Three goals in 11 minutes scored by Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead and Freddie Ladapo have given Town a 3-0 half-time lead over Burton Albion at half-time at Portman Road.
Massimo Luongo and Ladapo started for the Blues in an otherwise unchanged team from the previous two matches, the 4-0 home victory over Forest Green Rovers and last week’s 1-0 win at MK Dons.
Luongo was handed his second full debut for the club in the centre of midfield with Cameron Humphreys dropping to the bench, while Ladapo came in as the number nine for George Hirst, who was also among the subs.
Burton made three changes with Conor Shaughnessy, Mark Helm and Jonny Smith coming into the team. Former Blues winger Mustapha Carayol was on the bench.
Town got off to a scruffy start, losing the ball in their own half twice within the opening five minutes but with the Brewers unable to capitalise.
On eight, Burton claimed a penalty when the ball bounced up and hit Luke Woolfenden as he battled with Dale Taylor on the left of the box, but the defender’s arms were down at his sides and referee Carl Boyeson waved away the protests.
The Blues slow start continued and in the 10th minute the visitors created the first opportunity, Tom Hamer nodding back a free-kick from the right played to the far post, Helm shooting on the turn and Woolfenden heading behind.
With Town still to really get going, Harry Clarke picked up the game’s first yellow card on the quarter hour for a foul on Helm as the former Manchester United youngster threatened to break away down the Blues’ right.
From the resultant free-kick, Deji Oshilaja, who came close to joining Town in his AFC Wimbledon days, scraped a shot well wide and Taylor diverted it nearer to goal but still beyond Christian Walton’s right post.
Jasper Moon joined Clarke in the book for a foul on Nathan Broadhead as the Town forward looked to breakaway following a Burton set piece, then visitors’ skipper John Brayford was also shown a yellow card for a high challenge on Leif Davis.
While still not on top of their game, the Blues threatened for the first time in the 20th minute, Chaplin looping a header high and wide from a cross from the right.
Three minutes later, Broadhead picked up a loose ball after a Chaplin pass had been cut out and fed Ladapo on the left but the striker’s low cross-shot was too far in front of any Town players and not close enough to goal.
Town were beginning to get on top and on 24, Wes Burns was sent away on the right into the area and cut back to Ladapo but a defender turned the ball behind. Davis’s corner was hit too long.
The Blues forced Craig MacGillivray into his first save of the afternoon in the 27th minute, Chaplin volleying from the right of the box and the former Portsmouth keeper saving sharply, Luongo having nodded on Broadhead’s ball across the area after it had been blocked.
Town were getting better and were looking more dangerous and a minute after the half hour, they went in front.
Clarke played in Burns down the right and the Welshman cut back towards Chaplin. The ball caught Hamer’s heels and fell the wrong side of the Blues’ top scorer, who twisted and turned before hitting a shot on the turn across MacGillivray and just inside the far post to give Town a vital lead and take his total for the season to 18.
Seven minutes after going in front, the Blues scored their second with the providers the same as the first.
Clarke again fed Burns on the right, the Wales international just reaching it before it crossed the byline and cutting back to Broadhead, who slammed his third goal in three home games into the net from the edge of the six-yard box.
And on 42, Town scored their third goal in 11 minutes. After Hamer had been booked for a foul on Chaplin inside the centre circle, the Blues took the free-kick quickly, Luongo played a ball out to the right and Hamer’s poor headed clearance fell to Chaplin, who threaded Ladapo in through a huge gap in the Brewers’ defence and the striker confidently slipped his 16th goal of the season past the advancing MacGillivray.
As the game moved into four minutes of injury time, Chaplin struck a shot from the edge of the area which deflected narrowly wide after a long spell of Blues’ possession around the Burton box.
That was the last action of what had been a half of two halves from Town. The Blues made an uncharacteristically sloppy start to the match, giving the ball away too easily and struggling to take control of the game.
However, as the match moved towards the half-hour mark, they began to take charge and create chances and once in front they dominated and might even have been more than three goals in front at the break.
The half-time lead ought to be more than enough to have confirmed the Blues’ third win in three games and also allow manager Kieran McKenna to rest some of his first-choice players early on during the second half.
Town: Walton, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (c), Luongo, Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead, Ladapo. Subs: Hladky, Donacien, Humphreys, Edwards, Harness, Jackson, Hirst.
Burton: Macgillivray, Brayford (c), Oshilaja, Hughes, Powell, Taylor, Smith, Moon, Shaughnessy, Helm, Hamer. Subs: Garratt, Lavelle, Kirk, Walker, Carayol, Kamwa, Ashworth. Referee: Carl Boyeson (East Yorkshire).