Szmodics and Delap stun Spurs as Ipswich end long wait for first win | Premier League

Ipswich have been waiting 22 and a half years for this. And how their vibrant support was celebrated after nine minutes of seemingly endless stoppage time. This article tells a lot about how our first Premier League win since April 2002 was completely deserved, with a smart performance in the first half, we escaped with goals from Sammy Schmodics and Liam Delap, and we recovered in the second half. Passed the test of power.

Rodrigo Bentancur's header was all Tottenham could manage after being disjointed throughout and struggling to cope with the late siege, and the result added yet another feather to Kieran McKenna's cap. The Ipswich manager started out as Spurs' academy coach and was credited with the team's performances here.

McKenna knew Ipswich needed to execute their plan perfectly to have any chance of beating Tottenham. Tottenham could have chosen the same starting XI that beat Villa a week ago. The visiting team more than held their own from the start, and the balance of play meant their lead was not unreasonable.

The opening goal came from good work by the long-legged Jens Cajuste, who started in place of the suspended Kalvin Phillips, breaking through the midfield and changing the pace of patient passing movements. In the end, Cajuste supplied an awkward cross from the right. Cristian Romero was only able to glide the ball, and Szmodic, with his back to goal and little pressure, had time to duck and fire an overhead kick that missed Guglielmo Vicario's diving effort. I crossed it.

Tottenham looked sleepy throughout, probably because they spent most of the week visiting Istanbul and racking up air miles. Things went from bad to worse before he could lay another glove on the visitors, who were poised with a low block but moved forward intelligently and with speed. Ipswich looked sharp but decidedly hungry. Omari Hutchinson refused to bow to Bentancur's challenge in midfield, carrying the ball from end to end, sliding it to the left and passing it to Leif Davis, both of which worked.

Szmodics, who had previously been limping, struggled with the overlap and was able to center from the byline, and Spurs found themselves in trouble when Vicario fired past Radu Dragusin. The ball was headed, but the 21-year-old promising Delap showed a poacher's instincts and scored his sixth of the season.

Ed Sheeran watched from the stands as Ipswich played for the first time wearing the pink kit he partially inspired, and was able to join the visiting team in celebrating with enthusiasm. These were not bolts out of the blue. Within two minutes, Schmodics forced a save from Vicario after some great work from Hutchinson, and after nine minutes Cameron Burgess pounced at the far post, but Davies' corner-kick hit the top of the bar.

Ipswich set up in a low block, with the returning Axel Tuanzebe able to match Son Heung-min's pace. By halftime he had managed to dominate the Korean, but the Korean's most important involvement was a cross in the opening third that Brennan Johnson could have done better with a wide jab. He also saw a shot stopped by Ipswich keeper Alo Muric, who was even sharper, deflecting Dominic Solanke's shot wide of the target to make it scoreless.

But Spurs are struggling and will need a rocket from Ange Postecoglou at half-time. Expectations have been raised after Aston Villa's superb response to the team's dispatch a week ago. Immediately after the break, the team felt a turnaround was in the offing when Solanke scored from close range from a corner kick from Muric's acrobatic fall from Son. Ipswich are so upset by the recent video assistant referee's decision that a meeting was held with Howard Webb at Portman Road in midweek, but this time the striker claimed the ball had fallen into his hands. He made the right decision and was saved thanks to technology.

By that time, Tottenham had conceded all the territory in the world, but not enough to take a chance and break down the door. Ipswich were perilously deep for most of the stretch and clearly threatened on the break until the boisterous Delap teed up nicely and fired a shot wide of Hutchinson. It flickered again. Postecoglou's decision to replace Pape Matar-Saar with Timo Werner broke things down and, coincidentally or not, things changed almost immediately.

The source of the information was a surprise. Bentancur sped to Pedro Polo's outswinging corner and fired past Muric for his first goal for the club since January. Now, Ipswich will be lucky to survive as Muric touches Werner's piledrive and then misses Polo's set-piece. It looked like a switch had been flipped for the home team.

Werner, set up in space by Son, was spooned over with six minutes of normal time remaining, but Ipswich managed the second half stages well. Their season could start in earnest when Muric made a save from Solanke late in stoppage time.