Town climbed to the top of the Championship table as second-half goals from Freddie Sears and David McGoldrick saw the Blues to a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Portman Road. After an even first half, Sears steered home a Brett Pitman cross in the 66th minute and McGoldrick nodded in the second from an Ainsley Maitland-Niles corner five minutes later.
Boss Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side with Sears, who signed a new contract earlier today, and Daryl Murphy the strikers again getting the nod with McGoldrick and Pitman on the bench.
Town started brightly, Maitland-Niles sending Sears away down the right in the opening minute but Clarets’ keeper and skipper Tom Heaton grabbed the ball ahead of Murphy.
On three, Sears lost his footing on the very wet surface - it had been raining for much of the day - and inadvertently clattered into Ben Mee, who required lengthy treatment before continuing.
Immediately play resumed, Michael Kightly, who played for Blues boss McCarthy at Wolves, cut in from the left past Town skipper Chambers. The former Grays Athletic man’s first effort struck team-mate Jelle Vossen who couldn’t control, but the ball bounced back to the winger and he hit a shot across Bartosz Bialkowski, off the far post and into the grateful Blues keeper’s arms.
In the 13th minute Chambers brought the ball into the Burnley area on the right after good work from Murphy and Maitland-Niles and hit a shot which deflected across the face of goal and wide.
From the corner, the ball deflected towards Christophe Berra but the centre-half was unable to direct it goalwards.
A minute later, Cole Skuse shot over from 25 yards, then Maitland-Niles screwed an effort well wide from a similar distance.
The Blues were starting to look the more threatening side and on 17 Murphy turned Ryan Fraser’s left-wing cross over the bar from midway inside the area.
One-time Town target George Boyd volleyed over in the 28th minute before Fraser was replaced by David McGoldrick, the Scottish U21 international having suffered a jarred knee a few minutes earlier. Murphy moved to the left.
On 32 Sears profited from a loose Tendayi Darikwa pass midway inside the Burnley half, the ex-Colchester man bringing the ball forward before hitting a low drive straight at Heaton.
The visitors came close to going in front in the 40th minute when Kightly ran at the Town defence to the right of centre and fed Vossen, one of two Burnley players to his left in space on the edge of the box, but the Belgian’s shot was batted away by Bialkowski.
In the final scheduled minute of the half, David Jones, another of McCarthy’s Wolves squad, curled a freekick not far over the bar from the right.
The game remained goalless at the whistle and the level scoreline was a fair reflection of the half as a whole.
Burnley had come closest to scoring when the dangerous Kightly hit the post and with Vossen’s late strike but the Blues had had more half-chances in what had been an evenly-balanced first period.
The biggest disappointment for Town was losing Fraser, amongst the best performers in the Blues’ three previous games, to injury, however, McGoldrick had already started to show glimpses of his skills.
Pitman replaced Murphy at the restart, the former Bournemouth man joining McGoldrick up front with Sears moving to the left.
On 48 Smith completely mistimed his header from Maitland-Niles’s corner from the left, the ball flying well wide.
Ten minutes after the restart, the Clarets switched Vossen for new signing Rouwen Hennings, who was making his debut having received international clearance.
McGoldrick headed Maitland-Niles’s right-wing cross over in the 57th minute with the Portman Road crowd starting to ramp up the noise.
Chances had been rare in the second half but in the 66th minute the Blues went in front. Maitland-Niles played in Pitman on the right and the half-time sub sent over a low ball which Sears deftly stroked across the keeper and into the corner of the net.
Five minutes later, it was 2-0. McGoldrick rose highest to nod home Maitland-Niles’s corner from the right to grab his first goal since the 3-0 win against Charlton on December 30th last year.
Town were looking more likely to add a third than Burnley were to pull one back, Maitland-Niles winning an 81st minute corner. In the aftermath Douglas muscled his way into the area on the right and hit a shot across goal which wasn’t far away from Heaton’s post.
Maitland-Niles made way to rapturous applause in the 84th minute with Giles Coke taking over as the Blues looked to see out the final minutes.
Darikwa hit a shot which deflected across the face of the Town goal in the 88th minute as the visitors looked to get back into the game.
And from Kightly’s corner they came very close, Bialkowski reacting superbly to keep out Michael Keane’s virtually point-blank header.
In injury time, Kightly was booked for the latest in a succession of transgressions with Chambers having been the most recent man fouled.
The Blues saw the final moments out with none of the drama of the Brentford or Sheffield Wednesday games, Town having most of the ball and the visitors looking very much a beaten side.
After an even first half, the Blues were on top throughout the second half and the three points never looked in any serious danger once the again excellent Sears had steered home the opener.
McGoldrick’s first of the season cemented their lead and Burnley only rarely threatened, Bialkowski making only one real save, his excellent stop from Keane’s header.
It was a battling performance from Town - who kept a clean sheet for the first time since the 1-0 win at Watford in March - more like many of last season’s victories than the swashbuckling wing-based displays against the Bees and Wednesday, the Blues eventually getting on top of a game very similar to the home match against the Clarets during their promotion season.
The win takes Town to the top of the table - albeit on goal difference from Brighton - for the first time since Boxing Day last year - when they briefly climbed to the summit after the lunchtime win at Brentford - with their home campaign having got off to the best possible start with two victories in four days, the latest a confidence boosting win against a much-fancied, former Premier League side. The Blues are next in action away at Preston on Saturday.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Smith, Berra, Skuse, Douglas, Maitland-Niles (Coke 84), Fraser (McGoldrick 28), Sears, Murphy (Pitman 46). Unused: Gerken, Tabb, Emmanuel, Touré.
Burnley: Heaton (c), Duff, Darikwa, Keane, Mee, Arfield, Jones (Taylor 77), Boyd, Kightly, Vossen (Hennings 55), Vokes (Jutkiewicz 66). Unused: Gilks, Sordell, Ward, Anderson. Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire). Att: 18,353 (Burnley: 470)