Two goals each for Ben Morris and Ben Folami saw Town’s U23s to a 4-2 win against Bristol City U23s at Playford Road to stay top of the Professional Development League Two South table.
Ipswich were 3-0 up at half-time after taking an early lead, but defensive errors late in the game gave the Robins two goals that their play didn’t merit.
Morris and Tristan Nydam featured for Ipswich, both having returned from loan spells, as well as trialist Simon Dawkins who has been training with the first team for the last few weeks.
It only took four minutes for the 31-year-old free agent to make an impact on the game. A strong tackle from Nydam saw the ball break to Dawkins who broke into the Bristol City half before playing a perfectly weighted through ball to Morris. The striker cut back onto his right foot before curling the ball into the right corner of the goal to give Ipswich the lead.
The impressive attacking performance continued but Folami and Conor McKendry couldn’t score with their respective chances and Barry Cotter saw a stinging long-range effort saved by Aaron Sainsbury in the Robins goal on the half-hour mark.
Folami then had another opportunity to double the lead in the 34th minute but his effort following Morris’s pass went wide of the right post.
A second goal finally came in the 36th minute with McKendry heading the ball into the path of Morris who drilled it into the bottom right corner with Sainsbury unable to keep it out despite getting his hands to the ball.
The third quickly followed five minutes later through a swift counter-attack. Morris broke away towards the Bristol City goal before playing the ball to Dawkins who saw his shot blocked. The ricochet fell perfectly to Folami who composed himself and guide it into the bottom right corner from inside the area.
Dawkins continued to impress after the break and had a dipping shot from the edge of the area saved by Sainsbury who tipped it over for a corner.
Shortly afterwards, the Jamaican international played a well-weighted pass into the path of Nydam whose shot was comfortably saved by the visitors’ keeper.
The Ipswich pressure continued, and McKendry was the next to have a chance with a skilful run seeing him take on his man and move across the box with his shot being blocked by the trailing foot of Sainsbury as he dived the other way.
A fourth goal still wasn’t forthcoming inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half and it took an athletic diving save from Sainsbury to push away Ross Marshall’s header across goal from McKendry’s corner.
Ipswich finally got the fourth goal they deserved in the 55th minute with some brilliant football. Brett McGavin played a fantastic reverse pass to Folami in the Bristol area and the Australian U19 international shifted the ball to his right before hitting it into the right corner of the goal.
The tempo of the game dropped from an Ipswich perspective thereafter and Bristol City were awarded a penalty after Cotter clumsily pushed Vince Harper over when he was heading away from goal with no apparent danger looming.
George Nurse struck the penalty perfectly into the right corner of the goal leaving Harry Wright no chance of getting to it despite diving the right way.
Ipswich’s attacking threat was reduced after Aaron Drinan replaced a very lively McKendry in the 72nd minute and an error from Nydam led to a second Robins goal.
Ipswich had tried to play the ball out from the back for the duration of the game, but the midfielder was caught in possession on the edge of the area by Sam Bell, and the striker was able to run through to goal unopposed and hit the ball into an empty net.
There were plenty of encouraging and confident performances in the Ipswich team and the display of trialist Dawkins was among them.
Manager Paul Lambert wasn’t spotted at the game but had previously commented that the former Derby player wasn’t fully fit. However, the 31-year-old's performance suggested he may be getting close as he kept pace with the game and displayed very accurate passing throughout the game, albeit against a fairly poor Bristol City team.
U23s: Wright, Cotter, Clements, McGavin, Marshall, Ndaba, McKendry (Drinan 72), Nydam, Morris, Folami, Dawkins. Unused: Ware, Dobra, Elmizouni, Webber.