Survival hopes for League One side Forest Green Rovers took another blow as they were defeated 4-0 by Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Conor Chaplin opened the scoring inside five minutes and Nathan Broadhead doubled the home sides lead just before half-time.
The second half proved no better for Rovers as Chaplin latched onto a Leif Davis cross to double his tally before substitute Freddie Ladapo headed a fourth home.
The result leaves Duncan Ferguson winless in his first five matches as the Gloucestershire sides head coach. For Ipswich, this win ends a three-game run of draws and leaves them one point ahead of fourth place Bolton.
The opener was dispatched coolly by Chaplin after a clever ball from Broadhead found the midfielder breaking through the Forest Green defence.
It was the second game on the bounce in which Rovers conceded in the opening 15 minutes, following Charlton’s only goal coming in the 12th minute in midweek.
The visitors came closest to an equaliser with a deflected long-range effort from Myles Peart-Harris looping just high and wide of Christian Walton in the Ipswich net.
Harry Clarke’s ball over the Rovers defence found George Hirst who, looking for his first league goal of the season, sent his effort over Ross Doohan’s goal.
But it was Ipswich who took the chance to double their lead just before the half-time interval as a short corner found the feet of Broadhead who took his shot superbly on the volley, putting the home side 2-0 up at half-time.
For more stories and news around Gloucestershire, check out our live blog here.
A second Chaplin goal early in the second half put Ipswich out of sight as the midfielder latched onto the end of a Davis cross, beating Doohan with his powerful effort. Chaplin’s 14th in the league.
The fourth of the afternoon came from substitute Ladapo, who was alive at the back post to head past Doohan, a goal which put more misery on the travelling Rovers fans.
Ferguson is still yet to win as head coach, the Scot said ‘the better team won’ following the game.
“We didn’t come out the traps quick enough, we got punished in the first minutes and didn’t recover. We conceded again, set play, just before the break and that kills you.”
On reflection of the game Ferguson said, “you can learn and think about what you can do better. Of course they are better than us, and they were better than us today. We’ve got to quickly move on.”
Forest Green take on Lincoln next and with a weeks break before then, Ferguson is hoping for a few of his injured players to return.
On the break Ferguson said, “it’s always helpful because you can look at your tactical stuff more, and you can maybe get a few injuries back as well. It’s going to be a tough game against Lincoln, it was a tough one to take today but the boys gave me everything but certain actions weren’t quite there.”
The loss does leave Rovers rooted to the bottom of League One, six points off Morecambe in 23rd and eight points off Accrington Stanley who are currently safe in 18th. With Lincoln at home next, they will be hoping to claw some ground back on the other teams battling relegation.
As for Ipswich, this win puts them into third and eight points off Plymouth in the automatic promotion places. They face MK Dons at Stadium MK next.
