Ipswich won 28 of their 46 league games during the season, losing only six
Ipswich Town soared back into the Premier League for the first time since 2002 by cruising to victory over relegated Huddersfield at an ecstatic Portman Road.
Wales international Wes Burns gave them a first-half lead, which was doubled by Omari Hutchinson early in the second with a shot from the edge of the box.
Only needing one point at kick-off to be sure of promotion, Kieran McKenna’s side were focused on doing it in style and much of the game was one-way traffic towards the Huddersfield goal.
The result also confirmed that the Terriers, a Premier League side themselves as recently as 2019, will go down to League One for the first time for 12 years.
Ipswich finish the season on 96 points – just one fewer than champions Leicester - and become the first team since Southampton in 2011-12 to go from the third tier to the first in successive seasons.
McKenna is only the fifth Ipswich manager to win promotion to the top flight, following Alf Ramsey - later Sir Alf - in 1961, Bill McGarry in 1968, John Lyall in 1992 and George Burley in 2000 – the latter doing so via the play-offs.
British heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley (left) was among the Ipswich fans as Kieran McKenna celebrated his side's achievement
- Published4 May
- Published4 May
- Published4 May
The Ipswich team bus arrived to cheers from fans waving scarves, flags and blue flares, and thousands invaded the pitch when the final whistle was blown.
McKenna had made three changes to the side which started the midweek win at Coventry, including the restoration of joint top scorer Conor Chaplin, while goalkeeper Chris Maxwell was given his first Terriers start since Boxing Day by head coach Andre Breitenreiter.
Eight of the Ipswich team also started the 6-0 victory over Exeter which secured promotion last season, an indication of how the Irishman has upgraded his squad at a cost of a few million pounds compared to promotion rivals buoyed up by Premier League parachute money.
Town were up against clubs including Forest Green, Accrington and Fleetwood last season, but the prospect of facing Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool next term ensured an atmosphere of huge anticipation at kick-off.
Wearing their Ed Sheeran-sponsored shirts – although the man himself was away at the Miami Grand Prix - Ipswich threatened early and Maxwell had to be quickly off his line to foil Hutchinson as he pursued a ball over the top before Axel Tuanzebe’s deflected 20-yard shot hit the side netting.
George Hirst should have done better with a header after Chaplin had turned the ball back across the box following a corner and the latter then flashed a shot inches wide with Huddersfield guilty of giving the home side too much time and space to pick their passes.
Ipswich had their best chance yet as Chaplin split the Huddersfield defence with a perfectly weighted pass, but although Burns was just off target, he finally broke the deadlock moments later after Jack Rudoni was caught in possession by Hutchinson.
Wes Burns celebrates his goal in front of jubilant Ipswich fans
Rudoni was immediately taken off by Breitenreiter, replaced by Alex Matos, but the Ipswich siege continued and they thought they should have been awarded a penalty when Chaplin appeared to be pushed over in the box by Matty Pearson.
Sam Morsy stung Maxwell’s palms with a fierce 25-yard drive and Massimo Luongo was just too high as a first half in which Huddersfield failed to muster a single credible goal attempt came to an end.
And their defence was guilty of backing off soon after the re-start as Hutchinson fired in a shot which Maxwell got his hand to but could not keep out of his net.
From that point, it was all about damage limitation for the Terriers as Leif Davis was just too high with a half volley from Hutchinson’s cross and Luongo forced a brilliant top-corner save by Maxwell with a curling effort.
Josh Koroma belatedly forced Ipswich keeper Vaclav Hladky into action from Tom Iorpenda’s pass and only just cleared the bar with a side-footed effort as Huddersfield stirred themselves from their back-foot mindset to seek a consolation.
Jeremy Sarmiento fired Ipswich’s last opportunity over from Kayden Jackson’s cut-back but such was their command, McKenna was able to send on reserve keeper Christian Walton – who lost his first-choice status following an injury last summer – for the final joyous moments.
Road to the Premier League
Ipswich made an unbelievable start to the campaign, winning 12 of their first 16 games and only losing once – a 4-3 home defeat by Leeds United, their only one at Portman Road in 2023-24 – to set the pace alongside Leicester City.
They responded to a 2-0 setback at West Brom in November with four successive wins, but a 4-0 loss at Leeds came during a run of only one win in nine matches, their stickiest patch of the season.
The loss of Hirst to injury prompted the loan signing of Kieffer Moore, who netted six times in his first nine games on his return to the club following a spell at Portman Road in 2017-18, while Jeremy Sarmiento and Ali Al-Hamadi, also brought in during the January window, also contributed valuable goals.
A 4-0 win at Millwall on 14 February set things firmly back on an upward course and they returned to the top of the table as March moved into April following back-to-back victories over Blackburn and Southampton.
Defeat in the East Anglian derby at Norwich checked their momentum, followed by three successive draws, but the victory at Coventry put them within touching distance of the top flight.
And even though Leeds’ home loss to Southampton meant Ipswich would have gone up irrespective of their result against Huddersfield, a totally dominant display merely added a final punctuation point to a sensational season for the Tractor Boys.
Post-match reaction
Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna:
"To get so far so quickly, a lot of hard work, everyone together, it’s amazing what you can do.
“They’re incredible (the players). I’ll speak to them over the next few days, they have been an absolute privilege to work with in my first managerial job.
“What a journey it’s been. I’m not sure it will happen again in the way that we’ve done it.
"I know you can say technically it’s been done before but I’m not sure it’s been done like this in a football club like this.
"We will work really hard over the summer and what a fantastic challenge is ahead."
Huddersfield boss Andre Breitenreiter told BBC Radio Leeds:
"We wanted to try and give our best in the game. We played good against the ball in the first half, we showed a compact unit.
"Second half we wanted to be more brave, but you could see they were better in every possession, they were quick and confident.
"I think the mentality and the willingness were ok, and this is what we can expect from our team (in future).
"The owner came over to England so we will have some conversations. I want to reflect on the last few weeks and then we will decide if I am the right person for the project."
