IPSWICH Town’s Under-18 side returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-0 win against Birmingham City in glorious conditions at Playford Road.

Town were unchanged from the team that drew at MK Dons the previous week with Deniz Mehmet continuing in goal.

After eight minutes they opened the scoring. Joe Whight, celebrating his new contract, crossed into the City box and Josh Meekings scrambled the ball home from close range.

Town were well on top and Caolan Lavery had a shot blocked on the line and the second half was a minute old when Callum Bennett finished a typical marauding run into the box with a low shot into the far corner of the net.

Rory McKeown was the next Ipswich defender to get in on the act when his fierce shot across the Birmingham area was met by Lavery and the keepers’ block only sent the ball back to McKeown who fired home.

After 66 minutes a Whight header was blocked and Meekings was on hand to cap a fine performance with his second goal.

All credit to City who played the game in a fine spirit despite the one-way traffic.

An Aaron Jones rocket was deflected inches wide as Ipswich ended the match well on top.

Town complete their season with two home matches. This Thursday they entertain Portsmouth with an 11am start with their final match n Saturday when Spurs are the visitors to Playford Road.

Ipswich: Mehmet, Bennett, McKeown, Jones, Meekings, Maduako, Burke, Scotcher, Lavery, Tiofack, Whight. Substitutes: Acott, October, Lawrence, Marriott, Simmons.

Town U16’s drew 2-2 with Birmingham Youths.

Ipswich Town’s 18-year-old keeper Cody Cropper was a part of the United States Under-20 side that was eliminated in the quarter finals of the CONCACAF U20 tournament in Guatemala.

Having beaten Suriname 4-0 and Panama 2-0 they lost 2-1 to the host country. This means that they will not be part of the upcoming FIFA U20 World Cup. Cropper was an unused substitute in all three games.