Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson scored either side of the break as Ipswich Town finally ended an almost 23-year wait to win a Premier League match at Portman Road with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Monday.
Not since April 2002, and a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, have Ipswich celebrated home success in the top flight but on Monday hauled themselves one place up the standings to 18th with a tenacious triumph and handed Chelsea’s title hopes another blow.
Delap’s 12th minute penalty and a fine finish in the 53rd minute from former Chelsea product Hutchinson made for the perfect finish to an exciting year for the club, who were promoted at the end of last season.
Defeat for Chelsea, on the other hand, left them with one point from their last three outings and down to fourth spot, 10 points behind Liverpool and having played one game more than the leaders.
Home hopes were raised early with the penalty award, as Leif Davis’ searching pass found Delap, who slid in to try and reach the ball and had his dangling leg caught by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen as he came rushing off his line.
It was Ipswich’s first penalty of the league season and Delap fired it underneath Jorgensen to the delight of the home crowd.
Soon thereafter followed a strong save from Jorgensen as Delap struck a firm effort across goal from a tight angle before Chelsea took control of the encounter and did almost everything but score.
Joao Felix had the ball in the back of the net after coming in at the back post with a 24th minute effort that was ruled offside after a lengthy VAR check.
Cole Palmer struck the woodwork twice, first with a quickly taken and curling freekick where the rebound fell to Christopher Nkunku, who hit it straight at Christian Walton.
The Ipswich keeper also denied Palmer with a sharp stop near the end of the first half.
Expected
But the expected equaliser never came, with Ipswich instead going 2-0 up early in the second half.
Hutchinson, who moved from Chelsea to Ipswich in a club record 20-million-pound ($25.10 million) deal before the season’s start, paid back some of his transfer fee with a smart finish for the second goal.
It came courtesy of an errant pass from Chelsea’s French international Axel Disasi, snatched up by Delap who was full of hard running throughout the match, often the lone man left upfront.
Delap checked as he ran into traffic before laying it off to Hutchinson, who needed to step inside before firing off the perfect finish.
“It’s good to write history and finally get the first win at home,” Hutchinson told television reporters.
Ipswich have let potential victories slip this season, so it was a tense atmosphere as the final whistle approached, before exuberant celebrations got underway.
“We’ve worked so hard this season and it’s not gone right. The performances have deserved a win and today we showed we are excellent and we defended well, attacked them well. We’re buzzing,” said Delap.
(Reuters)
