Jaden Philogene celebrating scoring for Ipswich against Sheffield UnitedRex Features

Jaden Philogene joined Ipswich from Aston Villa for £20m in January

Glenn Speller
BBC Sport England at Portman Road

Jaden Philogene lit up Portman Road with his first senior hat-trick as Ipswich ended their winless start to the Championship season while piling more misery on Sheffield United and their embattled boss Ruben Selles.

For just the second time in their history, the Blades have opened a season with five successive league defeats and Selles cut a lonely figure on the touchline as he watched his side crumble in the face of some slick, pacy football from the hosts.

Philogene capitalised on a slip by Blades debutant Alex Matos to fire Ipswich ahead on 21 minutes before adding two more eye-catching strikes in the second period as the visitors collapsed defensively with a series of bad errors.

George Hirst added a fourth through the legs of goalkeeper Michael Cooper before substitute Jack Clarke repeated the trick to leave the future of the visitors' head coach surely in the balance.

The first surprise of the evening arrived with the team sheets - Sheffield United captain Gus Hamer dropped to the bench - and things swiftly went downhill for the visitors.

Philogene gave an early warning of his intentions with his second-minute shot saved by Cooper before Japhet Tanganga offered the travelling support some early encouragement with two headers from Harrison Burrows corners just over the bar.

But 10 minutes after Chuba Akpom had just failed to convert a Leif Davis cross, Ipswich went ahead as Alex Matos, in trying to intercept a cross-field pass, could only divert it into the path of Philogene who ran on to score confidently.

Six minutes after the break, the Blades defence clearly had not learned their lesson as they allowed the winger to cut inside on his right foot for a second time with the same outcome.

With chants of 'sacked in the morning' echoing from the away sections, more dreadful defending allowed Hirst to find space in the penalty area and slot an effort from an acute angle through Cooper's legs.

It took 59 minutes for home goalkeeper Alex Palmer to be called into action as he denied Tom Cannon but it was only a brief respite as Philogene completed his hat-trick by hammering a rising left-foot effort into the roof of the net.

Substitute Clarke joined the party late on, becoming the second player to beat Cooper with a nutmeg as Ipswich completed just their second home league win in 22 attempts and a first since beating Chelsea in the Premier League on 30 December last year.

'We fell apart' - what they said

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna:

"Tonight feels like the first game for the group. The first half was really tough. I've got a lot of respect for Ruben because his sides press really hard and it's difficult to get out and play.

"Our talent at the top end can hurt teams and it was a different challenge from what we had from Derby and Preston before – to get the rewards we got in the second half we had to show a lot of resilience and strength."

On the performance of hat-trick scorer Jaden Philogene:

"It's a boost for Jaden on an individual level – he came to us late last season and was playing on the right and we know he prefers to play on the left but we had some injuries so we had to play him on the right.

"We've done a lot of work with him in the summer – for him it will be a big boost to his confidence and we know what qualities he can bring to the side.

Sheffield United boss Ruben Selles:

"The first goal comes from an interception 70 yards from our goal. The second goal changed the game and I think we fell apart. We can analyse the changes and the shape but we were competitive until the second goal.

"After a 5-0 defeat it's tough to talk about some positives but in the first half we saw the team we want to be.

"It doesn't matter what I believe (about my future) but I will keep working until the last moment – I have to take the pain and analyse what we want for the next game to try to beat the next opponent [Charlton on Saturday, 20 September]."

Player of the match

J. Philogene
9.08
11 J. Philogene
9.08
3 L. Davis
7.84
19 D. Furlong
7.73
47 J. Clarke
7.66
5 A. Matusiwa
7.61
12 J. Cajuste
7.59
26 D. O'Shea
7.58
24 J. Greaves
7.54
23 S. Szmodics
7.40
20 K. McAteer
7.29
32 M. Núñez
7.28
8 S. Egeli
7.21
31 Iván Azón
7.20
1 A. Palmer
7.19
29 C. Akpom
7.18
9 G. Hirst
6.32
Back to team tabs

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

Related topics