Watford 0-2 Ipswich Town: Sindre Egeli and George Hirst strike in Tractor Boys win
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Watford and Ipswich Town at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night; Sindre Egeli and George Hirst strike as Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys get back to winning ways.
Tuesday 24 February 2026 22:50, UK
Ipswich boosted their automatic promotion hopes with a 2-0 win at Watford thanks to goals from Sindre Walle Egeli and substitute George Hirst.
Kieran McKenna's visitors moved up to third by getting the better of Ed Still's play-off hopefuls, who saw Tom Ince's late penalty saved by Town goalkeeper Christian Walton.
Ipswich dominated the opening half hour without really testing home goalkeeper Egil Selvik.
The Norwegian made routine saves to deny Azor Matusiwa and Walle Egeli before Ivan Azon fired over the crossbar and it was a while before Watford, set up with five at the back, at last offered a threat themselves.
Jeremy Petris won the ball in his own half to begin a dash for goal that saw him fire over from 25 yards with defenders in hot pursuit.
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Giorgi Chakvetadze led the next Hornets charge to set up a move that ended with striker Luca Kjerrumgaard heading over from Stephen Mfuni's cross.
Ipswich's reply saw them take lead in the 37th-minute through Walle Egeli.
Watford were unhappy with referee Ben Toner's decision to award Town a free-kick right on the edge of the area for Mattie Pollock's challenge on Azon.
Marcelino Nunez could only ping the free-kick against the wall but the rebound fell to Walle Egali in space on the right of the box for a volley that bounced off the turf and beyond Selvik.
Still swapped Chakvetadze for new signing Edoardo Bove, the Italian playing with a defibrillator because of a heart condition, as one of two changes at the start of the second half.
A chance came Watford's way in the 58th minute but James Abankwah fired tamely at Walton and was offside anyway.
That perked Ipswich up but Nunez could not hit the target from distance on the charge and Watford soon resumed applying pressure at the other end.
Captain Imran Louza and Abankwah saw shots blocked by defenders in quick succession before Ipswich sent on Wes Burns and Jens Cajuste.
Azon was presented with a clear chance to double the lead with 20 minutes to go when Mfuni lost possession to Nunez on the edge of his area but again the Como loanee's shot was too high.
Bove almost made him pay at the other end but fired inches wide before Hirst netted in the 77th minute.
The substitute diverted the ball home from close range after Jack Clarke's initial shot had been deflected, with Jacob Greaves retrieving to cross from the left.
Watford were handed the chance of a late lifeline when Darnell Furlong pulled Ince back in the box but Walton dived to his left to save the substitute's spot-kick.
The managers
Watford's Ed Still:
"It was a game of two halves. I was very disappointed with how aggressive we weren't in the first half, although we didn't concede any big chances apart from a free-kick that isn't one.
"I don't know in what world that was a free-kick against Mattie Pollock, it just isn't.
"We had a really good spell at the beginning of the second half but we were unlucky with an unlucky bounce for the second goal. There was definitely room for us to get something out of the game.
"It does feel like we missed an opportunity to get at least a point out of the game, which would have been fair."
Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:
"It was great to get back to a clean sheet, which is one of the most pleasing things about tonight. It was really unlike us to concede those goals (against Wrexham) but it's the Championship, you can get a crazy game like that.
"We got lucky at the end with a poor penalty from to give away. But Christian got the clean sheet that he deserved and the team deserved.
"It was a really strong performance, I really enjoyed the way the boys went about it. We played with really good tempo and built good pressure for a really good finish from Sindre that gave us a deserved half-time lead.
"We wanted to get the clean sheet out of the second half and we wanted to get the second goal. George will feel a good boost from that - it was an important goal."
