Striker Macauley Bonne says his debut last-gasp leveller for the Blues was everything he has dreamt of since he was a child.
The 25-year-old returned to his hometown club who he supported as a boy on loan from QPR this summer having been released by the Town academy as an U14 and fulfilled a childhood dream to secure Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Morecambe in the 91st minute.
"As a Town fan it’s everything that I’ve dreamt of since I joined Town as a seven or eight-year-old. Scoring for the first team is something I’ve dreamed of for years and years and I’m over the moon with the fact that it’s happened today,” he said.
The goal came out of nothing with the Blues appearing to be drifting to defeat until the Chantry-raised striker latched on to James Norwood’s flick on and beat Shrimps keeper Kyle Letheren to send the 21,037 at Portman Road wild.
"I just said to the boys in there, it was a roar out of nothing,” he reflected. "I went through on goal and everyone paused, there was nothing, it was silent in the ground and when I saw the ball hit the back of the net it just erupted.
"As a fan, I’ve been there when I’ve celebrated goals years ago and I know the feeling of someone scoring a late equaliser. For me, I felt I was part of it.
"The ball fell perfectly in my path, I gave the defender a stiff arm, I think he’s on the pitch still.
"After that there was a pause and it was made for me to go and score the equaliser. I can’t put it into words how happy I am today.
"I’ve sat here for many games seeing last-minute winners, last-minute equalisers and I felt like I was part of that when I went and scored the equaliser with the fans screaming at me.
"I’ve been there, I know what it’s like. I felt so attached to all the fans there, it means a lot to me.”
A last-minute winner might have made the day more perfect but the former Colchester, Charlton and Leyton Orient man wasn’t complaining.
"I’ll take that all day long, even just scoring,” he said. "Even if we were 3-0 down and I’d scored I think deep down I might have celebrated like that because of how long I’ve waited to go and do that at this club. I’m over the moon.”
He says he had plenty of family and friends in the ground: "To have all my family up in the crowd there. My brother’s sitting there, my missus, my dad, my mum, everyone in the crowd today.
"They’ve all seen me come through the academy here, seen me play week in, week out at Playford Road as a kid and then go through the ranks everywhere else.
"And to finally come back home and do it here in front of them is like we’ve done a massive circle. I think they’ll be celebrating too.”
The Zimbabwe international says he had friends in the lower tier of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand behind where he scored as well as elsewhere in the ground.
"I had loads there,” he added. "I had loads up here [in the West Stand], my family are up there, my brother with my nephew, my niece up there with my missus and my dad. I think all round there I’d be probably going, ‘went to school with him, know him, know him!’
"It means the world to me. I’ve got people who I don’t even know who are Town fans who just see me about in the town and say ‘good luck’ so it’s nice to come back here and be appreciated.”
Bonne, who hadn’t checked his phone before he spoke to the media after the game to see what messages he’d received, knows there were a few friends who had a few quid on him to score.
"There were a few up there who said they’d got a bet on me,” he said. "In my head I don’t really like people saying ‘I’ve got a bet on you today’ because if don’t score and they lose their money I’m thinking ‘I’m not paying you back mate, it ain’t my fault!’”
He says he had only one thing on his mind when he came off the bench: "My only thought was to go and score a goal, ‘I’m here now, I’m not going to waste time, I’ve waited so long for this moment that I’m going to make the most of it, and today I did’.”
He says the moment wouldn’t have been the same if fans hadn’t been back in the ground: "People have asked questions before, ’do you notice the fans?’. It got to the point where we were used to not having fans there.
"I don’t think today would have been the same without the fans, I think the fans play a massive part in it, especially at Portman Road.
"We had 21,000 here today in a League One fixture? 21,000? You only get that at one or two other clubs.
"A club like Ipswich should be filling the ground week in, week out and to get it full like this today and to go and get a point at home, it means everything.”
Bonne believed Town deserved something from the game despite twice going behind to Cole Stockton goals.
"Massively,” he insisted. "They were two sloppy goals to give away. You scrap them out and it’s a 2-0 win.
"But that was our first game together as a new team. Things like that are going to happen. Once we get it all together, people are going to come here and fear us.”
Bonne says he has no problem with being on the bench as manager Paul Cook looks to gel his signings into a cohesive side.
"Of course, we’re a new team, he’s got to find out, not what his strongest XI is because we’ve got a helluva squad, but find out what the best partnerships are, what are the best ‘clicks’ in the team,” he said.
"I’m in the one in the changing room going ‘well done to the lads, all the best’ if I’m on the bench. Same when I’m starting, I’m one that when I get my chance, I don’t waste it.”
He says he felt he needed to have an intensive pre-season: "I had a lot to do in pre-season, from the back end of last season not really playing much.
"I had not catching up to do as such but I had to get back to my full match sharpness and I really feel like the backroom staff, Franny [Jeffers], Robbo [Gary Roberts], the gaffer, Ive [new head of strength and conditioning Ivan Mukandi] have all helped me to get where I am and it’s paid off today because I feel over the moon.”
Bonne says he can play a number of roles in the system Cook employs: "Yes, if he goes and tells me to play left wing, right wing or anywhere, as long as I’m playing in a Town shirt I do not care where I’m playing!”
Asked what first-team coach Jeffers, a frontman who won one full England cap in his playing days, works on with the strikers, he said: "Just a sharpness. We have sessions where there’s none of the long-range shooting, it’s more the quick first-touch finishing, the under-pressure moments.
"Like that today, the ones where you’ve got no time to think. The ball’s come into you and you have to go and finish it. I think today that’s shown what I’ve been working on with him and Robbo and everyone who’s been helping me.
"That’s what I’ve been working on on the training pitch all week, for that moment, so I’m happy with that.”
Despite having dropped a division to join the Blues, he says the switch can help him as a striker.
"Massively,” he said. "You look at the players like Ivan Toney, who have now gone and played in the Premier League.
"He was at Scunny, Peterborough, someone like Jack Marriott has gone and played in League One and scored a shedload of goals and now they’ve gone up the leagues.
"Although I’m on loan, this could help me go back and be part of QPR’s long-term plans or hopefully promotion with Town and we’ll see where that goes from there.”
"Can he score a shedload of goals at this level like Toney and Marriott? "Of course I can!”
Looking ahead to Tuesday, he hopes to be in the reckoning for the Carabao Cup visit by Newport, or any other game there might be for that matter.
"Yes, league games, cup games, even in the ressies games, I’ll go and play and score goals,” he said.
"I’m one of those kids, I’ve grown up loving playing football and scoring goals. That’s been my mentality the whole way through my career.
"From playing non-league and then going to the Championship, everywhere I’ve been I’ve enjoyed scoring goals, no matter what league it is, so I don’t see this as being a step down from the Championship because I see this as a Championship side.
"My mentality hasn’t changed whatsoever. For me [it’s to] do what I can to be a Championship-quality player.
"If I can come here and affect things and score a shedload of goals and help players around me or have players around me help me get to where I want to go, I’m happy.”
Bonne knows that getting into the Town side and keeping a place won’t be easy with Sone Aluko and Louie Barry having been added on Friday.
"In terms of the squad depth it’s now getting mental,” he said. "Now it’s going to start to be a proper fight for positions, so every time I get on the pitch I’m going to stake my claim, take my chances and make sure I’m giving the gaffer a headache to make sure I’m undroppable.”