Middlesbrough go top of the Championship after beating Ipswich in eventful clash

Morgan Whittaker scored his first Middlesbrough goal as Rob Edwards’ side returned to the top of the Championship with an action-packed 2-1 win over Ipswich.

Whittaker doubled Boro’s lead in the 55th minute after Cedric Kipre’s own goal in first-half added time had gifted them the advantage, shortly after home goalkeeper Sol Brynn saved a George Hirst penalty.

Ipswich, who had their own keeper Alex Palmer to thank for keeping them level with a series of big saves around the half-hour mark, reduced the deficit through Dara O’Shea’s header but scarcely threatened to claim the point that would have extended their five-match unbeaten run.

Victory snapped a three-game winless run for the hosts, who had made their intent plain by belatedly pummelling the visitors’ goal after a forgettable first half hour.

Ipswich, stewing over a penalty appeal that was turned down after Hirst’s rising shot struck the arm of Alfie Jones, were saved three times in quick succession by Palmer.

The former West Brom keeper first stopped a low drive from Tommy Conway, then flipped Hayden Hackney’s deflected effort over the crossbar before tipping away Alan Browne’s drive from the resulting corner.

The visitors almost snatched the lead at the other end when Dael Fry hooked an effort from Sam Szmodics at the other end, and Boro swiftly broke with Delano Burgzorg’s low effort parried by Palmer into the path of David Strelec, who somehow spooned wide from point-blank range.

Boro looked set to pay the price when Callum Brittain’s shirt-tug on Davis won the visitors a 42nd-minute penalty, but this time it was Brynn who rose to the occasion, diving to his right to tip Hirst’s spot-kick around the post.

And a breathless end to the first period was complete in added time when Burgzorg wriggled around the left edge of the Ipswich defence and delivered a harmless-looking cross that took a slight deflection and dribbled into the net off the unfortunate Kipre.

Boro wrested the momentum at the start of the second half, and after Burgzorg fired a speculative effort over the bar, they doubled their lead in the 55th minute.

Strelec’s low cross from the right was palmed away by Palmer under pressure from Conway and fell to Whittaker, who lashed home his first Boro goal to put Edwards’ men in full control.

Whittaker drove another effort wide on the end of Burgzorg’s swift counter attack as Boro looked good bets to add to their tally.

But instead it was Ipswich who reduced the deficit when O’Shea glanced home a 76th-minute header from a corner.

But O’Shea’s strike did not ignite the expected spell of Ipswich pressure, with Brynn saving well from substitute Jack Clarke in an otherwise relatively comfortable concluding spell for Boro.