the edge of the box inside Ripley's lefthand post with a fine first-time strike.

The frustration for the Brewers was that the ball might never have been there, had they cleared their lines better in the build-up, or if Akins' clearance from the cross into the box had dropped elsewhere.

Clough reckons those are the things that are going for other teams and not his at the moment. He might be right, but Albion have to keep working to make sure they do start dropping for them.

Town looked the likelier team to score thereafter, Waghorn outmuscling McFadzean but seeing his cross for Freddie Sears tipped away by Ripley, before McGoldrick curled a shot just wide of the far post.

Burton stayed reasonably solid, but they were simply unable to get out and keep Ipswich pinned back for long enough.

Still, had the game finished 1-1, you sense the Brewers would have felt short-changed after their dominance for the first hour of the game.

To see the draw slip away in the 89th minute, though, left them feeling as flat as any game has this season.

Again, it could have been avoided.

Albion looked to have initially dealt with an Ipswich corner in the dying stages, the delivery headed out to the lefthand corner of the box.

Warnock picked it up and saw several teammates begin to charge upfield, sensing a chance for a counter.

Connor Ripley can do nothing to keep out Bersant Celina's late free-kick winner for Ipswich Town

Warnock's first touch, though, was a heavy one, and Town substitute Kevin Bru raced into capitalise.

He was fouled by the Albion wing-back, and Celina - also on as a substitute - stepped up to curl the free-kick over the wall and in, via the hands of the diving Ripley, at the near post.

Four minutes of added time provided little chance for a response. For the fourth time in seven home games so far this season, Burton had been beaten.

Clough said after the loss at Forest last weekend that his side will play worse this term and win.

The likelihood is that they will create fewer chances in a match in the coming weeks and still claim victory.

But if they are to do that, they have to become more ruthless.

They are enjoying longer spells on top now than they were in the early weeks, which is encouraging in its own way.

But those spells do not automatically translate into points. It is becoming a worrying trend that they need to shake.

With a few of their possible relegation rivals picking up valuable results at the weekend, Burton's gut-wrenching defeat will have felt all the worse.

How they respond against Barnsley on Tuesday night already feels like an important moment in their season.