CONNOR Wickham walked off with the match ball after celebrating the first hat-trick of his career in a goal-rout at Doncaster Rovers.

CONNOR Wickham walked off with the match ball after celebrating the first hat-trick of his career in a goal-rout at Doncaster Rovers tonight.

Super-confident Ipswich made it 13 points out of 15 in their last five league matches as new manager Paul Jewell continues to enjoy a dream start to Town life.

An own goal from Sam Hird set Town on their way to victory, with Colin Healy slamming home the second, but it was Wickham who then took the plaudits by scoring three of Town’s last four goals, the final one from the penalty spot in the 90th minute. Gareth McAuley was also on the score-sheet with the fifth.

This was a terrific team performance, but it was naturally 17-year-old Wickham who took the star billing.

Jewell revealed: “I said to Connor at half-time to go and get another goal. And he said ‘I think I’ll go and get two more’ – and he has been proved right.

“Obviously he is going to get the headlines, but this was a team effort and it’s a squad effort that we are trying to build here.

“He’s 17 and there’s a lot of people talking about him. It’s a great learning curve him playing out there on the left. He’s got huge potential, everyone knows that. He’s a nice lad, and he’s playing with confidence. Life’s good for him at the moment and if he had my good looks then he would have everything!” joked Jewell.

Jewell revealed skipper David Norris might only be out for a fortnight after twisting his ankle and knee at Barnsley on Saturday.

“The results of the scan were as good as we could have expected,” he said. “He maybe out for between 10 and 14 days. Hopefully it’s just a tweak of the ankle and the knee ligament.”