Defeat at Portman Road confirms Town's relegation to Sky Bet League One
- Ipswich Town 2-0 Huddersfield Town
- Goals from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson
- Relegation to Sky Bet League One confirmed
It was an afternoon of mixed fortunes at Portman Road, with Town's relegation to Sky Bet League One confirmed as Ipswich Town celebrated automatic promotion to the Premier League thanks to their victory.
With blue and white balloons blowing onto the field from the off, it was a party atmosphere in Portman Road as the home side looked to confirm their automatic promotion to the Premier League on the final day. Dressed head to toe in lime though, the Terriers stood tall during an opening 15 minutes that saw the Tractor Boys look to take an early lead.
Despite the score remaining goalless, cheers erupted around the stadium at the 20 minute mark with results elsewhere going in the favour of the home side, but Town remained on task defensively, whilst attempting to push forward when the rare opportunity to arose. Almost caught on the break as a result at 25 minutes, Wes Burns had the chance to open the scoring one-on-one with Maxwell down the right hand side, but rushing off his line the Town 'keeper did just enough to force the effort wide for a goal kick.
Making no mistake a few minutes later, it would be Burns who opened the scoring, taking advantage as possession was lost by the Terriers on the edge of their own penalty box. Two quick passes wide gave Burns space on the overlap, and he found the bottom corner with Maxwell unable to intervene.
The game settled and the nervous energy around the ground lessesed following the goal, with a less frantic pattern of play then emerging. Still heavily in the home side's favour, the Terriers didn't drop their levels of effort and continued to frustrate where and when possible. With chances to attack at a premium, the closest Town came was a difficult volley from Healey who tried to turn a ball falling from a great height home, but the connection sent it well wide.
With no changes for either side at the break, the home side wasted no time in doubling their advantage through Hutchinson once play had resumed as the Chelsea loanee raced to the edge of the box before striking powerfully into the bottom right hand corner. Maxwell had made a connection with one hand, but the strike was too pure for the goalkeeper to turn it wide as intended.
Traffic remained one-way for much of the remainder of the half, with Breitenreiter turning to his bench just after the hour mark to make a host of changes. Taking off both Healey and Ward, with Kasumu also vacating midfield, Radulovic, Koroma and Iorpenda were introduced as the Terriers looked to find more of a foothold in the contest.
Efforts and inroads were attempted through Iorpenda and Koroma on a couple of occasions at the game stretched in the final minutes, but neither was able to make a contribution telling enough to impact the scoreline. With the final whistle came not only the end of the 2023/24 campaign, but the end of Town's current stay in the Sky Bet Championship, with attentions now turning to life in Sky Bet League One for the 2024/25 season.
TOWN'S TEAM (3-5-2)
Chris Maxwell; Tom Edwards (Brodie Spencer 75'), Michał Helik, Matty Pearson; Ollie Turton, Jack Rudoni (Alex Matos 30'), David Kasumu (Tom Iorpenda 62'), Ben Wiles, Ben Jackson; Danny Ward (Josh Koroma 62'), Rhys Healey (Bojan Radulovic 62')
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
Lee Nicholls, Giosue Bellagambi, Pat Jones, Neo Eccleston
TOWN CARDS
Alex Matos '77
GATE
29,011
