Sixteen years of hurt have finally come to an end for Ipswich Town. A curse that had lingered for longer than that on most abandoned burial grounds was banished in conclusive fashion as their East Anglian rivals were defeated 3-1 and generally outclassed in the home side’s first win in 15 derbies.
Goals from the man of the match, Cédric Kipré, the mercurial Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke were the decisive moments of the match, Norwich’s kamikaze attacking another factor. But the figure of Marcelino Núñez, who scored against Ipswich for Norwich in the last derby two seasons ago and then completed a £10m move to Suffolk in the summer, loomed throughout. Featuring on the cover of the programme and in the voices of the Ipswich support, even as he started the match on the bench, this was a transfer troll that ultimately achieved the desired effect.
Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna was keen to play down the Núñez factor, even after the Chilean had taken his own victory lap around Portman Road at the final whistle and stroked the Ipswich crest on a corner flag. “His motivation to come here was nothing about his feelings about Norwich,” McKenna insisted, though he was on more convincing ground when he spoke of a “deserved” win for his team that can be a “big moment for us going forward”.
