Con trick’s enough to keep Mick looking up
IPSWICH halted Reading’s unbeaten five-game run and moved up to eighth in the Sky Bet Championship table with a comfortable victory.
Mick McCarthy’s men now sit just two points off the play-off places.
Goals came from Callum Connolly in the third minute and Joe Garner in the 27th minute – but they were watched by the lowest league crowd at Portman Road since October 1998 – just 13,832.
Ipswich boss McCarthy said he was “absolutely delighted” with the win.
He added: “Callum Connolly has been having a great season. He has helped bolster that central midfield, he has been very good and I keep saying to him, ‘Have you got a goal?’ and he keeps shooting in training with either foot. He is proving my theory right which is nice.
“We have had a real solid performance today and they are enjoying playing, they are enjoying training and it’s always been the same.
“But it is a lot nicer when you are winning. You all feel a lot better. They are all enjoying it.”
Ipswich got off to the perfect start when Connolly won the ball in midfield.
It was fed to Bersant Celina and then on to Martyn Waghorn who put it in the path of Connolly. He beat Reading goalkeeper Vito Mannone with a crisp shot from just inside the penalty area.
Town stretched their lead in the 27th minute when a corner by Waghorn was headed on at the near post by Webster and Garner was on hand to plant the ball into the net with a close-range header.
Reading boss Jaap Stam admitted his side’s poor start cost them dear.
Stam said: “If you concede an easy goal that early in the game it’s difficult to get back.
“When it’s 2-0 down it is difficult to get back into the game because you know what the opposition is going to do.
“A lot of teams in the league play a similar way as we do, and certain teams play like Ipswich played today.
“They have done it well and they have got the result and, at the end of the day, it’s all about the results.”