With only one win in the last seven games at the start of the day, manager Steve Bruce would no doubt have liked to call on the services of the striker who had netted Huddersfield's last four league goals.

But as is the habit of the fixture list, Marcus Stewart, scorer of 16 Huddersfield goals this season, lined up against them to make his home debut for Ipswich. Stewart's £2.5 million move south prompted the biggest crowd of the season at Portman Road and he did not disappoint them.

It is clear that Stewart possesses touch and vision which could just be the missing element for a Suffolk side becoming nearly-men in the battle for promotion.

Stewart scored for Ipswich at Barnsley last weekend but in the first half yesterday he headed wide from a Matt Holland cross and after he scuffed an easy chance when unmarked midway through the second, it seemed he had missed his opportunity.

Both misses were forgotten when Stewart controlled Jamie Clap ham's low pass on the edge of the area before slotting the ball into the far corner. "It was inevitable wasn't it?" Bruce reflected. "He took it well and hardly did anything else all game. But good luck to him."

Ipswich manager George Burley was more generous. "He has shown throughout his career that he is a goalscorer. He never stops working and when you have tight games like that you need people like him. He's a class striker and he's got us the points."

Ipswich looked to be cruising after James Scowcroft had given them the lead half-an-hour into the game. The points should have been safe when the same player was bundled over in the penalty area just after the restart, but David Johnson's penalty was well saved by Huddersfield goalkeeper Nico Vaesen.

It was no surprise when Huddersfield equalised, lifted by this stroke of luck, and Dutchman Dean Gorre finished off a neat move.

Daily Telegraph