Ipswich Town vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Portman RoadAttendance29,011.
Ipswich Town 2-0 Huddersfield Town: Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys promoted to the Premier League after 22-year absence
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Ipswich Town and Huddersfield Town at Portman Road on Saturday | Goals from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson send Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys back to the Premier League after 22 years away
Sunday 5 May 2024 07:16, UK
Ipswich have been promoted to the Premier League after their 2-0 win against Huddersfield, whose relegation to League One was confirmed as a result.
Given Kieran McKenna's side already had a three-point advantage over third-placed Leeds going into the final game of the season, they only needed a draw to secure promotion.
Yet a clinical finish from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson's third goal in as many games sent them up with a flourish.
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The Tractor Boys have now completed historic back-to-back promotions, following their automatic promotion from Sky Bet League One as runners-up to Plymouth last season, and will play in the top flight for the first time since the 2001/02 season.
McKenna told Sky Sports: "It means a lot. Seeing how much it means to everyone and being one of the leaders in that is absolutely massive, so it's a wonderful day and I am very proud for everyone involved.
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"It's taken an incredible amount of effort, sacrifice and support from a lot of people. It's a wonderful achievement and will sink in in the coming days, and I'm so, so proud of everyone.
"It's going to be a great challenge [managing in the Premier League]. Of course there's going to be a lot of work to do within the football club, and that'll start in a couple of days' time."
Huddersfield, meanwhile, drop into the third tier for the first time since the 2011/12 campaign.
Watch the goals that sent Ipswich up!
How Ipswich completed the job on home soil
There were thousands of Ipswich fans outside the ground prior to kick-off with smoke bombs and flares in abundance.
And the home side got off to a dominant start in front of an expectant crowd, pinning their opponent into their own half for the opening 20 minutes.
Axel Tuanzebe's shot from just inside the penalty area was deflected past the Huddersfield post, George Hirst narrowly headed wide and Conor Chaplin's 25-yard effort flew narrowly past Terriers goalkeeper Chris Maxwell's left-hand post.
Burns headed the ball across the penalty area to an unmarked Chaplin but he misdirected his header.
Ipswich should have taken the lead following a breakaway in the 25th minute. Chaplin fed the ball through to Burns and he only had Maxwell to beat but fired wide.
But the Tractor Boys took the lead two minutes later through the same combination with an explosion of noise greeting the goal.
Hirst initially linked up with Chaplin who played in Burns and his drilled effort went just inside the near post.
It was all Ipswich, as Burns clipped the ball over the top for Chaplin to scurry onto and he appeared to be bundled over by Matty Pearson but referee Simon Hooper was unmoved.
Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo were the next Ipswich players to have efforts at the Huddersfield goal and the visitors left the field having been totally outplayed for the first 45 minutes.
Three minutes into the second period, the Tractor Boys extended their lead through Hutchinson. He received the ball from Morsy and fired his shot home from just inside the penalty area.
Burns' cross met an onrushing Leif Davis but his first-time effort bounced into the ground and over the bar as the home side looked for a third goal.
Huddersfield's first shot on target came after 72 minutes but Josh Koroma's tame effort was straight into the gloves of Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky while at the other end, Maxwell was called into action as he acrobatically turned over a long-range shot from Luongo.
Koroma was close to opening Huddersfield's account with a shot that went over the bar and as time ran out, it was party time for the majority of the 29,011 fans inside Portman Road as thousands invaded the pitch at the final whistle.
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Breitenreiter: We created chance but it was too late
Huddersfield manager Andre Breitenreiter:
"It's not an easy game at Ipswich because they are very close to promotion and the atmosphere, they all expect to celebrate the promotion and sometimes I enjoy some of these games, but it's not so easy to win.
"When the opposition play brave and use the space, sometimes it's possible to create chances and we did play brave and we did create our chances in the second half but it's too late.
"We defended well as a compact unit and Ipswich created chances when we lost the ball in an easy way.
"It was too easy with the first goal. Jack Rudoni lost the ball in an easy way and it was passive to press against.
"Second half, we played a little bit more brave and created some chances with Josh Koroma twice with a header from Bojan (Radulovic) but they deserved to win 2-0.
"Congratulations to Ipswich Town for a really great season, two promotions in a row, it's really special and you could see a team play very well, quick, they were better in every position than our team. Enjoy the celebration party tonight."