Kieran McKenna heaped praise on Ipswich matchwinner Omari Hutchinson after his side climbed up to second in the Sky Bet Championship with a 1-0 win at Southampton.

Hutchinson’s first goal for the Tractor Boys 15 minutes before half-time was enough to lead McKenna’s side to a fourth successive away victory and a sixth in seven games.

The Chelsea loanee, 19, had taken the ball off Shea Charles with a perfectly-timed slide tackle before exchanging passes with Conor Chaplin and slotting in off the inside of a post.

Manager McKenna said: “It’s great night for him. It was his first start in the league as a professional footballer.

“What a big night, what a place to do it and what opposition to do it against.

“He’s making great progress and I joked with him that he wouldn’t have thought two months ago his first goal as a professional would come from a sliding tackle, but that’s what happened.

“He showed his improvement off the ball, won the ball back for us and he’s got the agility to get up on his feet quickly and produce a great finish.

“It was an outstanding performance and was never going to be anything other than hard-fought because of the quality of the opposition.

“We tried to meet them on the pitch on an even keel and tried to play football, to be brave and to press them and stay brave on the ball.

“We are not looking to dampen anything. The fans are going to enjoy these special moments and dream.

“For us it’s about staying in the moment. We are enjoying the journey that we are on from last season, but internally we know how hard it is to sustain.”

Ipswich had the better of the first half with Chaplin seeing an early goal ruled out for a foul and hitting the crossbar.

Saints could have equalised four minutes into the second half when Che Adams was sent clean through only to be denied by Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.

After a positive start to the season following relegation from the Premier League, Saints have now lost their last three games.

Home boss Russell Martin, whose side were booed off by their fans, said: “We gave away a sloppy goal and have been punished for a mistake again.

“That will not keep happening and we will move forward.

“I actually thought we started the game really well but we got sucker-punched for a mistake with the goal.

“We did not react well enough to that or quickly enough. In the second half we gave everything and had the best chance which unfortunately Che missed.”

Andre Russell has once again demonstrated why he is among the most sought-after players in short-form cricket when has blasted a quick-fire half-century and took a wicket as Manchester Originals crushed Southern Brave by 68 runs in Southampton on Thursday.

Russell, 34, smashed an unbeaten 23-ball 64 that included six fours and five sixes in Manchester Originals' mammoth score of 188-2. He was given the perfect platform after openers Joss Buttler (68) and Phil Salt (34) gave the side a solid start with a stand of 64.

Buttler clubbed three fours and five sixes in his 42-ball knock while Salt found the boundary ropes on four occasions and cleared it once is his innings that lasted 22 balls. However, while both knocks were impressive, they paled in comparison to the mayhem that Russell produced scoring at a rate of 278 per cent to drive Manchester to within 12 runs of the 200 mark.

Jake Lintott, who dismissed Salt was the best of the Brave bowlers with 1-28 from 20 balls while Michael Hogan took Buttler’s wicket to finish with 1-48 from his 20 ball allotment.

Faced with a daunting target, Southampton crumbled under the scoreboard pressure, capitulating to 120 all out.

Openers Quinton de Kock (21) and James Vince (20) gave them a good enough platform with an opening stand of 36 but Southampton Brave were simply unable to maintain the scoring rate of 1.88 runs per ball.

George Garton’s 25 from 14 balls and Ross Whiteley 21 from 12 attempted a short-lived late-order revival that would invariably come to nought.
Russell picked up the wicket of the dangerous Tim David, who made a run-a-ball 10 to finish with figures of 1-7 from five balls.

It was Paul Walter, though, who did the most damage with 3-20 from 15 balls. Mark Pattinson and Tristan Stubbs took two wickets each for the Manchester Originals.

For his heroic efforts with bat and ball, Russell was named Player of the Match.