Jaden Philogene celebrates his early strike in Ipswich Town’s 1-0 win over Stoke City
winger put his side ahead with less than two minutes on the clock, firing into the net from the edge of the area to get the Blues up and running. However, the Potters stood toe-to-toe with them while chasing an equaliser, giving Town space to attack.
Neither side managed to take a chance after the interval, but the hosts defended well to ensure that one goal was all they needed, keeping them fourth in the Championship table.
Kieran McKenna made just one change to the team that beat Coventry City 3-0 on Saturday.
Christian Walton kept his place in goal, despite Alex Palmer’s return to the bench after missing nine games with a calf injury.
Ahead of him, Darnell Furlong, Dara O’Shea, Cedric Kipre and Leif Davis started behind a midfield two of Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor.
Marcelino Nunez continued as no.10, playing in between Sindre Walle Egeli on the right and Philogene on the left.
Ivan Azon replaced the suspended George Hirst up front, making his fifth Championship start of the campaign.
Town XI: 4-2-3-1: Walton; Furlong, O’Shea, Kipre, Davis; Matusiwa, Taylor (Cajuste 75’); Walle Egeli (J. Clarke 75’), Nunez (Szmodics 84’), Philogene; Azon (Akpom 75’)
Stoke XI: 4-2-3-1: Johansson; Tchamadeu, Talovierov, Wilmot, Cresswell; Lawal (Rigo 62’), Nzonzi (Pearson 84’); Cisse (Manhoef 67’), Junho (Bozenik 84’), Thomas; Mubama (Gallagher 67’)
Jaden Philogene’s early strike hits the Stoke net
Hoping to carry on their momentum from the weekend, Ipswich flew out of the blocks, scoring the opening goal of the game with one minute and 43 seconds on the clock.
Philogene picked up the ball down the left flank and cut inside, where Stoke defenders froze as he played it over to Nunez, who in turn sent it straight back to the winger. There, he composed himself and curled a stunning strike into the back of the net from just outside the penalty area, putting his side 1-0 up against his former loan club.
Stoke were desperate for an immediate response and almost found it. Straight from their kick-off, veteran midfielder Steven Nzonzi picked out Bae Junho, who found space in the box to take aim – O’Shea getting across just in time to force it into the side netting for a corner, which Town cleared.
In truth, the Blues’ response to taking the lead was poor. Sorba Thomas had a good opportunity to make them pay soon after, with Stoke seemingly targeting Ipswich’s right flank.
Town did settle and capitalised on some sloppy play from the Potters. Nunez managed to wriggle free to pick up a pass from Matusiwa in the 16th minute, with the Chilean driving up the pitch alongside Walle Egeli, although he ultimately went for goal himself and rolled the ball into the gloves of Viktor Johansson.
Stoke’s goalkeeper was called into action a couple of minutes later as Walle Egeli’s exquisite cross-field ball forced him to rush out and beat Philogene to the ball. It bobbled back to Davis, who took aim from distance – around 30 years out – but the shot was saved.
It fell to the feet of Azon, who had the whole goal to aim at, with a smattering of bodies in front of him, but he inexplicably blazed his shot way over the crossbar.
Both sides showcased pretty passing patterns in the opening half-hour, with Ipswich’s coming closer to the goal. One opportunity fell the way of Philogene after a pinpoint switch from O’Shea found Davis, who cut in to pick out the winger. He beat his man at a tight angle, opting to cut the ball back instead, where it was cleared by a Stoke defender.
From then on, the tempo dropped. Stoke, who had dominated possession in four of their five previous games before travelling to Suffolk, enjoyed more time on the ball without really doing much to test Walton.
Ipswich, however, lost some of their composure. A shanked shot from Nunez in the 43rd minute ended up as one of their better chances before the half-time whistle. A late handball shout against ex-Blue Aaron Cresswell could have given them the opportunity to score from the spot, but referee Adam Herczeg waved play on.
Ipswich won an early second half corner after good work from Azon and Matusiwa, allowing Philogene to take on his man and fire a deflected shot out of play. Stoke had no problems clearing the resulting set piece.
Up the other end, a quick free-kick was poorly handled by Ipswich. Kipre’s clearance was poor, with Davis picking out Matusiwa, who played the ball straight to Thomas down the right. He tried to cut it back into the centre of the box, but his pass was cut out by O’Shea and put behind for a corner, which Ipswich cleared.
Despite a few nervy moments around their own box, Ipswich found space to try and hurt the Potters. A quick backheel from Philogene spotted the run of Davis down the left in the 54th minute, but he couldn’t quite pick out Azon before losing the ball.
Around 30 seconds, the two combined again, with Davis making the overlapping run before sliding a shot wide. If the ball had rolled a metre or two further back, it would have landed straight in front of Azon.
They came again in the 57th minute, this time on the right flank. Nunez spotted the run of Azon, feeding him into the final third, where his cross for Philogene was cut out for a corner.
Davis delivered it straight onto Azon’s head, but the Como loanee could only nod low into the gloves of Johansson.
There was a real flash of danger in the 70th minute, where Junho darted into space down the left before dinking the ball into the centre of the penalty area for Stoke substitute and former Town transfer target Sam Gallagher, who couldn’t make clean contact with his strike.
Sensing a lull in the game, McKenna tried to shake things up by making a triple substitution. Chuba Akpom, Jack Clarke and Jens Cajuste were introduced in place of Azon, Walle Egeli and Taylor with around 15 minutes to play.
Cajuste saw a good opportunity fall his way, where he cut in from the left after picking up Davis’ pass. His low curling strike was blocked and cleared away from danger by Cresswell in the 79th minute, however.
Nunez had a bigger opportunity four minutes later. Clearing a corner, Ipswich pushed up the pitch, with Clarke’s penetrating pass carving Stoke’s back line open. Nunez curled a strike at goal, seemingly destined to nestle into the back of the net, but Johansson stopped him with a fine save.
There were some signs of frustration, highlighted by Matusiwa’s yellow card, which leaves him on nine for the campaign – one away from a two-match ban. However, Ipswich found a second wind. Sam Szmodics’ first action was to deliver a low cross from the right, aimed towards Akpom but Maxi Talovierov was well placed to cut it out.
Town showed no signs of trying to see the game out at 1-0, with Philogene causing most of the problems. He breezed past Stoke skipper Ben Wilmot with ease in the 89th minute, forcing him to commit a foul and pick up a booking.
Stoke were unsurprisingly in the ascendancy in stoppage time, with two minutes added. Walton was forced to tip Thomas’ powerful cross away for a corner at the death, but Ipswich cleared it to ensure that the three points went their way.
Be the first to comment