Ipswich Town thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 6-0 at Portman Road yesterday. Stuart Watson reflects on the action.
THE JOY OF SIX
What a reaction. What a statement. What a season.
Seven days earlier, what would have been a club record seventh straight win was so very, very close. Then Cardiff scored twice in stoppage-time - in 90+5 and 90+10 - and Ipswich returned from South Wales with nothing to show for their efforts.
Many teams would have been rocked by that. Not Ipswich. Kieran McKenna's mentality monsters, who have repeatedly bounced back from set-backs all season, simply took out their frustrations on the next opponents.
Sheffield Wednesday, one of the division's most in-form sides (five wins in seven heading into this game) were blown away.
Beating Charlton and Exeter by that margin on the way to sealing League One promotion is one thing. Winning by that scoreline in the Championship is another.
For context, this is only the 34th time in the history of the division (since its rebrand) that a team has won by six goals or more.
Town have handed out four of those (previously 6-0 at Doncaster in 2011, 6-0 v Bristol City in 2007 and 6-0 v Forest in 2005) and been on the receiving end of three (7-1 at Peterborough in 2011, 6-0 at Leicester in 2012 and 6-0 at Blackpool in 2012).
DANNY DARED...
Danny Röhl has an impressive coaching CV for someone who is just 34. He worked for RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and the German national side before taking his first senior management role at Sheffield Wednesday last October.
A remarkable upturn in results at Hillsborough has happened thanks to an attacking brand of football, but was it naive of him to throw such caution to the wind at Portman Road though?
Abandoning his usual 3-4-3 system, Röhl switched to a 4-2-3-1. By the time he switched back at half-time, taking off below-par midfield man Barry Bannan, the damage had been done.
"When I come to a place like this I never come and say I am scared about the opponent, I always want to try something," he said.
"We came here with our best four offensive players instead of a back five. I want to be brave, I want to create good ball-winning situations, good transition moments.
"You can come here, park the bus and try something or you can try. This is more my identity to come here and try something and be part of the game."
Counterpart McKenna said: "We saw from the teamsheet that they tried to take an aggressive approach. It wasn’t a surprise, we thought it might be a possibility.
“Of course, they spoke about the fact that they think we finish games stronger than we start, but we feel that we start a lot of home games really well.
“I still feel that they’ve made some good improvements and have been performing really well, but I think today was more about the quality of the Ipswich performance, to be honest. I think lots of teams would have found it very, very difficult to play against us today.”
HE'S ELECTRIC!
There's no doubting who was the star of this show.
Conor Chaplin's minor back strain opened the door for Omari Hutchinson to make his 12th league start of the season.
The Chelsea loanee combined off the ball dynamism with on the ball trickery to constantly strike fear into the opposition and get fans off their seats in anticipation.
His broke the deadlock with a fine reverse finish from the edge of the box, made it 4-0 when emphatically drilling a shot under the keeper, produced a driving run in the build up to the fifth and then selflessly squared for the sixth when no-one would have begrudged him attempting to secure the hat-trick.
That's seven goals and five assists for the 20-year-old now. It's been an absolute joy to watch his rapid development during this first season of senior football.
The ambitious youngster, a real star in the making, was asked if he might return to Portman Road next season. 'Why not?' he said, with a beaming smile, in reply. That's music to all Blues fans' ears.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
With a scoreline like this, it's easy to overlook the defensive part of the performance. I'm not.
Town defended from the front, starting with Kieffer Moore, to often stop Wednesday from building attacks at source.
Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo bossed the midfield battle with similarly experienced duo Will Vaulks and Bannan. They fought for the right to play.
When the Owls were able to spring pacey counter-attacks, the Town defence was alive to the danger. Vaclav Hladky made a smart stop at 1-0 too.
Even when the game was won, the Blues looked determined to keep a clean sheet. Cameron Burgess' lunging challenge on Ike Ugbo in the box at 4-0 was a prime example of that.
This is the Blues' first shut out on home turf since the 0-0 draw with QPR on December 29. It's their first win to nil on Suffolk soil since Hull City were beaten 3-0 back last October.
A NEW GOALSCORER
After Moore's header at a corner had crashed down off the underside of the bar, Wednesday couldn't clear their lines and Cameron Burgess was there to ram the ball home for 2-0.
Remarkably, he becomes the 23rd different goalscorer for Ipswich Town this season across all competitions.
The full list is: Broadhead (12), Chaplin (12), Hutchinson (7), Hirst (6), Moore (6), Burns (5), Taylor (5), Al-Hamadi (4), Harness (4), Ladapo (4), Jackson (3), Morsy (3), Sarmiento (3), Luongo (2), Williams (2), Aluko (1), Baggott (1), Burgess (1), Clarke (1), Davis (1), Humphreys (1), Tuanzebe (1), Woolfenden (1).
"We’re all really happy for him," said Luongo. “We’ve told him he’s got to stop using his head, just kick it in! He’s been looking for that one for a while.”
George Edmundson, Dominic Ball and Lewis Travis could yet join the party. Having so many different players find the net speaks volumes of the all-for-one-and-one-for-all bond in this group.
SUPER SUB STRIKES AGAIN
Ali Al-Hamadi stepped off the bench and, once again, caused carnage up top.
In the right place at the right time, he scored two poacher's goals late on. That takes his tally to four from eight sub appearances totalling just 108 minutes (plus stoppage-time).
He's now bagged an impressive 32 goals in the space of the last 12 months.
The confident Scouser has taken the step up from League Two club AFC Wimbledon and a £1m+ price tag in his stride.
We thought Town's January transfer window of 2023 couldn't be topped. This year's one is certainly giving it a run for its money.
Oh, and make that 23 goals from Ipswich subs this season now.
BURNS BLOW
There was only one downside to the day and that was the sight of Wes Burns limping down the tunnel in the 37th minute.
The Welshman, who has been in top form over the last few weeks, has suffered a hamstring injury. You could tell from his devastated reaction that it's not a minor one, too.
Just 24 hours earlier, the 29-year-old had been talking excitedly about how, having spent the majority of his career in League One, he now had an opportunity to reach the Premier League and a major international tournament. This a cruel blow. Get well soon Wes.
A word here for Kayden Jackson, the man who replaced Burns. His sweeping cross for Broadhead's goal was sublime. No matter how long Jackson's had to wait for an opportunity, the hard-working and focused forward is always ready to contribute when called upon. The value of those sort of low maintenance characters should never be underestimated.
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