Ipswich dish out SIX of the best
Owls take a real beating
IPSWICH moved to within a point of Championship leaders Leicester, thanks to a six-goal demolition of a Sheffield Wednesday side that was made to look as poor as its precarious league position suggests.
Kieran McKenna’s men moved ahead of Leeds, who play Millwall today, into second place, with Omari Hutchinson and substitute Ali Al-Hamadi both scoring twice on a day to forget for Wednesday, who remain second bottom.
Cameron Burgess and Nathan Broadhead also scored for Ipswich.
A six-goal statement to their rivals?
Leeds can go top today with a win that would push Ipswich back into the playoff places.
But McKenna was unmoved. ‘I honestly don’t care,’ McKenna said. ‘It was a good statement to ourselves, first and foremost.
‘We really wanted to go into the international break with a performance to be proud of.’
Ipswich’s sharpness in front of goal in the first 45 minutes illustrated the gulf in class between opponents who were promoted together from League One last term.
Hutchinson’s 15th-minute opener came out of nowhere — and Wednesday will know it was highly preventable. The 20-year-old Chelsea loanee’s heavy touch on receiving Wes Burns’ pass took him away from goal.
Yet no defender intervened to stop him retrieving on the edge of the box and swivelling to fire home his seventh goal of the season.
Goal No 2 came in the 38th minute when the Owls unwisely failed to deal with Leif Davis’ 38th-minute corner.
Kieffer Moore headed that against the bar but the ball bounced off a cluster of players for centre-back Burgess to lash in from close range.
Broadhead made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time with a fine first-time finish having beaten his marker to a cross from Kayden Jackson, on for the injured Burns.
Wednesday manager Danny Rohl made two changes at half-time but within three minutes of the restart, his side fell four behind. Hutchinson drilled home to finish a superb passing move that began inside the Ipswich half and saw Broadhead supply a defencesplitting pass.
The fifth goal, 10 minutes from time, was a disappointment for teenage keeper James Beadle, who spilled Jeremy Sarmiento’s longranger to give Al-Hamadi a tap-in. Hutchinson presented the substitute with an even simpler finish in stoppage time.
Wednesday’s sole consolation was that they remain in touching distance of a cluster of fellow under-achievers. ‘We have a big opportunity to achieve our goals,’ Rohl said. ‘Now it is about keeping going in the last eight finals.’