Southampton vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance27,265.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Southampton and Ipswich at St Mary's as Omari Hutchinson's goal made it three defeats in a row for Russell Martin's side on Tuesday night.
Wednesday 20 September 2023 09:57, UK
Chelsea loanee Omari Hutchinson's first goal for Ipswich was enough to earn them a 1-0 win at Southampton.
The Tractor Boys are up to second in the Sky Bet Championship after winning four successive away games in the second tier for the first time in eight years.
Saints, expected by many to go straight back up after last season's Premier League relegation, have now lost their last three games.
Southampton started brightly and half of the St Mary's crowd thought Adam Armstrong had scored with just five minutes played when he rippled the side-netting from the edge of the box.
Ipswich did have the ball in the net two minutes later, only for Conor Chaplin's close-range effort from Hutchinson's inswinging corner to be harshly ruled out for a foul.
Shea Charles passed up a presentable opportunity to test Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky when he headed over from a Kyle Walker-Peters cross.
Brandon Williams then ballooned a header into the stands after rising at the far post to meet Wes Burns' centre.
Ipswich took the lead on the half-hour mark after capitalising on a Charles mistake.
The Northern Ireland international was caught dwelling on the ball by Hutchinson just outside his own penalty area and the Chelsea loanee played a one-two with Chaplin before slotting home.
It was deja-vu for Saints six minutes later when Chaplin dispossessed Joe Aribo deep inside his own half before lofting his shot over goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and onto the top of the crossbar.
The rebound fell kindly for George Hirst but the Ipswich striker could not keep his effort down.
Saints were booed off by their own fans at half-time but manager Russell Martin resisted the temptation to make any substitutions for the start of the second half.
Che Adams could have equalised four minutes after the restart but his effort from a Walker-Peters through ball 10 yards out was kept out by Hladky at full stretch.
Bazunu did well to throw himself low to his right and turn Chaplin's well-struck left-foot volley from 20 yards away from goal.
Martin did turn to his bench in the 58th minute, bringing on experienced Premier League duo Jan Bednarek and Stuart Armstrong and winger Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Shortly after his arrival, Sulemana's teasing low cross caused chaos in the Ipswich penalty area before Adam Armstrong's shot was eventually smuggled behind for a corner.
Will Smallbone and Adams also had shots blocked as the Ipswich defence put their bodies on the line to preserve the victory.
Southampton's Russell Martin:
"We gave away a sloppy goal and have been punished for a mistake again.
"That will not keep happening and we will move forward.
"I actually thought we started the game really well but we got sucker-punched for a mistake with the goal.
"We did not react well enough to that or quickly enough. In the second half we gave everything and had the best chance which unfortunately Che missed."
Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:
"It's great night for [Omari]. It was his first start in the league as a professional footballer. What a big night, what a place to do it and what opposition to do it against.
"He's making great progress and I joked with him that he wouldn't have thought two months ago his first goal as a professional would come from a sliding tackle, but that's what happened.
"He showed his improvement off the ball, won the ball back for us and he's got the agility to get up on his feet quickly and produce a great finish.
"It was an outstanding performance and was never going to be anything other than hard-fought because of the quality of the opposition.
"We tried to meet them on the pitch on an even keel and tried to play football, to be brave and to press them and stay brave on the ball.
"We are not looking to dampen anything. The fans are going to enjoy these special moments and dream.
"For us it's about staying in the moment. We are enjoying the journey that we are on from last season, but internally we know how hard it is to sustain."
