Mckenna Tractor boys are failing at the final Furlong
IPSWICH’S reputation for heroic comebacks blew up in their face as impressive West Brom surged back into the top six.
The Tractor Boys had gone behind in their previous four games yet still managed to come away with some reward from all of them.
But not this time – that was shattered along with their 12-match unbeaten run as the Baggies reclaimed their spot in the play-off places.
Ipswich’s resilience in recent games has seen them put the heat on Leicester at the top of the Championship.
But this time they failed to recover from a couple of early hits and lost some of the ground they had made up on the leaders.
Giving opponents a flying start is not a habit boss Kieran Mckenna will want to encourage and he must have been doubly disappointed with the way his side fell behind after just five minutes.
Darnell Furlong’s headed goal was straight off the training ground – and Ipswich looked all at sea trying to deal with it.
Furlong met Matt Phillips’ corner kick at the near post on the angle of the six-yard box and glanced it across the face of the goal.
Keeper Vaclav Hladky was left horribly exposed but he should have done better as the ball nestled in the far corner of the net right in front of the visiting fans.
A couple of minutes later, Brandon Thomas-asante tested the Tractor Boys keeper again with a 20-yard stinger but this time he was up to the task and managed to beat it away.
Ipswich replied with a couple of off-target efforts and when George Hirst tumbled in the box under a challenge from Kyle Bartley, referee Gavin Ward was perfectly placed to wave away penalty appeals.
But two minutes into the second half, Ipswich were caught with another sucker punch when the Baggies broke out quickly from the back.
Jed Wallace carved them open with a searing run, laid it off to Thomas-asante and he slipped it to Grady Diangana who drilled a low shot past Hladky which rolled in off the inside of the post.
It really should have been 3-0 minutes later when Phillips completely fluffed his shot from a yard out. Ipswich offered little though sub Dane Scarlett caused a couple of moments of anxiety.
He let fly with a shot from the edge of the box which flew just wide in the dying minutes with keeper Alex Palmer at full stretch.
WEST BROM: Palmer 7; Furlong 8, Bartley 8, Kipre 7, Townsend 7; Mowatt 7, Yokuslu 7 (Molumby (71) 6); Wallace 8 (Ajayi (90) 4) Diangana 7 (Swift (71) 6), Phillips 8 (Sarmiento (71) 6); Thomasasante 7 (Maja (79) 5) IPSWICH: Hladky 5; Williams 5, Woolfenden 5, Burgess 5, Davis 5; Morsy 6, Taylor 5 (Luongo (61) 5); Burns 5 (Jackson (71) 5), Chaplin 5 (Scarlett (83) 5), Broadhead 5 (Harness (61) 5); Hirst 5 (Ladapo (71) 5) STAR MAN: Darnell Furlong – Solid at the back and set Albion on way. REF: Gavin Ward 7