In the opening half of the season, George Hirst spent time on loan with Blackburn Rovers.
Blackburn Rovers staged a comeback, but Ipswich Town held on to win a seven-goal thriller and maintain its lead at the top of the Championship.
Harry Clarke of the hosts quickly gave the visitors the lead after four minutes, but Arnor Sigurdsson of Blackburn quickly equalized on his debut.
Nathan Broadhead’s low, drilled finish gave Ipswich the lead again, and George Hirst’s goal against his previous team made it a 3-1 advantage.
Massimo Luongo gave Ipswich the victory after Harry Leonard bundled home and Sam Szmodics brought Blackburn to within one.
After Preston was held to a draw by Rotherham United and dropped to third, Ipswich moved up to second in the Championship, equal on points with league leaders Leicester City, while Blackburn dropped to 14th.
Clarke took advantage of Blackburn’s inability to successfully clear a corner to put Ipswich in front, but the hosts were unable to hold onto that advantage for too long as the visitors rallied back.
The response goal by Rovers’ Icelandic international Sigurdsson was the result of some solid build-up play. Szmodics found Lewis Travis on the outside of the box, and he set up his teammate to shoot past Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.
Aynsley Pears, the Blackburn goalkeeper, was taken out of play by Conor Chaplin, who then set up Broadhead’s superb finish for his fourth of the year, leading to Ipswich’s second goal.
Just a few minutes later, Cameron Burgess set up Hirst, who had ducked underneath Hayden Carter, and he scored through the legs of Pears, showing how difficult it was for Blackburn to contain the Ipswich onslaught.
At halftime, Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson made two substitutions, and it only took his team seven minutes after the restart for Leonard to score his third goal of the year for a breakthrough.
Szmodics, who calmly took a touch on the outside of the box before putting the ball home, brought Blackburn back level, but Luongo scored from a similar distance to give the Tractor Boys a late lead.
