Wednesday’s home match at Portman Road opened with a rapturous reception for Suffolk’s Paralympic athletes and torch bearers.

A lap of honour before Ipswich Town’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers followed a special civic reception at Suffolk County Council’s Endeavour House headquarters.

The athletes, who stuck around afterwards to watch the action on the pitch, included, wheelchair basketball player Caroline Maclean, shot-putter Jonathan Adams, javelin’s Scott Moorhouse and bronze medal-winning powerlifter Zoe Newson, who comes from East Bergholt and is a keen Blues fan.

Zoe said she had been impressed by the level of support shown for her and her fellow athletes since the Games, adding: “The reaction has been really good and I’m happy that we were invited to the match.

“I’ve been watching Ipswich Town games for ages and it was nice to be asked along as a guest.”

Also in the stands was Aldeburgh’s Eva Loeffler, who was chosen as was the mayor of the London 2012 Paralympic Village and is daughter of Dr Ludwig Guttman, the founder of the Paralympic Games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948.

Almost 20,000 fans gave Suffolk’s Olympians a standing ovation last month when they paraded around the pitch before kick-off against Blackburn.