Sunderland and Ipswich have both beaten each other 24 times, with the teams meeting on 57 occasions (nine draws). The first of those meetings came in 1958 and we’ve had some good games against the Suffolk side over the years.
SUNDERLAND 4-0 IPSWICH TOWN- 25TH MARCH 1989
Marco Gabbiadini grabbed all of the headlines on this occasion, with the then 21-year-old reigniting Sunderland’s spirits via a hat trick following four straight defeats and five winless games on the bounce in the second tier. His first came nine minutes from the break when he sent a penalty into the middle of the goal after a foul by David Linighan in the box on the goalscorer. Gary Owers was the man to double our lead ten minutes into the second half, the midfielder fired home a volley on the edge of the area. It took until the last minutes of the game for Gabbiadini to seal the three points and ensure he’d be going home with the match ball however. On 88 minutes, he intercepted an Ipswich clearance and then aptly guided the ball under goalie Ron Fearon to make it 3-0. The fourth and his third came a minute later, after a nice bit of play between him and substitute Eric Gates the Tractor Boys’ goalkeeper took no chances this time around and felled Marco for another penalty. The spot kick was saved but Gabbiadini capitalised on the rebound. That wasn’t the final drama of the day though, as the hattrick hero wouldn’t be on the pitch in the dying moments of the game. Newcastle-supporting Ipswich player Tony Humes ran into him and the response from Gabbiadini was to throw (reportedly a rather weak) punch aimed at the Geordie and that saw young Marco shown a red card by referee David Allison immediately.
SUNDERLAND 3-0 IPSWICH- 14TH APRIL 1992
Sunderland would have gone into this one with rather mixed feelings. On one hand we’d defeated Norwich City 1-0 at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi-final to send us to our first major cup final in seven years and first FA Cup final in 19 years but on the other hand we had lost five league games in a row, including one away to Newcastle. This game provided a much needed three points in the Second Division then, as Don Goodman netted himself a brace in the second half. The Leeds-born striker scored his first in the 53rd minute and with just over ten minutes left of regular time, he extended our lead by sending the ball past advancing goalkeeper Craig Forrest. David Rush got in on the fun a few minutes later as he struck the ball from outside the penalty area to guarantee a very valuable three points for the home side.
SUNDERLAND 4-1 IPSWICH- 1ST JANUARY 2001
Four different goalscorers meant SAFC came from behind to win and move up to third in the Premier League after taking 10 points from the last possible 12 over the festive period. Future Sunderland player Marcus Stewart had given the visitors the lead just five minutes following kick off after he took a chance from a low cross. The score was level 20 minutes later, with Julio Arca curling a free kick from the edge of the box into the top right corner and giving the man between the sticks, Richard Wright, absolutely no chance whatsoever. Prolific striker Kevin Phillips’ goal turned the game around after he had the ball headed into his path by Danny Dichio and the assister had his own goal less than ten minutes after. This time around Phillips was the creator, he crossed it into his teammate and the ball was side footed home for our third of the day. Stefan Schwarz had replaced our first goalscorer (Arca) with 15 minutes to go and the Swedish international made his cameo worth it as he tapped in our fourth in the 88th minute.
SUNDERLAND 3-2 IPSWICH TOWN- 30TH SEPTEMBER 2003
A high scoring affair that saw centre-back Gary Breen score both an own goal and a goal meant that Sunderland had come away from their opening 10 league fixtures of the 2003-04 season with six wins and were inside the play off places as we aimed to gain immediate promotion back into the top flight following a bottom-of-the-league relegation the season prior. Darren Bent’s shot unfortunately took a deflection off of Irish international Gary Breen to give Ipswich the lead but the first half ended with Sunderland finding an equaliser through the defender after a Julio Arca cross. We clearly had some momentum due to this and less than five minutes after the restart we took the lead, with Welshman John Oster tapping home. Ipswich didn’t give up after this though and Richard Naylor headed a corner into the back of the net to make it 2-2 just 120 seconds later. We did manage to put three points on the board late on though as Oster got an assist by crossing into striker Kevin Kyle who’s header rippled the back of the net.
IPSWICH 0-1 SUNDERLAND- 26TH JANUARY 2021
A Charlie Wyke goal on the cusp of half time was enough to win our first game at Portman Road since 2004 and move us to within a point of 6th place with two games in hand. Wyke, who would go on to score 31 in this largely behind closed doors campaign, took an opportunity from a Max Power cross as Sunderland utterly dominated affairs with 65% possession and 16 shots on goal.
SUNDERLAND 1-2 IPSWICH TOWN- 6TH AUGUST 2023
Our season didn’t get off to the best of starts as we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to the hands of a newly promoted Ipswich Town side. The former player curse occurred once again at the Stadium of Light as ex-loanee Nathan Broadhead had his name put on the scoresheet when Leif Davis’ volley deflected off of his shin with seconds remaining of the first half. Ipswich got off to a flying start after the break as well, George Hirst doubling the lead after striking a great ball from Broadhead. Things went from bad to worse for us, with less than 20 minutes remaining, Trai Hume was given his marching orders for a second booking after kicking a ball away following a free kick being awarded. Dan Neil did score late on but it wasn’t enough to see us come away with anything in a game where we were largely the better team.
