Jack Clarke’s first-half brace propelled an Ipswich side featuring 11 changes into the last 16 of the FA Cup with a 4-1 win away to Coventry.
George Hirst put the Tractor Boys ahead from the penalty spot after only 90 seconds and although Joel Latibeaudiere soon equalised, Clarke struck twice before the break to put Ipswich in control.
The former Sunderland man then passed up the chance of a hat-trick to set up Jaden Philogene’s first Ipswich goal just after the hour as last season’s semi-finalists Coventry went out, while Ipswich advanced to the fifth round for the first time since 2007.
Clarke has made only five Premier League starts since joining for £15million in August, with 14 of his 22 Ipswich appearances in all competitions coming as a substitute, but he took his opportunity with an excellent display to add to the goal he scored in the previous round’s 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers.
City are challenging for the Championship play-offs after a turnaround in form since Frank Lampard took over in late November, but this showed the significant gulf in class to the Premier League as they were over-run by the reserves of a relegation-battling team who had lost their last four straight games.
Kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes due to congestion outside the CBS Arena and those among the 30,000 crowd slow to take their seats missed the opening goal.
It took just 22 seconds for Ipswich to win a penalty as Sammie Szmodics was bundled over by Liam Kitching, and Hirst then beat Oliver Dovin with a spot-kick into the bottom right of the net.
But Coventry, wearing one-off dark blue shirts to raise money for charity, were level six minutes later.
Ipswich conceded a cheap corner in failing to deal with Jay Dasilva’s cross, and when
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