Ipswich Town thrashed Charlton Athletic 6-0 at Portman Road yesterday afternoon. STUART WATSON reflects on the action.
HARNESSING HOME ENERGY
We’ve seen some fast starts by Ipswich this season, but this topped them all.
The tone was set within seconds of kick-off.
Town burst out the traps and forced three successive corners.
That fired up a sold-out crowd in the spring sunshine which, in turn, seemed to give even more energy to the players.
Wave-after-wave of attack was launched to roars of encouragement. It was solar-powered symbiotic supremacy.
Charlton, penned in, escaped penalty appeals when the ball appeared to hit Michael Hector’s hand in the box. Conor Chaplin then glanced a backwards header narrowly wide.
All that happened inside five minutes. It seemed a case of when, not if, the deadlock would be broken.
HAT-TRICK AT LAST!
Chaplin was on pre-match press duties for this game.
When asked if he had a favourite goal this season, he replied: “I know it sounds corny, but the next one.
"I’ve got six games left now and I just want to score as many goals as possible."
Little more than 24 hours later and he was walking off with the match ball.
MORE: Andy Warren's player ratings from Town's 6-0 win against Charlton.
His seventh minute opener came at the end of a well-worked team move up the left. First a little shimmy in the box worked half a yard of space and then, with little back-lift, came a controlled, low, left-footed finish across the keeper.
He was involved in the build-up for his second, landing on Sam Morsy’s header near the halfway line, poking the ball away from the lunging George Dobson, and then immediately sprinting towards the box. This time, with keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer rushing out, it was a high, right-footed finish.
That was his seventh brace of the season. Could this one be converted into a hat-trick before Kieran McKenna called him in? Time was certainly on his side.
One opening in the box saw the ball agonisingly get stuck under the forward’s feet. He saw three efforts blocked either side of half-time. Then, in the 58th minute, he was left throwing his arms up in frustration when Hirst elected to shoot rather than pass.
Finally, the treble was completed in the 70th minute with a close-range tap-in.
This Chaplin display was about much more than the goals though. His movement, link play and work rate were all outstanding.
Trying to grab the ball after making it 3-0 may well have been for the celebration, but it might also say something about his and the team's 'relentless' attitude too.
Letting Freddie Ladapo’s shot roll in, rather than snatching it himself, also speaks volumes about his character (and awareness of a potential offside flag).
He should have had an assist when setting up Hirst for a gilt-edged miss, was involved in the high press which led to the fourth, it was his hook forwards which led to Ryan Inniss’ late red card and he was also part of the build-up for the sixth.
It was fitting he should be the man to score Town’s 100th goal of the campaign.
That’s now 25 goals for the season across all competitions (two behind Daryl Murphy’s tally of 2014/15) and 22 in the league (two behind leading scorer Jonson Clarke-Harris).
RETURN OF THE MAC
Macauley Bonne has never made a secret about how much of an Ipswich Town fan he is.
But the 27-year-old striker, back at Portman Road for the first time since his tale of two halves loan spell with the Blues in 2021/22, said he would have to celebrate a goal out of professionalism. Quite right, too.
It almost happened in the 27th minute of this match when fellow former Town man Scott Fraser bent a delicious deep cross onto his head in front of the North Stand. Thankfully, Blues keeper Christian Walton was able to produce a point-blank save.
Had that gone in to make it 2-1, might things have been different? Possibly. Had replacement referee Sam Barrott pointed to the spot when Leif Davis tangled with Jesurun Rak-Sakyi in the box midway through the second half, the score still 2-0 at that point, might things have been different? Possibly.
The way relentless Ipswich were playing, however, I highly doubt that would have knocked them off their stride.
In the heat of battle, Town fans gently ribbed Bonne about being offside. Before the game and when he came off, though, the striker got a warm reception.
That's how it should be. All the best Macca.
LOVE FOR LADAPO
Hirst played a vital role in Town’s joined up attack, but this was a day where he didn’t have his shooting boots on. That was summed up by a sink-to-your-knees, hands-on-head miss just after the hour mark.
Ladapo replaced him in the 72nd minute and, by contrast, was unerring inside the box.
His first touch was a deft clip over the keeper for 4-0. His second, and Town’s fifth, came thanks to a mixture of good movement, persistence and composure.
Had the red-carded Inniss not ran across his heels just outside the box, the front man may also have bagged himself a hat-trick.
Still, it was smiles all round. Freddie made a heart sign to the crowd and he got a whole load of love back from supporters and team-mates alike.
The 30-year-old was hitting top form in January, but then Hirst was signed and took his place. He could easily have had a sulk, but instead has shown fine attitude to play a vital role off the bench.
That’s now 19 goals for the season for him across all competitions (15 in the league). Not bad for someone who’s been restricted to 25 spaced out starts.
BROADHEAD’S BRILLIANCE
There have been a few factors in Ipswich’s upturn in results over the last two months.
But if you pressed me to name the biggest one, the reply would simply be ‘Nathan Broadhead’.
The Blues missed him when he was forced to sit out the 1-1 draw at Cheltenham on Easter Monday with an ankle injury.
He oozed class on this return to the side. The scooped pass, on the run, which led to Chaplin’s second was sublime. On multiple occasions he had the crowd purring with silky footwork. Most players would have snatched at a shot rather than calmly taken a touch and squared for Chaplin’s hat-trick.
The freshly-capped Welsh international has now provided four goals and four assists. Town's record, when he starts, is P12 W10 D2.
The £1.5m transfer fee paid to Everton is increasingly looking a snip.
WHAT’S REQUIRED
Leif Davis’ late goal made this Town’s biggest win since Doncaster were beaten by the same scoreline in September 2021 (that was also the last time a Blues player, Lee Evans, had scored a hat-trick).
Since losing 2-1 at Oxford in the fog, Town have gone 14 league games undefeated.
They’ve now won six on the spin at Portman Road and have scored 25 goals without reply on Suffolk soil.
Already, more points have been chalked up (85) than in the Second Division title-winning season of 91/92. One more win will set a club record for the most amount of points achieved in a 46-game season (beating the 87 of 99/00).
With five games to play, the lowest Kieran McKenna’s men can finish is fifth.
And Sheffield Wednesday’s 3-2 loss at Burton means there is now a small margin for error in this bid to secure automatic promotion back to the Championship.
Four wins and a defeat, or three wins and two draws, would almost certainly (thanks to a far superior goal difference) make Town uncatchable.
That’s for us to get excited about though. McKenna and his players will, without question, retain their steely-eyed tunnel vision.
Next up... Port Vale, at Portman Road, on Tuesday night.
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