Conor Chaplin netted twice and Nathan Broadhead and Freddie Ladapo once each as Town comfortably beat Burton Albion 4-0 at Portman Road, their third league win on the bounce. After a sluggish start, the Blues sealed the win with three goals in 11 minutes from the 31st minute onwards, Chaplin netted the first, Broadhead the second and Ladapo the third, before Town’s top scorer took his tally for the season to 19 in the 69th minute.
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.
Burton made a double change ahead of the start of the second half replacing Helm and Smith with Charlie Kirk and Josh Walker.
Broadhead saw a strike blocked two minutes after the restart with Town keeping the ball and continuing to probe before Luongo shot just wide from the edge of the area.
Four minutes into the half, there was a scare for the Blues when Walton, Taylor and Cameron Burgess collided as they battled for a cross from the left, the ball falling to Brayford on the right of the box with the keeper grounded. Fortunately for Town, the veteran ex-Derby man, who moments earlier had been fortunate not to be shown a second yellow card for a foul on Broadhead, shot well wide.
The Blues should have made it 4-0 in the 54th minute when Burns was again sent away on the right and cut back to Chaplin on the edge of the area but, having been given plenty of time, the forward scuffed his shot wide.
Within a minute, Burton broke following a Town attack, Woolfenden misjudging and allowing Walker to feed Taylor in space on the right of the box, however, Burgess slid in to make an important block. From the corner, the Blues failed to clear their lines and Taylor hooked wide but with the referee awarding a free-kick for a foul.
In the 59th minute, a Blues’ free-kick was cleared to Chaplin on the edge of the box and Burgess tried to flick on his underpowered effort but sent it wide from an offside position.
Just after the hour mark, Burton swapped Brayford for Bobby Kamwa ahead of a free-kick 30 yards out which Joe Powell struck powerfully to Walton’s right, the keeper scrambling across to palm it round the post.
The Brewers subsequently kept the Blues pinned into their area, winning three corners in quick succession, but eventually Walton confidently claimed a cross played in from the left.
However, on 64, following a long throw, Burton’s main threat in the early stages of the game, Kamwa hooked a shot towards goal which was blocked.
Three minutes later, shortly after Shaughnessy had been booked for the latest in a succession of fouls on Broadhead, the recent signing from Everton worked himself space before shooting across the face of goal following good work by Morsy.
And in the 69th minute, the Blues made it 4-0. Broadhead played Davis in on the left and the former Leeds man cut back to Chaplin on the edge of the box from where the forward struck his 19th goal of the season into the net, the ball taking a deflection off Moon on the way through.
Having established their four-goal lead, Blues boss Kieran McKenna swapped Ladapo, Chaplin and Broadhead, all of whom were given warm ovations as they left the field, for Hirst, Marcus Harness and Kyle Edwards. Three minutes later, ex-Town winger Carayol replaced Taylor for the by-now well-beaten visitors.
As Burton prepared to restart in the 77th minute following a Harness low shot wide, Australian international Luongo’s second full Town debut ended when he was switched for Humphreys, the January free signing receiving a standing ovation following a very impressive display.
In the 81st minute, Carayol cut back from the Brewers’ right to Kamwa but Woolfenden slid in to prevent the sub from getting a shot away. The ball eventually ran out to Powell but his strike flew deep into the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.
Town were forced into a change in the 83rd minute after Davis suffered what looked like an ankle knock. The left-back underwent lengthy treatment on the pitch before gingerly making his way around the perimeter, Janoi Donacien having come on on the right with Clarke moving to the left.
In injury time, the Blues weren’t far away from making it five when Humphreys crossed from the byline on the left to Harness just inside the area on the right from where the ex-Portsmouth man unleashed a volley which his one-time Pompey teammate MacGillivray did well to block.
That was the final action of a game which had effectively been over since the Blues’ quick-fire treble in the first half.
Town had opportunities to add to their lead beyond Chaplin’s fourth but the second period inevitably lacked the intensity of the latter period of the first.
The Blues have now won three in a row in the league for the first time since October and for only the second time this season. They have also kept four clean sheets in a row.
Town remain third with leaders Sheffield Wednesday and second-placed Plymouth both winning, but the Blues are now three points ahead of fourth-placed Bolton following their lunchtime 0-0 draw with Morecambe, the Trotters having played two more games than Town.
Elsewhere, Derby in fifth drew 2-2 at home to Shrewsbury and Barnsley, sixth, were held 0-0 at Bristol Rovers.
Town are next in action when Accrington Stanley, who beat bottom side Forest Green 2-0 at home this afternoon, visit Portman Road before a trip to Bolton a week today.
Town: Walton, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis (Donacien 83), Morsy (c), Luongo (Humphreys 77), Burns, Chaplin (Harness 70), Broadhead (Edwards 70), Ladapo (Hirst 70). Unused: Hladky, Jackson.
Burton: Macgillivray, Brayford (c) (Kamwa 61), Oshilaja, Hughes, Powell, Taylor (Carayol 73), Smith (Walker 46), Moon, Shaughnessy, Helm (Kirk 46), Hamer. Unused: Garratt, Lavelle, Ashworth. Referee: Carl Boyeson (East Yorkshire). Att: 25,000 (Burton: 147).