Jarrod Bowen (left) celebrates after restoring West Ham's lead.Jarrod Bowen (left) celebrates after restoring West Ham's lead. (Image: PA)
SAME OLD STORY
The many themes of Town's so-near-yet-so-very-far Premier League relegation season were all in evidence in a final day defeat.
The Blues grew into a competitive first half. Omari Hutchinson and Nathan Broadhead both forced saves out of Lukasz Fabianski, Sam Morsy fired narrowly wide, while Hutchinson thumped the post (albeit the offside flag was raised). There were several other well-connected moves and spells of pressure that lacked a final pass or cross.
Then, just before the break, a defensive error was ruthlessly punished. Axel Tuanzebe sent a throw-in backwards, Morsy played a blind pass further towards the Ipswich goal and Jarrod Bowen showed great composure to pick out James Ward-Prowse for a simple finish. Add that one to the chunky 'this league is hard enough without giving top class players a leg up' file.
Town got level, against the run of play, through Nathan Broadhead's well-struck shot from the edge of the box. Less than three minutes later, Bowen went one better when playing a sharp one-two, darting inside and beating Christian Walton with a thumping finish inside the near post. That one's filed under 'that's the level'.
Ipswich were still in it. Conor Chaplin skewed a shot across goal, while lively sub Jack Clarke curled inches wide. Then a lost duel in the middle of the park led to Mohammed Kudus curling in in a killer third. If you don't take your chances at this level...
Ipswich finished the season with nine straight home losses.Ipswich finished the season with nine straight home losses. (Image: Ross Halls)
HOME HURT
Town end the season with nine successive defeats at Portman Road. In those games they scored six and conceded 28. That's not good.
Overall, the home league record in this bruising campaign reads: P19 W1 D4 L14 GD -30. Points: Seven. That's not good.
Only Arsenal's late winner at Southampton prevented Town becoming the owners of the joint-worst home record in Premier League history. Even historically dreadful Derby got more home points in 2007/08.
This season's jump has been too big to handle. There's no shame in saying that. The other two newly-promoted teams, who both had much more recent experience at this level, have both been in the same boat. And I do think Town have been more competitive than than the table suggests.
Still, it's absolutely fair to be disappointed with the way form has got worse rather than better in the second half of the campaign. Slipping to 19th should sting.
I'll get stuck into the season post-mortem over the coming days.
Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst were among six players to start who were all part of Town's League One promotion campaign.Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst were among six players to start who were all part of Town's League One promotion campaign. (Image: Steve Waller)
LEAGUE ONE LOOK
Christian Walton was a late replacement for Alex Palmer after the latter fell ill in the warm-up.
Along with Leif Davis, Sam Morsy, Nathan Broadhead, Conor Chaplin and George Hirst, it meant that six of the staring XI were part of the League One promotion campaign. Add in Axel Tuanzebe and Omari Hutchinson, and eight were from the underdog Championship promotion season.
Of the starting XI, only Dara O'Shea and Jens Cajuste had any significant top flight football experience.
Six players - Aro Muric, Conor Townsend, Kalvin Phillips, Chiedozie Ogbene, Wes Burns and Jaden Philogene - were all injured. Julio Enciso was left out ahead of his Brighton loan spell expiring. McKenna revealed afterwards that 'two or three' of his team were struggling with a vomiting bug.
Such a rapid rise meant it was virtually impossible for Ipswich to sign experienced Premier League players last summer without being financially reckless.
Injuries have robbed McKenna of variety and depth too. For context (one last time), West Ham's squad contained players who've been capped for England, Argentina, France and Germany.
Massimo Luongo came on for an emotional Ipswich Town farewell.Massimo Luongo came on for an emotional Ipswich Town farewell. (Image: Ross Halls)
FAREWELLS...
It was revealed pre-match that this would be Massimo Luongo's final game for the club. The Australian's name was sung within 10 seconds of the game starting. He was subsequently given a rousing reception when introduced as the fifth and final sub.
Quite right. Every time one of these back-to-back promotion winning heroes departs it's going to be emotional. The club wouldn't be in the position it is now without them.
Kieran McKenna says he left Brighton loanee Enciso out because he wanted to focus on the players that are going to be here next season. Does that mean there's a chance that Jens Cajuste could return from Napoli? What a coup that would be. The Blues boss admits: "There's probably a lot to do for that to happen."
Cameron Burgess remained an unused sub. I'm hoping that's a good indication that contract negotiations are going well. Surely if McKenna thought there was a good chance he might depart this summer then he'd have been brought on too? Maybe I'm reading into that too much.
This may well have been Tuanzebe's final appearance. Again, I really hope he stays. But I do think he's done more than enough, even with some injury absences, for a Premier League club to snap him up on a free this summer.
We know Liam Delap's going too. I'm glad that news of him speaking to other clubs last week didn't sour his send-off. His name was sung when he came on late on. Shoving over a defender off the ball to finish the season on more bookings than goals was a reminder of some of the raw edges his next employers will need to work on.
There will be a decent amount of squad churn this summer, but hopefully not a mass exodus. Seeing the old guard play play with some nice chemistry, Clarke have an exciting cameo and the fit-again Sammie Szmodics return to action was a reminder that everything's far from broken.
Kieran McKenna thanks the Ipswich fans for their support during the lap of appreciation.Kieran McKenna thanks the Ipswich fans for their support during the lap of appreciation. (Image: Steve Waller)
STICKING TOGETHER
It was heartening to see the vast majority of a near 30,000 capacity crowd stay behind for the traditional end-of-season 'lap of appreciation'.
The Premier League is a very different beast to the last time Town were in it 22 years ago. It's ridiculously physical. Clubs have built squads with billions over multiple transfer windows. The Blues needed a fair wind to stand a chance and they simply didn't get that.
Recruitment, tactics, training loads... Everything will rightly come under the microscope. But while it's easy to roll eyes at talk of 'the journey' and 'fine margins', I honestly do think both phrases are fair.
It's clear that the club returns to the Championship from above in a much stronger place than when it when it joined it from below.
Judging by the warmth shown towards staff and players at the end yesterday, it seems that most match-going supporters are in agreement.