Bristol Rovers were eliminated from the Emirates FA Cup after a stellar first-half performance from Ipswich Town helped the Premier League side to a 3-0 victory at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys scored all three goals before the break to gain a comfortable lead. Kalvin Phillips curled in the opener from the edge of the box before Jack Clarke slid in the Tractor Boys' second six minutes later.
Jack Taylor then added a third before the break, avoiding the offside flag before shooting past Josh Griffiths.
Ipswich then had a chance to go four goals ahead in the second half, but Ali Al-Hamadi dragged his penalty wide, with the Pirates unable to seriously test the opposition goal.
Rovers made two changes to the side that beat Cambridge United in Sky Bet League One, with Shaq Forde replacing Luke Thomas and Jamie Lindsay coming out for Romaine Sawyers, who was straight into the midfield for his debut after signing earlier in the week.
The hosts dominated the early possession and controlled the tempo of the contest. Cameron Burgess flicked a header over following Connor Townsend’s corner before Wes Burns sliced a golden opportunity to break the deadlock.
However, the Tractor Boys found a breakthrough soon after. Clarke had the ball on the edge of the area and rolled a pass across to Phillips, who had time and space to whip a low strike into the bottom-right corner.
Ipswich then doubled their lead midway through the first half. Lino Sousa gave possession to Jack Taylor inside Rovers’ defensive third, with the midfielder slotting the ball through to Al-Hamadi. His shot from close range deflected off James Wilson and fell kindly to Clarke, who slid across to poke his shot in.
The Gas could not get a foothold to build a way back into the game and conceded a third. Al-Hamadi flicked the ball through to Taylor, who looked to be in an offside position but showed composure to fire his effort past Griffiths.
Ipswich were in control but almost conceded against the run of play just before the break. Arijanet Muric gifted possession to Ruel Sotiriou outside the box, but his first-time shot was saved by the goalkeeper's boot.
Kieran McKenna's men did not take their foot off the gas despite leading by three goals and had the chance to score again early in the second half from the penalty spot. Grant Ward was penalised for blocking Massimo Luongo with his arm, but Al-Hamadi scuffed his spot-kick wide.
Up the other end of the pitch, Forde looked to make things happen. The attacker came inside off the right and played a pass through to Sotiriou, but Ben Godfrey got across brilliantly to clear the ball behind for a corner before he could get a shot away from the middle of the box.
Chances then went quiet, with Iñigo Calderón deciding to bring on Thomas, Gatlin O’Donkor, Lindsay and Isaac Hutchinson. Nevertheless, Ipswich continued to put on the pressure.
Nathan Broadhead was fresh off the bench, and he raced towards the byline before playing a cutback towards George Hirst, but he was denied a simple finish by Griffiths, who stretched his leg out to stop the ball from dropping to the forward.
The goalkeeper then made a smart stop to deny Hirst, getting a glove on his chip to take the pace off the ball before James Wilson cleared to keep the score at 3-0.
Ipswich Town: Muric (Slicker 81), Woolfenden, Burns (Johnson 45), Phillips, Taylor (Broadhead 73), Burgess, Al-Hamadi (Hirst 73), Townsend, Luongo, Godfrey (Clarke 73), Clarke.
Subs not used: Morsy, Cajuste, Delap, O’Shea
Goals: Phillips 18, Clarke 24, Taylor 37
Bristol Rovers: Griffiths, Sousa, Moore, Wilson, Sinclair, Ward, Sotiriou (Hutchinson 74), Sawyers (Lindsay 74), Taylor (Senior 86), Martin (Thomas 68), Forde (O’Donkor 68)
Subs not used: McCormick, Bilongo, Hall, Dixon
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 27,678
