Ipswich bubble bursts at King Power Stadium with 3-1 loss to Leicester
The King Power Stadium at Leicester. Photo: Russell Cook
The bubble that had been developing over Ipswich Town’s bid to get a quick return to the Premier League was well and truly burst at the King Power Stadium, yesterday (Saturday, December 12).
Two wonderful victories over table toppers Coventry City and promotion rivals Stoke City during the week were deflated by a convincing 3-1 loss at Leicester.
The result and performance was a bitter disappointment for over 3,000 Town fans who made the trip to the Midlands for the Championship game of the day.
Yes, two fantastic goals in the first half from Leicester followed by a third in the second period condemned Ipswich to their first defeat since the 2-1 setback against Oxford United back towards the end of November and their second loss in the past 11 league games.
But they showed little evidence of getting back in the game despite Jens Cajuste gifted a goal.
Slack passing allied to inept ball control combined with a high press from Leicester led to Town’s downfall.
Abdul Fatawu scored a sensational goal from inside his own half as Leicester registered only their second home win of the season since beating Birmingham on August 29.
Fatawu hit an incredible effort from outside the centre circle over the backpedalling Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton as the Foxes put their recent woes behind them in fine style.
Earlier Bobby De Cordova-Reid had opened the scoring with a magnificent 30-yard strike.
Jordan Ayew tapped home the third before Cajuste pulled one back for Ipswich.
Jack Clarke missed a big chance when the Tractor Boys were 1-0 down just minutes before the Ghana winger scored, when he shot unmarked straight at keeper Jakub Stolarczyk from 12 yards out.
The win moved Leicester up to eighth spot, just three points off the play-off places and fifth-placed Ipswich.
Town manager Kieran McKenna praised the fans and he said he wanted to make it a day to remember for them but it was not to be.
Speaking to the club’s website he said: “The away fans were brilliant and we really wanted to give them a better game here.
“We’ve had a couple of really good games and today’s disappointing; it’s who’s going to be consistent over the course of the season.
“We need to regroup quickly after today, it’s good to have no game in midweek next week.
“Today’s the end of a really, really long run of games and maybe that showed a little bit but we won’t lean into that too much.
“We will think of the things that we can do better and make sure that we train well next week and we deliver a big performance at Portman Road next week hopefully that will give us three points.
“We need to work day by day to improve, take the lessons when we win, take the lessons when we don’t win and try and be consistent as good as we can be for the rest of the season.”