Ipswich Town 4-0 Buxton: Chaplin, Ahadme and Jackson strike in FA Cup

After probing for a little over 30 minutes without success, the Blues eventually found their breakthrough against a side 88 places below them in the pyramid and never looked back.  

Conor Chaplin scored the first on 33 minutes, firing home from inside the box, before striker Gassan Ahadme opened his Ipswich account five minutes later to effectively end this game as a contest. Conor Chaplin celebrates his first goal of the night (Image: Steve Waller)

Chaplin added his second and Ipswich’s third, removing any doubt, before substitute Kayden Jackson completed the scoring with a drive through the middle and shot into the bottom corner. 

Victory takes Town through to the third round for the first time as a League One club, with the draw made after 7pm tomorrow night. 

Town boss Kieran McKenna named a strong side for the clash with the non-leaguers, which came sandwiched between Tuesday’s Papa John’s Trophy loss to Portsmouth and Friday night’s home game with Fleetwood Town. 

Christian Walton started in goal behind a back four of Kane Vincent-Young, Richard Keogh, Cameron Burgess and Leif Davis. 

Captain Sam Morsy and Cameron Humphreys were in midfield, with Wes Burns, Chaplin and Kyle Edwards playing behind striker Ahadme, who was making his first Ipswich start up top. 

The visitors, whose assistant manager is former Ipswich midfielder Tommy Miller, named a side including a blend of youth and experience and lined up with a back five and four central midfielders, looking to frustrate an Ipswich side who settled into possession immediately. 

The first chance saw Chaplin head a Burns cross over the top, before a half-cleared Humphreys free-kick ended with Chaplin again having an effort on goal, with visiting keeper Theo Richardson equal to it. 

Kyle Edwards created Gassan Ahadme's goal for Ipswich (Image: Steve Waller)

Ahadme then headed a Davis corner wide, having had an earlier one blocked, before Chaplin’s third and fourth efforts of the night ended with first a header deflected wide for a corner, then a deflected free-kick which Richardson saved awkwardly. 

After a few moments of difficulty at the other end, as Buxton looked to break, Town resumed their attack with Keogh seeing a shot blocked following a corner, before Humphreys fired back with interest with a shot which clipped the top of the bar and went over. 

Then, the breakthrough, which came through another Ipswich move down the right flank as Burns put in a low cross which Chaplin expertly fired home, through traffic. 

Now in front, Town again needed to deal with a brief period of pressure before doubling their lead, which came through a jinking Edwards run down the left flank and a dangerous cross which Ahadme pounced on to turn home from just a few yards out, marking his first Ipswich start with a goal. 

The striker then headed wide, before Chaplin had another effort held by the goalkeeper and Humphreys a shot blocked before the half-time whistle blew. 

McKenna’s first move was to take both Davis and Humphreys off at the break, introducing Albie Armin and Tawanda Chirewa, whose first real impact on this game was to fire off a shot from range which Richardson had to save well. 

Two more changes saw Burns and Morsy replaced by Jackson and Luke Woolfenden, who slotted into midfield before Edwards hooked an effort back over his head and also the crossbar after a good move into the box. 

Chaplin’s second was a beauty as he landed on a loose ball, again took one good touch and rifled home past Richardson. This time it came from outside the box, removing any doubt from this contest with 15 minutes remaining. 

Buxton threatened soon after as Max Conway ran straight at Keogh, beating the centre-back seemingly with ease before taking the ball wide inside the box, with the visitors ultimately working the ball towards goal and Armin needing to clear off the line. 

McKenna’s final change saw Matt Ward brought on for an Ipswich debut in place of Ahadme, before Jackson completed the scoring with a good run and finish in stoppage time.

Ipswich Town: Walton; Vincent-Young, Keogh, Burgess, Davis (Armin, 46); Morsy (Woolfenden, 59), Humphreys (Chirewa, 46); Burns (Jackson, 59), Chaplin, Edwards; Ahadme (Ward, 83) 

Subs: Hladky, Edmundson, Agbaje, Siziba 

Buxton: Richardson, Meikle (Gilchrist, 83), Moult, Conway (Sargent, 77), Kirby, Elliott (Bunn, 61), Poole, Brisley, Newton, McKay (Boden, 61), Osborne 

Subs: Hudson, Granite, De Girolamo, Gilchrist, Tasdemir, Sherwood 

Att: 9,817 (580 Buxton fans)