Wes Burns scored twice and Tyreeq Bakinson and James Norwood once each as Town ended their season with a 4-0 home thrashing of Charlton Athletic. Bakinson gave the Blues the lead with a superb strike on seven, Burns added the second four minutes later, then scored the third five minutes into the second half, before the departing Norwood signed off with the fourth with two minutes remaining.
Elkan Baggott made his home league debut on the left of the back three for Cameron Burgess, who missed out having suffered an ankle injury in training.
Burns was back at right wing-back having missed last week’s trip to Crewe, also due to an ankle, problem, while Matt Penney was on the left with Dominic Thompson, whose loan from Brentford is up after today, absent from the 18.
Bonne, playing the final game of his loan spell with his hometown club having been with the Blues all season from QPR, was the central striker.
Bersant Celina was also playing the final game of his loan spell as one of the number 10s alongside Conor Chaplin behind Bonne. Sone Aluko was back on the bench after a knee problem.
Norwood, who has been told he will be leaving the club at the end of the season, was on the bench but there was no place for Tom Carroll, who has also been released.
Midfielder Cameron Humphreys, 18, was among the subs, as were Kane Vincent-Young and Idris El Mizouni.
For Charlton, Nathan Harness, who was with the Blues' academy as a schoolboy but was released at 16, made his league debut in goal, one of three changes with Ryan Inniss and Corey Blackett-Taylor returning to the XI.
Former Town loanee Stephen Henderson was on the bench, while ex-midfielder Scott Fraser was absent due to a knee injury.
Burns went looking for his 12th goal of the season in the third minute, smashing over the bar from distance as the game started in an open end-to-end manner but with the Blues presenting the greater threat.
And in the seventh minute they went in front via a brilliant Bakinson goal. The midfielder, another playing the last game of his loan spell, was played the ball 20 yards out by Celina and superbly found the top corner of Harness’s net to the keeper’s left.
It was the midfielder’s second goal of his stint with the Blues and somewhat more spectacular than his first, a one-yard tap-in at Doncaster.
Celina wasn’t far away from the Blues’ second only two minutes later, the Kosovan international curling a shot not too far past Harness’s left post.
Burns didn’t have to wait too much longer for his 12th goal of the campaign, equalling top scorer Bonne’s total for the campaign. The Welshman was sent through one-one-one with Harness by Chaplin’s perfectly-weighted pass in the 11th minute and confidently beat the advancing Addicks’ rookie keeper.
Town kept up the pressure but on 15 there was a moment of danger at the other end when a free-kick ran loose in the box but Christian Walton was quick to pounce on it.
Former Addicks striker Bonne had the ball in the net in the 17th minute but had strayed offside from Janoi Donacien’s pass which actually looked like it had been intended for Celina but had been played behind the on-loan Dijon forward.
The Blues continued to dominate, looking as comfortable as at any stage of any game this season against the team against whom they put in probably their worst 90 minutes of the campaign as they lost 2-0 at the Valley in December.
On 27 Bonne turned a shot against a defender from the left of the box, then three minutes later skipper Sam Morsy struck a low effort wide from 25 yards.
Town continued to keep hold of the ball and pass it around confidently at a high tempo and the Charlton fans began to sarcastically chant ‘we’ve got the ball’ on the rare occasions their team was in possession and ‘we’ve lost the ball’ whenever Town won it back.
Perhaps spurred by their fans’ singing, Charlton seriously threatened for the first time. Adam Matthews crossed from the left and Jayden Stockley rose high and headed goalwards, however, Walton did brilliantly to get across to his right to paw it wide.
From the resultant corner, Baggott suffered a head injury but after treatment was OK to continue.
Chaplin wasn’t too far away from his 12th goal of the season in the 42nd minute when he looped a header over Harness from the left of the box from a deft Bakinson chipped pass but it landed on the roof of the net.
Town were well worth their 2-0 lead at the break having dominated from virtually start to finish with Bakinson and Burns having taken their chances with great confidence.
The Blues might have added to their lead as they continued to prod and probe throughout the rest of the half with Chaplin going closest with his looped header.
Charlton had spend the half chasing shadows with their only real opportunity Stockley’s header from which Walton made the sort of excellent save which has been commonplace in his hugely impressive first season with the club.
Three minutes after the restart Addicks midfielder George Dobson was shown the game’s first yellow card for clattering into Chaplin inside the centre circle.
Within a minute, it was 3-0. Bonne was sent away on the left of the area by Chaplin and crossed low for Burns, who turned home from close range to take his tally to 13 for the season and to the top of the Town goal charts.
The Addicks swapped Alex Gilbey for Chuks Aneke on 54, then two minutes later Town were forced into a change when Donacien was forced off having suffered a knock with Vincent-Young taking over on the right of the back three.
Donacien was applauded as he made his way to the tunnel having been one of the Blues’ top performers throughout the season.
Charlton ought to have pulled a goal back in the 59th minute when Conor Washington outmuscled Baggott inside the area from an Aneke header but looped his shot over when the Northern Irish international will feel he should have scored.
In the 62nd minute Burns dispossessed Matthews on the Town right and burst into the area but a combination of keeper Harness and a defender blocked what was either a shot or a cross for Bonne.
Following the resultant corner, the Blues almost scored again. Luke Woolfenden exchanged passes with Chaplin on the left of the box before slipping the ball past Harness to his left but Charlton skipper Jason Pearce cleared off the line with the keeper beaten and the Blues’ defender’s rebound from a tight angle was too high.
Town should have made it 4-0 in the 68th minute when Burns and Vincent-Young exchanged passes on the right before the sub sent a low ball across the area which Morsy steered just wide rather than into the corner of the gaping net.
In the 74th minute, following yet another long spell of Town possession, Bakinson looped a cross to the far post where Bonne’s goal-bound header was blocked by Inniss.
As Town prepared to take the corner, the Blues swapped Chaplin for youngster Humphreys, making only his second sub appearance in the league, both against Charlton, the forward receiving a warm ovation as he left the field after a very decent first season at Portman Road.
Charlton came close to pulling one back in the 78th minute when Stockley headed against the bar from close range from Blackett-Taylor’s right-wing cross, the ball bouncing down on the line and out before being cleared.
The Addicks weren’t far away again on 83 when a corner from the right ran loose in the box and Aneke hooked goalwards but Walton somehow kept it out at his right post.
Moments later, Town swapped Bonne, who was given a standing ovation as he made his way off. Norwood, making his final appearance in a Blues shirt, took over and was given a warm reception as he made his way onto the field.
Celina ought to have scored the Blues' fourth in the 85th minute when the ball ran to him on the left of the area after a Morsy shot was blocked but the forward scraped wide when he will have expected to have scored.
But Town’s fourth of the afternoon finally came only three minutes later, Norwood signing off at Portman Road with his seventh goal of the season.
Humphreys played a clever pass for the striker on the right of the area and the former Tranmere man squeezed the ball between Harness, who had endured a tough league debut, and the post from a very tight angle before celebrating in front of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.
Town might have scored even more in the closing stages as they continued to create opportunities before referee Charles Breakspear’s whistle ended the afternoon’s proceedings and the Blues’ 2021/22 campaign.
Manager Kieran McKenna will be delighted that his side ended the season on a high note with a 4-0 home win which in truth probably ought to have been even more comfortable The Blues were on top from virtually start to finish with Charlton very much second best.
Ten minutes after the end, the players made their way back onto the field for the traditional lap of appreciation along with McKenna, other members of staff and children.
Burns ends the season as Town’s top scorer on 13 as well as carrying off the Player of the Year awards, with Bonne and Chaplin behind him on 12 and 11 respectively.
The Blues end the season 11th in League One, two places below last year’s ninth having picked up a single point more, a big disappointment given the pre-season expectations but the latter period of the campaign has given fans confidence that next season will be the one in which their team finally escapes League One with almost 15,000 season tickets already sold.
Town: Walton, Donacien (Vincent-Young 56), Woolfenden, Baggott, Burns, Bakinson, Morsy (c), Penney, Chaplin (Humphreys 75), Celina, Bonne (Norwood 85). Unused: Hladky, El Mizouni, Aluko, Pigott.
Charlton: Harness, Inniss, Pearce (c), Famewo, Matthews, Gilbey (Aneke 54), Dobson, Morgan (Forster-Caskey 68), Blackett-Taylor, Stockley, Washington (Lee 75). Unused: Henderson, Elerewe, Jaiyesimi, Burstow. Referee: Charles Breakspear (Surrey). Att: 26,002 (Charlton: 1,972).