IPSWICH. . .1 MIDDLESBROUGH . . .0:English FA Preniership: Cometh the hour, cometh the boy. Just under 60 seconds after coming on as a substitute for only his second senior game, the 18-year-old Darren Bent gave Ipswich a lingering chance of Premiership survival last night.
At best it was his outstretched knee which directed the ball into the Middlesbrough net, although there was a strong suspicion that Franck Queudrue actually was the culprit and it was an own-goal.
No matter, it was the kind of moment for which Ipswich have prayed in vain for weeks now. It maybe too late but it leaves them with a grandstand finish against Manchester United and Liverpool in their last two games.
Ipswich should have been home and hosed, though, within the first 26 minutes as they put Operation Great Escape in action.
The two Marcuses, Stewart and Bent, set the tone only for Bent to undergo a serious rush of blood at just the wrong moment.
Although the shot was blazed wastefully over, the incident lit the touchpaper for the rowdy home support.
Sixto Peralta followed the marker laid down, surging forward on a foraging run until crudely bundled over by the Scotland striker Allan Johnston. Martin Reuser took the free-kick and shivered the timbers of Mark Schwarzer's bar.
At this stage, Boro were playing in a gentle, end of term fashion which seemed to suggest that they were yearning for the summer holidays. If their neighbours in Sunderland, the nearest club in Ipswich's sights, five points away in fourth bottom, could have seen them harsh words would have been exchanged.
In fact it was not hard to imagine Peter Reid and his chairman Bob Gray sitting by a radio chewing their nails nervously. Stewart might have caused them to bite a finger clean off if he had taken the gilt-edged chance offered by Marcus Bent in the 25th minute.
Within a minute of Stewart's failure to score Reuser had added to the growing feeling that this match was going to be no gift-wrapped Ipswich win.
Eventually his manager put Stewart out of his misery by calling him to the bench and suddenly Ipswich could dream of Premiership survival again when his replacement found the net.
IPSWICH: Marshall, Bramble, McGreal, Venus (Wilnis 83), Hreidarsson, Reuser, Peralta, Holland, Clapham, Marcus Bent (Armstrong 57), Stewart (Darren Bent 57). Subs Not Used: Salmon, George. Goals: Darren Bent 58.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Stockdale (Hudson 86), Cooper, Southgate, Queudrue, Downing, Debeve, Ince, Johnston (Marinelli 67), Nemeth, Carbone. Subs Not Used: Crossley, Gavin, Wilkshire. Booked: Ince, Johnston.
Referee: A D'urso (Essex).
