Bournemouth have never played in European competition and a 3-1 win at Southampton in February had left Andoni Iraola’s team fifth in the Premier League.
However, they have not won a top-tier match since, with this loss stretching their winless league run to five games and, although they remain 10th, this was a big opportunity missed to get back on form.
“It’s a bad result for us, but we need to stay together and focus on the things we can improve,” said Iraola.
“We are in a bad period. They scored two goals with two shots on target, that was the worst part as we controlled the game.”
Bournemouth were without 12-goal top scorer Justin Kluivert after he had picked up an injury in the 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final loss to Manchester City, but the hosts will still be wondering how they failed to get any points.
Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo both fired efforts wide, before Ipswich took the lead against the run of play with their first effort on target.
Ipswich have dropped 22 points from winning positions in 2024-25, with three of those coming in the reverse fixture at Portman Road when they led Bournemouth until the 87th minute, only for the Cherries to score two late goals, including a 95th-minute winner to snatch a 2-1 victory.
After Delap had put Town 2-0 ahead, the Ipswich fans were left sweating after Evanilson’s goal set up a nervy finish, with the visitors, led by Dara O’Shea, defending superbly and resolutely.
Bournemouth had chances to grab a point but Semenyo shot just wide and in the 96th minute, with Arrizabalaga up for a corner, Ouattara headed over the top.
Ipswich won successive promotions under McKenna to jump from League One to the Premier League in two seasons, but for large parts of the season had looked out of their depth and their players and fans celebrated a rare win.
They had only previously earned two points from 10 league games in 2025, but this victory leaves them 18th, nine points behind 17th-placed Wolves, who travel to Portman Road on Saturday in a match Ipswich have to win to have any chance of staying in the Premier League.
“We have been waiting a while for a win and in this league that’s what can happen,” added McKenna. “There’s still belief, a lot of togetherness and you can see that as a team so it was a good night for us.
“We’re coming into the last quarter of the season and we want to finish off the season well and make it our best quarter and get as many points as we can and where that leaves us, let’s see.”
