Ipswich Town beat Burton Albion 4-0 at Portman Road in a League One clash yesterday afternoon. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
AWKWARD START
The final scoreline doesn't reflect how hard Town had to work for this win.
Indeed, this match could easily have gone in a different direction.
Burton Albion, who arrived in Suffolk having won six of their previous 10 league games, were everything that Kieran McKenna said they would be.
The Brewers replicated the 'aggressive chaos' approach that caused the Blues so many problems in the reverse fixture last August.
In-your-face, man-to-man marking stopped Town getting their possession game going. A constant stream of direct balls and long throws into the home box created openings.
Luke Woolfenden escaped handball appeals. Tom Helm's shot was blocked after a towering Tom Hamer knock down. Dale Taylor pulled a shot wide from a good position.
The visitors had done a job on Town in the opening 20 minutes. The home crowd was flat.
EXPLOITING THE SPACE
There had been one or two signs that Ipswich could exploit the gaps left by Burton's one-v-one approach.
When Freddie Ladapo span his marker near halfway and surged at Jasper Moon, the nervous-looking Barnsley loanee went to ground and won a soft free-kick.
Gradually, Town started to engineer more of those scenarios.
Ladapo pulled a shot wide after Nathan Broadhead had seized on a loose ball. Wes Burns' cut-back led to the ball being hacked behind. Conor Chaplin's far post was beaten away by Craig MacGillivray.
Town had dug deep and were now turning the tide.
CLINICAL SPELL
Once Harry Clarke started to connect with Burns down the right, Ipswich began to purr.
It was Burns' deflected cut-back from the byline which led to the all-important opener. Chaplin, after steadying himself in a crowded box, guided a trademark finish into the bottom corner.
Clarke again set Burns away for goal number two. Again, Burns cut the ball back from the byline. This time Broadhead was left with a simple finish from six-yard out.
Goal three came after a loose defensive header from Hamer. Chaplin seized the ball, quickly played a perfectly-weighted pass and Ladapo confidently swept home on the run.
There have been times this season that Ipswich have been guilty of not killing teams off when on top. Not this time. Three goals in a clinical 11 minute spell had effectively settled this match before the break.
SIMILAR PATTERN
The pattern of the second half was much like the first, just with less jeopardy in the air.
Burton continued to pose problems with their direct approach. Ipswich continued to stand up to it really well.
Cameron Burgess produced a fabulous sliding tackle in the box. Clarke made an important intervention during a spell of pressure. Christian Walton made some confident aerial claims.
Going the other way, Burns was a continual threat. He created chances for both Luongo and Chaplin on the edge of the box.
Broadhead sent an angled shot inches wide after a fine deep turn and driving run from skipper Sam Morsy.
Town eventually added a fourth when Chaplin's shot from the edge of the box deflected in off Moon. Huge credit to Leif Davis, who won a towering header in the left-back position and then galloped past Broadhead on the overlap to provide the assist.
The Blues almost added a fifth late on when Cameron Humphreys set up fellow sub Marcus Harness with a clipped cross from the left. His volley was too close to keeper MacGillivray though.
MASSIMO'S PARK
Massimo Luongo's (second) full debut for Town ended with him coming off to a standing ovation in the second half.
The Australian midfielder was alert and tenacious out of possession and moved the ball quickly and positively when he had it.
McKenna, who joined in the prolonged applause, said: "It's his first start since May and you could see how much he enjoyed it.
"As the game went on he got better and better and found his rhythm on the pitch. It was great to get the 75 minutes into him - he's shown what he's got to offer for us."
IMPRESSIVE STATS
Ipswich have now won three of their last four league games at Portman Road by a 4-0 scoreline (Morecambe and Forest Green previously).
That's three wins in a row for the first time since early October. It's four clean sheets in a row for the first time in more than a year.
Chaplin has now scored six braces this season. He's on 19 goals for the season across all competitions (16 of them in the league).
Ladapo's 16 goals across all competitions (12 in the league) have come at a rate of one every 139 minutes.
The classy looking Broadhead has now provided three goals and two assists in just 282 minutes of league action at Portman Road.
Davis now has nine assists (and created 86 chances) to his name from left-back. Burns isn't far behind on eight.
GAP REMAINS
The good news is that the chasing trio of Bolton, Derby and Barnsley all dropped points. The bad news is that the top two, Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth, both won.
The gap to second remains at five points. All Ipswich can do, of course, is concentrate on themselves.
Forget upcoming games at the likes of Bolton, Barnsley and Derby. There's a job to be done against Accrington Stanley, at Portman Road, on Tuesday night first.
Win that and only then can we start using the 'm' word - momentum.
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