Jack Clarke scored a 90th-minute winner as Ipswich Town made a winning return to the Premier League with a 2-1 victory against Sunderland at Portman Road on Saturday. 

Clarke, who turned out 114 times in all competitions for Sunderland, came off the bench to curl home the winner late on, which was also his first goal in the Premier League. 

Ipswich debutant Emersonn had opened the scoring for Gary O'Neil's side, only to see his goal cancelled out by Nilson Angulo's stunning free-kick just before the break. 

Both teams had early chances as Leif Davis produced a tremendous last-ditch challenge to deny Brian Brobbey a shot on goal before Emersonn's header from Dara O'Shea's inviting delivery was kept out by Robin Roefs. 

However, Roefs was picking the ball out of the back of the net in the 24th minute when Luke O'Nien's loose pass was intercepted by Julio Enciso, who skipped beyond the Sunderland defender and Dan Ballard before unselfishly squaring for Emersonn to steer home.

Noah Sadiki then saw his header kept out by Kjell Scherpen, but the Ipswich goalkeeper could do nothing to keep out Sunderland's 39th-minute equaliser, which came courtesy of Angulo's sensational free-kick that kissed the crossbar on its way in. 

Enciso's audacious flick from Abdul Fatawu's cross almost nestled into the bottom corner early in the second half with Marcelino Nunez blocking Brobbey's effort at the other end.

Chances were at a premium until another Sunderland error gifted Ipswich their winner. Omar Alderete's pass into midfield was picked off by Sasa Lukic, who laid the ball on to Clarke as he cut inside from the left and curled his shot into the bottom-right corner to seal the win. 

OPENING DAY WIN. pic.twitter.com/J1LKPEWs6W

— Ipswich Town (@IpswichTown) August 22, 2026

Ipswich's summer signings impress in O'Neil's first big test

It has been a summer of change at Portman Road for Ipswich, who saw promotion-winning boss Kieran McKenna step down from his position, with O'Neil coming in to take over. There have also been 12 signings, six of which were thrown in from the start. 

And Emersonn made the ideal start with his new team by becoming the first player to score on his overall Premier League debut for Ipswich since Fabian Wilnis against Manchester United in August 2000, though O'Neil will be pleased with the other new recruits. 

Enciso, who spent the second half of Ipswich's last season in the Premier League on loan, registered team-high totals for shots (three), touches in the opposition box (six) and successful dribbles (four), while no player created more chances (two) and won more duels (10) than Fatawu. 

But the day belonged to Clarke, whose 90th minute winner saw Ipswich begin a Premier League campaign with a victory for the first time since 1993-94 (3-0 v Oldham Athletic) having lost four consecutive MD1 games in the competition before their win here. 

And they were deserving of taking all three points, too. Ipswich finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.74 from their 10 shots, though only three of those were on target, compared to Sunderland's tally of 0.76 from 11 attempts.