Ipswich had waited 22 and a half years for this, and how their vibrant support celebrated after nine seemingly interminable minutes of added time. It said plenty that their first Premier League win since April 2002 was entirely deserved, a clever first-half performance seeing them pull clear through goals from Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap before they passed a test of resilience in the second.
Rodrigo Bentancur’s header was all that Tottenham, disjointed throughout and never quite managing a late siege, could manage and the outcome was yet another feather in the cap for Kieran McKenna. The Ipswich manager began as an academy coach at Spurs and his side’s performance was a credit to him here.
McKenna knew Ipswich would have to execute their plan perfectly to have a chance of repelling Tottenham, who were able to select the same starting XI that blew Villa away a week previously. The visitors more than held their own from the off and their lead was not remotely undeserved on the balance of play.
The opener arose from good work by the leggy Jens Cajuste, who was starting in the suspended Kalvin Phillips’ place and changed the pace of a patient passing move with a burst through midfield. Eventually Cajuste delivered an awkward cross from the right: Cristian Romero could only snick the ball on and Szmodics, his back to goal and under little pressure, had time to contort himself for an overhead kick that fizzed past Guglielmo Vicario’s dive.
Tottenham had looked dozy in spells, a fact perhaps attributable to the air miles accrued in spending much of the week visiting Istanbul. It got worse before they could lay another glove on the visitors, who had set up with a low block but committed men forward judiciously and at speed. Ipswich looked sharp and, crucially, hungry: both came into play when Omari Hutchinson, refusing to go down under Bentancur’s challenge in midfield, ferried the ball from one end to another and slipped it left for Leif Davis.
Szmodics, limping moments previously but now haring on the overlap, could centre from the byline and Spurs were at sea when Vicario knocked his delivery on to Radu Dragusin. The ball was heading in but Delap, such a thrilling prospect at 21, showed a poacher’s instinct to convert his sixth of the season.
Ed Sheeran, watching from the stands as Ipswich played for the first time in a pink kit whose design he partly influenced, could join the visiting contingent in celebrating wildly. These had hardly been bolts from the blue. Within two minutes Szmodics had forced a save from Vicario after more excellent work from Hutchinson and, after nine, Cameron Burgess had leapt at the far post only to plant Davis’s corner on to the bar.
It was entertaining fare, Ipswich setting up in a low block with the returning Axel Tuanzebe deployed to match Son Heung-min for pace. By half-time he had succeeded in subduing the South Korean, whose most significant involvement had been a third-minute cross from which Brennan Johnson might have done better than jab wide. He also saw a shot stopped by the Ipswich keeper Aro Muric, who was even sharper to turn Dominic Solanke’s effort wide with the score goalless.
But Spurs had been flat and would require a rocket from Ange Postecoglou at half-time, hope springing from the spectacular manner in which they responded to dispatch Aston Villa a week previously. They sensed a way back almost immediately after the break when, from a corner earned through Muric’s acrobatic tip-over from Son, Solanke bundled in from close range. Ipswich, so aggrieved by video assistant referee decisions of late that a meeting was held with Howard Webb at Portman Road in midweek, were saved by the technology this time when the striker was correctly judged to have knocked the ball on to his own hand.
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By the hour Tottenham, allowed all the territory in the world but snatching at what opportunities arose, were hardly bashing the door down. Ipswich, perilously deep for the most part but with a clear threat on the break, flickered again when the rumbustious Delap did superbly to tee up Hutchinson for a shot slashed off target. Postecoglou went for broke with Timo Werner’s introduction in place of Pape Matar Sarr and, whether by coincidence or otherwise, the picture changed almost immediately.
The source was a surprise, Bentancur arriving on to Pedro Porro’s outswinging corner at speed and powering his first club goal since January past Muric. Now Ipswich would be hanging on for dear life, Muric touching over a Werner pile drive and then getting lucky after fumbling another Porro set piece. A switch appeared to have flicked for the home side.
Werner, set up in space by Son, spooned over with six minutes of normal time left but Ipswich managed the latter stages well. When Muric saved from Solanke deep into added time, their season could begin in earnest.
