Make no mistake. This was a hugely significant win. To begin the new campaign away from home and in front of a hugely partisan crowd, meant that it was destined to be a real baptism of fire. The Blues had to weather the early storm as they got to grips with Sunderland’s attacking threat. It was one-way traffic for the first 30 minutes though.
Town managed to turn the game on its head with some lethal finishing and scoring goals at crucial times, just before the interval and shortly afterward. Sunderland’s youthful team looked impressive at the start, but they lacked a cutting edge up front and this was effectively the difference between both sides. Jobe Bellingham missed an absolute sitter when he sent a shot over the bar after Pierre Ekwah’s low strike was parried into his path by Vaclav Hladky. This was his first start since December 2021.
Sunderland failed to handle a long throw, and then Lief Davis’ volley from outside the box was expertly deflected past Anthony Patterson by Nathan Broadhead, who respectfully did not celebrate against the side he played for in the Championship in 2022. The goal came just before the break, and it clearly stunned the home crowd!
The second strike was a gem from George Hirst when he latched on to a sublime through ball from Broadhead, before thundering a high shot into the roof of the net to the delight of the away fans! Conor Chaplin came close to an immediate third with a brilliant strike from the centre circle which hit the bar. If that had gone in, it would have been one of the goals of the season and underlines how clever our forward can be.
Referee Sam Barrott came in for some stick from both sides, and Kieran McKenna was given a yellow for complaining too much about a penalty that was not given. Sunderland will argue that they should have had a penalty in the first half too, when Donacien seemed to elbow Jack Clarke out of the way so, in fairness, the ref decided to level things out and he played a wonderful advantage that saw Broadhead slide the ball through to Hirst for the Blues second goal. McKenna might reflect on that now.
Ha Ha Ha…this article is laughable.
You might not agree Hugh, but this result was arguably the standout performance in the Championship this weekend. Are you a Sunderland supporter by any chance?
Very early days but hugely encouraging win for Town. I thought we would lose this one narrowly. Next out, Stoke at home. Another big challenge.
How many Ipswich fans made the long trek to the SOL?
Hi Richard, and there were 3,000 Town supporters there. There might have been more but they had a very limited ticket allocation. Initially it was only 2,000 which is the barest minimum but they finally got access to a bit more. Town have started very well and I firmly believe that momentum is key.
No easy games in this division is the conclusion here Richard.
Tell you what, only pre-season games but I was impressed with us beating those two Bundesliga teams in the recent Zurich Cup competition. Pleased & surprised. Kieran McKenna is doing a great job for us, heavily backed-up by Mark Ashton behind the scenes.
My opinion of him is unchanged from a year ago, when chatting to my son, I commented that KM would end up being our best manager since Bobby Robson. Just hope he doesn’t get poached any time soon.