Jeremy Sarmiento grabs 97th minute winner as Town beat promotion rivals Southampton to return to the top of the Championship

Substitute Jeremy Sarmiento grabbed a stunning 97th minute winning goal for Ipswich to send them back to the top of the Championship after they came from behind to grab a thrilling 3-2 victory over promotion chasing Southampton in the game of the day at Portman Road.

The ground erupted following the strike and the players and staff on the sidelines leapt with joy when the ball hit the back of the net to put the Town back on the summit of the league after Leicester beat Town’s arch rivals Norwich 3-1 earlier in the day and heading the table ahead of Town’s clash live on Sky TV with Leeds United at home to Hull City later in the evening.

Town went in front through Leif Davis strike but Southampton took a 2-1 lead in the first half through Che Adams and Adam Armstrong.

Nathan Broadhead drew the Town level midway through the second half before Sarmiento scored the winner to a thunderous noise from the 29,393 crowd.

The game sparked into life in the 13th minute when Davis gave the Town the lead.

It came after Omari Hutchinson won the ball in the Saints half and it was eventually spread out to Town skipper Sam Morsy whose pint point cross found Davis on the left who smashed a shot home from an angle on the 12 yard line past Gavin Muzunu in the visitor’s goal.

But a minute later Southampton were level when Che Adams, who initially appeared to be in an offside position, bundled the ball home from the edge of the six yard box following a cross from Adam Armstrong.

And the Saints took the lead in the 23rd minute when the two Armstrongs were heavily involved.

Scottish international Stuart swept down the left of the Ipswich defence and his accurate pass across the penalty area was met by the inrushing Adam who fired Southampton in front as Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky advanced off his line.

It was end to end football as Ipswich attempted to get back into the game while Southampton were looking to further extend their lead.

Moore had to be substituted in the 35th minute after picking up an earlier injury to be replaced by Ali Al-Hamadi and he was immediately involved when he flicked on a header following a throw in by Axel Tuanzebe.

It fell to Jackson who went down dramatically as Jack Stephens came to challenge him but referee Michael Salisbury turned away penalty appeals by Ipswich. 

The Saints nearly went further ahead when former Ipswich loanee Ryan Fraser fired across goal as the half drew to a close while Adam Armstrong fired over from just inside the penalty area.

Hladky bought off a great save seven minutes after the restart diving across his goal to prevent the ball going into the net.

It came following a free kick wide on the left after Jackson was judged to have fouled Fraser but Adam Armstrong was denied by the Ipswich shot stopper.

And Hladky came to the rescue of the Town again in the 58th minute when he rushed out to defect the ball out for a corner from Fraser after a Southampton counter attack.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna made three changes in the 61st minute with Harry Clarke, Jack Taylor and Broadhead replacing Tuanzebe, Massimo Luongo and Jackson.

Al Hamadi struck the right hand post of Gavin Bazunu’s goal in the 66th minute when Broadhead jinked his way into the penalty area and fed his fellow substitute whose firm shot hit the woodwork and rebound to safety.

But all the Town fans hightened the noise inside the ground when Town equalised two minutes later.

Davis kept the ball alive on the left and played it back to Taylor whose first time forward pass found Broadhead who turned to find the net with a low shot on the turn.

There was a flurry of activity on the sidelines as Southampton made a series of substitutions with Will Smallbone, Joe Rothwell, Sam Edozie and David Brooks coming on for Joe Aribo, Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Fraser.

Southampton were reduced to 10 men in the 85th minute when James Bree was shown the red card for bringing down Davis just outside the penalty area when he was through on goal and Sarmiento came on to replace Conor Chaplin with two minutes left.

Jan Bednarek bought down Al-Hamadi during the seven minutes of added time and was shown the yellow card.

And Town won the game with vitually the final kick of of the match.

Sam Morsy picked out Davis with an angled pass out to the left. His cross found Broadhead who had a swing and a miss but the ball fell nicely for Sarmiento who poked the ball home to send the Portman Road crowd delirious.