DAVID JOHNSON proved his first allegiance is to Ipswich and their campaign to reach the Premiership after being thwarted at the play-off stage in the last three seasons. The Jamaican-born striker is in international limbo following the row over his eligibility for Scotland but, for now, club is taking precedence over the five countries he could possibly qualify for and he demonstrated this emphatically with two crisp finishes.

Despite dominating throughout, Ipswich made heavy weather of what should have been a comfortable win, leaving Mark Rivers unmarked to snatch a second-half equaliser following Johnson's early opener. But Johnson's instant reply - his 12th goal of the season - secured the points.

Crewe's recent record against Ipswich is good despite the sides being at opposing ends of the table and, having knocked their hosts out of the Worthington Cup earlier this season, they appeared to be stroking the ball about with some confidence at the outset. But their composure crumbled when the home team scored from their first serious attack after four minutes.

Veteran midfielder Mick Stockwell took a short pass from Johnson, who immediately sprinted forward, taking Stockwell's perfectly-flighted return ball in his stride. There was a suspicion of hand-ball as he cut inside defender David Wright, but referee Keith Hill evidently saw nothing untoward as Johnson steered his right-foot shot low past Jason Kearton.

Johnson almost struck again two minutes later when put through by Matt Holland, but he delayed shooting too long and Kearton was able to block with an outstretched leg. Tony Mowbray's header down from Jamie Clapham's free-kick caused further goalmouth panic, ending in a scrambled clearance, and Kearton was forced to tip Jim Magilton's free-kick round the post.

Crewe were rewarded when Rivers raced on to a well-directed through ball to score on 74 minutes. Their jubilation destroyed their concentration and a long ball forward straight from the restart enabled Johnson to turn smartly and send home a left-foot winner.

Daily Telegraph