Ipswich Town goalscorer Omari Hutchinson revealed he had been working hard in training on making his first Premier League goal a special one while captain Sam Morsy said they knew it was coming.

The pair were picked out to do post-match duties by Sky Sports following an enthralling 1-1 draw at Portman Road which saw Town prove once again they can more than mix it with the biggest spending clubs in the Premier League.

Kieran McKenna’s side fell behind to his former club, playing under new head coach Ruben Amorim for the first time, within 80 seconds as Marcus Rashford steered home a Amad Diallo cross.

But the Blues produced a strong response and more than deserved to be level heading into the break following an outstanding strike from the edge of the area from Hutchinson which clipped the head of Noussair Mazraoui.

It saw the England U21 international mark his first Premier League goal, following his club record £20 million signing from Chelsea in the summer in style.

Morsy felt Town could and should have gone on to take all three points with only the saves of Cameroon number one André Onana denying them.

And Hutchinson felt that going behind in the game served to help get the best out of the Blues, who now have nine points from their opening 12 matches since promotion to leave them 18th, but level on goal difference with the last safe spot.

“If we go a goal behind I think we play even better,” he said. “We get an extra boost and I feel like we get extra confidence when we go 1-0 down.

“We just have to keep in it and show resilience as Skip [Morsy] said and hopefully the outcome is positive.”

Asked about how he rated his goal on a personal level, having scored a number of eye-catching finishes in his loan spell from Chelsea last season, with this one reminiscent of the fine curling finish against Hull City as they closed in on automatic promotion, he said: “I’ve been working on it in training [Morsy interjects: “We’ve been waiting for that one!”] but I just want to help the team with goals and assists and my performances, trying to win games; Today was unlucky.”

Morsy was asked how many have gone in in training from the former Arsenal youth player and replied: “Yes, he’s got that quality and loads go in, we’ve just been waiting for that first one and undoubtedly he’s going to score a lot of goals this season and he’s going to make a difference for us.”

Asked about Liam Delap’s influence, having gone close to scoring in both the first half and second, as well as proving a constant thorn in United’s side, Morsy said: “He’s an old-fashioned battering ram with real quality, real power.

“He’s having a great season, he’s scored a lot of goals; he’s had some good chances today but equally the keeper made some fantastic saves, so we weren’t too hard on him on this occasion.”

Town have no midweek game ahead of travelling to Nottingham Forest on Saturday (3pm) with Nuno Espírito Santo’s side currently lying seventh in the table, despite suffering back-to-back defeats, against Newcastle United (3-1, H) and Arsenal (3-0, A). 

Photo: Matchday Images

CookAshtonJohnson added 22:39 - Nov 24 What a performance from that man tonight. After a couple of questionable displays as the 10 behind Delap, he seems to have found his feet in the Premier League, much like when he found his feet in the Championship near the end of last season. Deserved his goal, albeit a deflection of the defender, but deserved it nonetheless.
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ChingShady added 22:43 - Nov 24 Man I miss town TV and Westy's enthusiasm! Bring back the VPN dream!
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d77sgw added 09:58 - Nov 25 ChingShady, I feel ya - but Westy's not just enthusiasm - really insightful commentary. I bloody love Sam Morsy - "..so we weren’t too hard on him on this occasion" - he's so demanding of the players, but calm with it. He doesn't just cover every blade of grass, she's like another coach. He's one of the most inspirational captains this club has had, period... (disclaimer I've only been watching since the 80s...)

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IRONBLUE added 10:05 - Nov 25 The 20 million pound goal for the world to see that we are not pushovers. To be with the big boys and play with hearts on sleeves is all you want.
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Marinersnose added 18:53 - Nov 25 Hutchinson has been superb this season and fully deserved his goal. His performances have been improving game by game but too many fans don’t understand what he does for the team. He carries the ball so well and is comfortable to receive the ball in tight situations playing on the half turn and he’s so clever with the ball. His main contribution is to get the team further up the field something that goes unnoticed with those fans with limited football knowledge. He’s still a young developing player but he’s getting better and better and imo has been our mom at Spurs and again yesterday. A fantastic acquisition

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