Ipswich secured a winning return to the Premier League as substitute Jack Clarke scored a 90th-minute winner against his former club Sunderland at Portman Road.
Last season’s Championship runners-up took the lead in the 24th minute when Julio Enciso intercepted a pass on the halfway line before driving towards the edge of the box and squaring for fellow summer signing Emersonn, who tapped the ball home.
Sunderland equalised in style six minutes before half-time when Nilson Angulo’s curling free-kick struck the crossbar and went in.
Ipswich, however, snatched victory late on through former Sunderland winger Clarke, who curled a superb effort into the far bottom corner from just inside the box.
Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil described the game as a “welcome back to the Premier League” moment.
“You can see how hard it is to win a Premier League game,” O’Neil told BBC Match of the Day.
“You’re 1-0 up, looking comfortable and someone smashes a free-kick in from 25 yards. But we were never going to settle for 1-1. We were still trying to get up the pitch and get pressure high up, and for our goal to come from a pressure phase that late in the game shows the togetherness, fitness and work-rate of the players”, he added.
