Ipswich Town arrived on Tyneside with a reputation for defensive parsimony but departed with their pride shredded by Ayoze Pérez and Matt Ritchie. It left Rafael Benítez’s steadily improving team three points clear at the top of the Championship. If their fifth successive league win is anything to go by Newcastle will take some dislodging.
“We’ve been beaten by the champions,” said Mick McCarthy who, pressing every available button, changed formations and personnel mid-game but merely succeeded in giving Newcastle some minor second-half problems. “Newcastle were better than us,” the Ipswich manager said. “We tried everything to stop them but we couldn’t. My players worked really hard but nothing we did worked.”
Sixty seconds had passed when Pérez opened the scoring courtesy of an exquisite right-foot volley unleashed in the wake of Paul Dummett’s cross and Dwight Gayle’s headed flick.
It was a goal Sir Bobby Robson would have relished and, appropriately enough, the stadium soon echoed to an evocative rendition of “Walking in a Robson Wonderland.” How Sir Bobby would have been intrigued by this meeting of two clubs so close to his heart in front of a crowd of nearly 52,000 on an afternoon when Ipswich fans gathered around his statue on Gallowgate, taking selfies.
In the match programme, Kieron Dyer, the former England midfielder, who played for both teams, suggested Benítez was the first Newcastle manager since Robson capable of masterminding a return to the Champions League. Dyer predicted the Tynesiders would “surprise” the Premier League next season.
Benítez knows there are an awful lot of hard yards to be covered before a return to the top tier is assured and looked suitably concerned when Ipswich’s Leon Best directed a left-foot shot against the bar after meeting Tom Lawrence’s cross.
Otherwise Newcastle were very much on top with Ritchie and Gayle missing a couple of first-half chances. Moreover they should have been awarded a penalty when Bartosz Bialkowski hauled down Gayle following the forward’s connection with Jonjo Shelvey’s defly curled ball but, inexplicably, James Adcock, the referee, disagreed.
Benítez’s frustration mounted as the second half unfolded and, still, his players could not quite extend their advantage. After Ritchie volleyed inches wide after latching on to a Dummett cross and Bialkowski did well to repel Yoan Gouffran’s shot, the fragility of Newcastle’s narrow lead created nervous tension whenever Ipswich counterattacked.
Although Karl Darlow in the home goal rarely seemed troubled, there was a spell when their pass-and-move game clicked out of rhythm, when even Shelvey became oppressed by the close central midfield attentions of Jonathan Douglas and Adam Webster and it all became rather flat and mundane.
McCarthy’s streetwise spoiling tactics were, albeit briefly, succeeding in dragging Newcastle down to Ipswich’s level. “Overall it was another good win and it was easy at the end,” Benítez said, “but they made it difficult for us during the second half.”
It took Pérez’s second goal to raise the tone and restore the party atmosphere. McCarthy had made a particular pre-match point of emphasising the threat posed by Ritchie but, still, Josh Emmanuel failed to prevent the former Bournemouth winger from crossing perfectly for Pérez to lash the ball home from inside the area.
Ritchie had begun the game slowly but was clearly saving the best for last. Perhaps anxious to further vindicate McCarthy’s judgment, Ritchie scored a long-range goal himself, beating Bialkowski with a subtly curving shot dispatched with the outside of his left foot after an exchange of passes with Perez.
“Newcastle are a very good team and all their three finishes were fabulous,” McCarthy said. “We got what we deserved. Nothing.”
