Ipswich Town 2-1 Coventry City - Wes Burns stunner helps Town see off Sky Blues

Wes Burns hit the goal of a lifetime to help automatic promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town beat Coventry City at Portman Road.

That came after George Hirst had put Ipswich ahead on six minutes, the first goal City keeper Brad Collins had conceded on the summer signing's fourth league start for the Sky Blues.

Burns then brought the house down on 41 minutes when he collected the ball near the right touchline, weaved his way inside with a sudden burst of pace and, from the edge of the penalty area, unleashed a superb strike with the outside of his right foot which dipped wickedly just inside the left upright to leave a helpless Collins standing.

After Matt Godden hit the bar with a 75th-minute penalty, the Sky Blues did get one back six minutes into injury time thanks to an own goal by Brandon Williams.

• Saturday's Championship action, as it happened

But it came too late to give Mark Robins' side any hope of rescuing their three-game unbeaten run as Ipswich made it six points from two home games in four days to keep up the pressure on leaders Leicester, who had won earlier at West Brom.

Ipswich got their first goal when Nathan Broadhead's pass dissected the Coventry defence and Hirst fended off City centre back Liam Kitching to coolly side-foot past Collins.

After the thunderbolt of that Burns 'worldie' that left City 2-0 down at half-time, the Sky Blues did improve after the triple half-time introduction of substitutes Godden, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Joel Latibeaudiere.

Godden had an early second-half chance saved by home keeper Vaclav Hladky, who then denied him a second time.

When Sakamoto was then brought down by Harry Clarke, Godden had his best chance yet to beat the Ipswich keeper but his penalty bounced down off the underside of the bar and was cleared to safety.

But, although the visitors did finally get on the scoresheet from Williams' own-goal, it was too little, too late - and they still sit just six points clear of trouble.

Who's next?

Coventry's next test is the Midlands derby at home to Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City on Friday night.

Ipswich, one point off the Foxes, are on the road the following day, facing a tough away trip to Michael Carrick's Middlesbrough.

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna:

"A fantastic result and a top, top performance in the first half. I know how much hard work goes in to deliver a performance like that, especially a couple of days after your last game.

"So much to enjoy. The atmosphere was great, the football was great, the goals were great. It was a super first half of football.

"Of course the second half is different. We could have got through the pitch a little bit quicker. There are things to improve there.

"Even having said that, apart from two moments. the penalty and then the goal at the end, which I think is a foul - they had very, very few chances and we controlled a lot of the game well."

Ipswich striker George Hirst told BBC Radio Suffolk:

"We knew what they were about - you don't get to the play-off final without being a good side but it was a case of doing what we've been doing over the last few weeks and going and doing the business.

"I've seen Wes try that 20 times in training over the last couple of weeks and not seen him do that once!

"The gaffer spoke about getting him in a position like that. When he's in that position he's quite a threat.

"We are scoring a lot of good goals and we've got a lot of quality players. We're not a one-dimensional team. We can score from anywhere and have got a lot of threat in this side."

Coventry City manager Mark Robins told BBC CWR:

"It's one of those games that we have to learn from. It was just like watching us last season. You could see that the connections have been made between Conor Chaplin and Wes Burns in those positions. They link up really well together.

"George Hirst off the back and Nathan Broadhead comes in off that left hand side and makes good runs. They have got some pace and power within the team and they keep the ball pretty well, so they make it difficult for you.

"There's a couple of moments we get it clearly wrong - the first was the first goal and the second was a worldie so I don't think you can really put that down to anything other than a great finish.

"The second half we grew into it a little bit more but they had plenty of possession. The penalty came and went, it just hits the underside of the bar, it's just one of those things.

"Had we taken that chance that would have put them on the back foot. but we just looked like we were a little bit timid at times."