LONDON, CMC—Jamaica striker Omari Hutchinson scored a second-half goal to give Ipswich Town insurance in a 2-0 win against Huddersfield Town on Saturday and secure promotion from the English League Championship to the Premier League.
The 20-year-old, on loan from Premier League giants Chelsea, followed up a first-half strike from Wes Burns to lift the roof in front of a packed Portman Road and enabled the Blues to soar back into the top tier of the English game for the first time in 22 years when they cruised past the relegated Terriers.
Ipswich finished the season second in the Championship on 96 points, won 28 times, drew 12, lost six during the 46-match league season, and scored a whopping 92 league goals.
They gained promotion in their first season of Championship action under Kieran McKenna after securing promotion from League 1 the previous season.
Only needing one point at the kick-off to be sure of promotion, Burns broke the deadlock in the 27th minute after an early slog and a slew of missed chances when Ipswich worked working the ball into the final third and to the feet of George Hirst.
He laid the ball off to joint-top scorer Conor Chaplin, who in turn found Burns in yards of space, and the winger did the rest, slotting the ball past goalkeeper Chris Maxwell to give the hosts the advantage.
The Ipswich siege continued into the second half, and the Huddersfield defense was guilty of backing off too soon. In the 48th minute, Hutchinson fired a shot to which Maxwell got his hand, but he could not keep it out of his net.
The Blues continued to search for goals, but it was all about damage limitation for the Terriers, a Premier League side themselves as recently as five years ago, and they kept their hosts at bay for the remainder of the contest that confirmed Huddersfield will go down to League 1 for the first time in 12 years.
Ipswich finished on one point fewer than champions Leicester – and they become the first team since Southampton in the 2011-12 season to go from the third tier to the top-flight in successive seasons.
McKenna is only the fifth Ipswich manager to win promotion to the top flight, following Alf Ramsey—later Sir Alf—in 1961, Bill McGarry in 1968, John Lyall in 1992, and George Burley in 2000—the latter doing so via the play-offs.
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