Morgan Whittaker scored his first Middlesbrough goal as Rob Edwards’ side returned to the top of the Championship with an action-packed 2-1 win against Ipswich. Victory ended a three-game winless run for the home side, who had made their intent plain by pummelling the visitors’ goal after a forgettable first 30 minutes.
Whittaker doubled Boro’s lead in the 55th minute after Cédric Kipré’s own goal in first-half added time had given them the advantage, shortly after the home goalkeeper Sol Brynn saved a George Hirst penalty.
Ipswich, who had their own goalkeeper Alex Palmer to thank for keeping them level with a series of important saves around the half-hour mark, reduced the deficit through Dara O’Shea’s header with 14 minutes to go but scarcely threatened to claim the draw that would have extended their five-match unbeaten run.
Ipswich, stewing over a penalty appeal that was turned down after Hirst’s rising shot struck the arm of Alfie Jones, were saved three times in quick succession by Palmer. The former West Brom goalkeeper first stopped a low drive from Tommy Conway, then flipped Hayden Hackney’s deflected effort over the crossbar before tipping away Alan Browne’s drive from the resulting corner.
The visitors almost snatched the lead at the other end after an effort from Sam Szmodics. Then Middlesbrough broke swiftly, with Delano Burgzorg’s low effort parried by Palmer into the path of David Strelec, who somehow spooned wide from point-blank range.
The hosts looked set to pay the price when Callum Brittain’s shirt-tug on Davis won the visitors a 42nd-minute penalty, but this time it was Brynn who rose to the occasion, diving to his right to tip Hirst’s spot-kick around a post. A breathless end to the first period was complete in added time when Burgzorg wriggled around the left edge of the Ipswich defence and delivered a harmless looking cross that took a slight deflection and dribbled into the net off the unfortunate Kipré.
Middlesbrough seized the momentum at the start of the second half and, after Burgzorg fired a speculative effort over the bar, they doubled their lead in the 55th minute. Strelec’s low cross from the right was palmed away by Palmer under pressure from Conway and fell to Whittaker, who lashed home his first Boro goal to put Edwards’ side in full control.
Whittaker drove another effort wide at the end of Burgzorg’s swift counterattack as Boro looked likely to add to their tally. But instead it was Ipswich who reduced the deficit when O’Shea glanced home a 76th-minute header from a corner.
However, that goal did not ignite the expected spell of Ipswich pressure, with Brynn saving well from the substitute Jack Clarke in an otherwise relatively comfortable concluding spell for Middlesbrough.
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Edwards paid tribute to Whittaker after the striker broke his Riverside Stadium duck. Whittaker has come in for criticism since signing from Plymouth in January but Edwards believes his confidence will grow after his coolly taken strike.
“I’m really pleased. There’s high expectations on him because he’s a really good player and he understands that,” said Edwards. “What I’d really like to celebrate is that he’s working very hard to get through it. It’s his night, it’s big for him and hopefully we’ll build on that.”
The Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, bemoaned his side’s inability to take their chances as they extended their winless record this season away from Portman Road. Hirst’s penalty gave them a golden opportunity to take a half-time advantage but instead they went in behind and extended their poor form on their travels.
“I don’t think we can have too many complaints about the result because we made too many mistakes,” said McKenna. “We had a big moment with the penalty to go 1-0 up and it could have been really different, but you can’t go in 1-0 down from that situation. We need to be stronger. We didn’t stay together defensively when it was really tough. I think the game changes completely at 1-0 and that’s been the story of our away games so far.”
