Goals from Morais and Burrow see Boro cause an upset against Championship side

Stevenage 2 Ipswich Town 0

Capital One Cup: First Round

Stevenage caused a major upset by knocking Ipswich Town out of the Capital One Cup this evening (Tuesday).

A Filipe Morais penalty and a Jordan Burrow goal from just one yard were enough to see off Mick McCarthy’s side as Stevenage put Saturday’s home league defeat to Oldham Athletic very much behind them.

Stevenage were dealt a blow before kick-off with Chris Day limping off with what looked like an ankle injury so Steve Arnold took his place in the starting XI.

Boro also made two other changes from Saturday’s defeat to Oldham with Burrow and Morais coming in for Luke Jones and Lucas Akins, with Darius Charles moving to centre-back.

Early pressure from the visitors saw Frank Nouble get in behind the Stevenage defence only to see his shot blocked, while from the resulting corner Christophe Berra headed goalwards only for Sam Wedgbury to flick out a leg and clear off the line.

Luke Freeman, on the right of midfield, set up Stevenage’s first chance. Pulling the ball back he created enough space in front of the full-back to cross for Oumare Tounkara but the front man, getting his head on it, put the ball over from close range when he should have put it away.

A good spell of pressure by Stevenage resulted in Charles putting an overhead kick wide from a corner, while down the right Freeman was causing all types of problems for Tommy Smith, Ipswich’s left-back.

Ipswich next went close, Paul Taylor firing into the side-netting, before immediately at the other end Morais plucked a long ball out of the air before testing Dean Gerken with a low driven effort.

By this time Jay Tabb had gone off with an arm injury, and his replacement, Carlos Edwards, was just inches away from making a wonderful impact but could not get on the end of a Luke Hyam ball to the far post.

Ipswich finished strongly, and Taylor went close again this time forcing a superb save from Arnold who, at full stretch, was able to get enough on the 25-yard strike to push it out for a corner.

Stevenage could not have wished for a better start to the second half. After conceding two penalties on Saturday they were this time awarded a spot kick of their own when Oumare Tounkara was brought down in the box by Tommy Smith. Morais, fresh from scoring on Saturday, stepped up to fire his side in front with a superb finish just inside the left-hand post.

Ipswich made two changes with David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy coming on for Taylor and Nouble, and McGoldrick was straight into the thick of the action testing Arnold with a fierce drive which the goalkeeper did well to push away from goal.

Ipswich upped the tempo and started to go at Stevenage, leaving Boro to defend for a good spell, but the hosts kept their opponents at bay and were led by a real captain’s display from Jon Ashton.

Stevenage made a double change with Tounkara and Morais being replaced by Marcus Haber and Robin Shroot, and it was the latter who had a big part in the next goal.

Playing a ball into Heslop on the edge of the area, Shroot made a darting run in behind the defence to collect the return pass and set up Burrow who slid the ball home to send the Boro bench to their feet in celebration.

Ipswich pressed, with McGoldrick causing a number of problems for the hosts, but Stevenage rather than sit back kept two men up front and matched their opponents until the final whistle for a deserved victory.

Stevenage: Arnold, Wedgbury, Hills, Charles, Ashton, Morais (Shroot 72), Freeman, Heslop, Tansey, Burrow (Jones 90), Tounkara (Haber 72). Subs: Akins, N’Guessan, Deacon.

Ipswich Town: Gerkin, Chambers, Smith, Berra, Skuse, Anderson, Tabb (Edwards 35), Hyam, Veseli, Taylor (Murphy 55), Nouble (McGoldrick 55). Subs: Loach, Hewitt, Hammond, Berkane.

Ref: Gavin Ward