Ipswich Town 1-3 West Ham United
Premier League, Portman Road, Sunday 25 May 2025, 4pm BST
The four departing 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League winners enjoyed the perfect farewell as West Ham United powered to a deserved final-day victory over Ipswich Town.
Goals from James Ward-Prowse, Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus ensured a 3-1 win, with Tractor Boys forward Nathan Broadhead having hit a leveller on 52 minutes.
Ward-Prowse opened the scoring before half-time from point-blank range after a home defensive mistake, before Broadhead’s powerful strike restored parity after the restart.
But Bowen, just as he did in the teams’ reverse fixture at London Stadium in October, shrugged off the disappointment of his England omission by producing another stunning strike to cap another impressive season, which has seen our No20 score 14 goals and provide ten assists in all competitions.
And with the clock ticking down to full-time, substitute Kudus bagged a late third by converting a solo effort to put the result beyond doubt.
More importantly, the result gave the Hammers three points and a platform to build upon in our bid to right the wrongs of what has been a difficult 2024/25 season on the whole.
The afternoon ended on an emotional note, with not a dry eye among the crowd at Portman Road as Aaron Cresswell was serenaded by the home and away faithful as he made his 369th and final appearance of his West Ham career against the side he joined the Hammers from in July 2014.
Returning to the start, a largely listless opening 40 minutes saw Ipswich carve out the better chances, but there was little to enthuse the supporters of either side.
Indeed, it was the Hammers who started on the front foot, with Bowen, making his 200th Premier League appearance, playing a neat one-two with Niclas Füllkrug and dragging his shot narrowly off target before Axel Tuanzebe overhit a simple ball back towards Christian Walton, who had to be alert to scramble it off the line.
But after ten minutes on the back foot, Ipswich rallied. Jacob Greaves rose highest to head Leif Davis’ in-swinging free-kick wide, then Omari Hutchinson tried his luck from a tight angle having burst into the box, but Łukasz Fabiański, featuring for the final time in a West Ham shirt after seven seasons at the Club, was able to gather comfortably at his near post.
The Tractor Boys continued to press and went close to an opener before the midway point of the first half, as Broadhead picked the ball up 40 yards from goal and drove at the West Ham defence, who backed off as Fabiański, at full stretch, prevented the ball from reaching the target, and Sam Morsy’s effort whistled just wide.
With a distinct end-of-season feel about proceedings, there was a moment of inspiration for the Irons shortly before half-time via Bowen, who saw a shot beaten away by Walton after being teed up by Füllkrug, with Ward-Prowse’s follow-up blocked by Greaves.
Then, as the half-time whistle approached, things sparked into life.
After Hutchinson collected the ball on the right, worked his way into the box and crashed a left-footed shot against the outside of the near post, West Ham countered, went straight up the other end and broke the deadlock.
Morsy’s loose pass was seized upon by Bowen, who teed up Ward-Prowse for his first goal of the season in the top right corner, in the 43rd minute.
Ipswich came bursting out of the blocks at the start of the second half and made it 1-1 five minutes after the restart when Broadhead was given too much space on the edge of the Hammers’ box and duly drilled a low-angled shot past Fabiański and into the bottom left corner.
West Ham were back in front within three minutes though, through Bowen. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pass found our captain 25 yards from goal, and with Ipswich slow to close him down, he fired a stunning strike into the far corner beyond Walton for 2-1.
Ipswich hit back, with Fabiański parrying Morsy’s powerful 20-yard drive to safety, Conor Chaplin skewing wide of the target, and Jack Clarke curling inches wide of the far post.
And, as the Tractor Boys sought a late leveller, Kudus curled home a brilliant 87th-minute effort from just inside the box to end the season on the highest of notes with a thoroughly deserved victory.
Ipswich Town: Walton, Tuanzebe, Greaves, O’Shea, Davis, Morsy © (Luongo 88), Cajuste (Taylor 78), Hutchinson, Chaplin (Clarke, 70), Hirst (Delap 70), Broadhead (Szmodics 78)
Subs not used: Slicker (GK), Woolfenden, Burgess, Boniface
Goal: Broadhead 52
Booked: Delap
West Ham United: Fabiański, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo (90+1), Kilman, Mavropanos, Scarles (Coufal 72), Álvarez (Paquetá 80), Ward-Prowse (Rodríguez 80), Souček, Bowen ©, Füllkrug (Kudus 73)
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Irving, Luis Guilherme, Ings
Goals: Ward-Prowse 43, Bowen 55, Kudus 87
Booked: Kilman
Attendance: 29,771
Referee: Tim Robinson
