Ipswich Town 3-0 Hull City: Tractor Boys ease to victory to go top

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Ipswich Town and Hull City at Portman Road on Tuesday night | Tractor Boys ease to victory against Tigers and move top of the table.

Tuesday 3 October 2023 23:03, UK

Ipswich beat Hull 3-0 to move ahead of Leicester at the top of the Championship.

It was only the second defeat of the season for the Tigers, who slipped three places to eighth on goal difference, while victory for Ipswich kept their early-season form rolling.

Town got off to a flying start thanks to a marvellous strike by Wes Burns in the fifth minute and Conor Chaplin completed a wonderful move to make it 2-0 just before the break. Marcus Harness scored the third midway through the second half from close range.

The opener came when Leif Davis delivered a crossfield pass which Chaplin let run across him to Burns, who angled a shot past Ryan Allsop into the bottom corner of the net from just inside the penalty area.

Hull nearly equalised in the 17th minute following a break by Liam Delap. Ipswich centre-back George Edmundson raced back with him and the ball spun to Republic of Ireland international Aaron Connolly, who stabbed across the face of the goal.

Sam Morsy and Davis combined to square the ball to Harness, who tested Allsop with a firmly struck shot, and moments later another effort from Harness went narrowly wide.

Hull still displayed positive touches to show they were in the game and Jacob Greaves' shot from just outside the penalty area nearly deceived Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, who just managed to beat the ball away.

Town went further ahead in the 41st minute following a move which started at the back through Hladky. Harness played in Davis who rolled the ball across to Chaplin just inside the D. He took a touch to control the ball and another to expertly curl it into the far corner of the City net for a picturebook goal.

Connolly just failed to make a quick enough turn in the six-yard box to make a clean contact with the ball after he spun Edmundson only to shoot wide.

Town pressed forward on numerous occasions in a bid to extend their lead, with the third eventually coming from Harness in the 65th minute. Hladky again started the attack and George Hirst showed a turn of pace down the left to cross for Harness to bundle the ball home.

Two minutes later Hull won a free-kick just outside the box but substitute Scott Twine curled his effort over the wall and narrowly over the angle of the bar and post.

Referee Matthew Donohue turned down penalty appeals from Ipswich after Town substitute Omari Hutchinson appeared to have his heels clipped by Dogukan Sinik as Town ran out worthy winners in front of 27,070 fans.

The managers

Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:

"I thought it was a special performance really. We spoke about it before the game. I felt like we had one in us.

"We're fit, we're learning game by game, it was a first home game back in the Championship for a night game and I felt like it had the feel of a really good performance in us.

"I liked so many things about us, the work on the ball to play through the pitch against a really good team.

"It was a night to enjoy. It's only one night, it's one game, it's three points but you can't take away the fact that everyone associated with the club should enjoy tonight."

Hull's Liam Rosenior:

"Ipswich have been outstanding all season and two magnificent goals in terms of the finishes.

"We have now lost two in 10 and we are hard to beat but overall it's not a crisis, it's no drama, we learn our lessons and move on to the next one really quickly.

"We are still in a really good place, we have got 16 points from 10 games. The Championship is always so close.

"Chris Hughton (Rosenior's former boss at Brighton) always said you're never the best team in the world when you win, you're never the worst team in the world when you lose.

"You can't get carried away when things are going really well and we can't get carried away when things don't go our way. What we have to do is respond, learn and analyse and make sure we're better for the next one. It's about staying the course."