Ipswich suffer cruel twist after leading against City

There was a moment that capped Ipswich Town’s rise. Two years ago, their first away game of the campaign was at Forest Green Rovers. Now it was at Manchester City. They walked past the Premier League trophy that Pep Guardiola’s side have won for four consecutive seasons. They dared to take the lead.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Manchester City 4
Haaland (12 pen, 16, 88), De Bruyne (18)

Ipswich Town 1
Szmodics (7)

And that, perhaps predictably, was as good as it got. City are a club with their own history in the third tier but these days they show precious little sentiment towards anyone else. They can be the crushers of fairytales. They welcomed Ilkay Gundogan back to the Etihad Stadium but afforded Ipswich a different reception in their first away game in the top flight for 22 years.

Ahead after seven minutes, a goal to the good for five, Kieran McKenna’s side conceded three times in four. Their advantage was a cruelly brief affair. They had still less time to savour it, given that much of it consisted of a VAR check for a penalty and then a wait for Erling Haaland to convert it.

Haaland, who can prey on promoted teams, scored twice in swift succession against a side who went up in consecutive campaigns and ended up, ridiculously, with his 10th City hat-trick. Haaland scored five in a game, albeit in the FA Cup, against a club that had come up from the Championship, in Luton last year. He settled for three this time.