Ipswich Town finally laid to rest 16 years of East Anglian derby frustration with a 3-1 victory over Norwich City at Portman Road, a result powered by Jaden Philogene’s spectacular long-range strike and sealed by Jack Clarke’s late tap-in. The hosts overcame an early wobble and an equaliser from Oscar Schwartau to end Norwich's 14-match unbeaten run in this fixture and claim a first derby win since 2009.
Centre-back Cedric Kipre thumped Ipswich into the lead from a corner midway through the first half, only for Schwartau to level almost immediately with a deflected shot from the edge of the box. With the game finely poised at 1-1, Philogene produced a thunderous 30-yard rocket on the stroke of half-time to restore Town’s advantage, before substitute Clarke capitalised after Ivan Azon had struck the post to complete the scoring.
The victory extended Ipswich’s unbeaten run to five matches and lifted Kieran McKenna’s side eight places up the Championship table to ninth, just two points outside the play-off positions. For Norwich and head coach Liam Manning, however, it was another damaging afternoon, stretching their winless sequence to five games and leaving them down in 19th place as basic defensive errors again undermined promising spells of play.
Set-Piece Double Sets Derby Alight