Just after 7:30pm on Monday, April 1st, Conor Chaplin ran the breadth of the pitch at Portman Road at full pace, racing out of the technical area and into the corner where his team-mates were celebrating Jeremy Sarmiento’s stoppage-time winner against Southampton.
People often talk about bottling emotions, but nobody who was in the stadium needed to do that. Nobody will ever forget the moment of pure jubilation when the Ecuador international scooped a shot into the bottom corner to down their promotion rivals at the death. Chaplin is certainly in the same boat.
“It was a big moment,” he said. “There was big outburst of emotion from everyone in the stadium. I probably got a little bit too excited.
“I was just so happy for the boys on the pitch and the club in general.”
Perhaps it meant more for the 27-year-old, who came through the academy ranks for the Saints’ arch-rivals, Portsmouth, playing more than 100 games for them and helping them win promotion from League Two in 2017.
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The supporters in the away end voiced the fact that they weren’t overly keen on him, and he admitted that it probably made the winner even sweeter for him.
“The game in general was a great game, a great spectacle for fans in the stadium to see, and obviously people on the TV to watch,” he admitted. “I thought it was a great game and we deserved our winner at the end as well.
“It was an amazing night to be a part of.”
Supporters were buzzing after the win, and that feeling has clearly carried on throughout the week. Chaplin revealed that it was 'harder to sleep than normal' because of the adrenaline, but focus quickly turned to the upcoming East Anglian derby against Norwich City.
“As fans, you can enjoy it [the win] for the rest of the week,” he explained. “As players, it’s our job to wake up the next day and get back into recovery for the next day’s training and the next game, which is on Saturday.
“It’s been normal throughout the whole week – this group has been great at that. I saw in the press that the boss put it exactly how it is, it’s our job to do, not to dream. I think that’s probably perfect in terms of the way that you can sum up the group.
“Everyone’s focused on Wednesday and Thursday with the game coming up.
“I’ve probably had more toots on the road than normal, but that’s part of it, part of a good moment, and rightly so.”
This won’t be Chaplin’s first taste of the fixture, having experienced it at Portman Road back in December.
Although he set up Wes Burns to score the equaliser in the second half, the overriding emotion surrounding that game was one of frustration. As a result, there’s a real desire to put things right at Carrow Road.
“Watching it back and analysing it, I think we had a lot of chances that we missed in the game,” he argued. “I thought we played really well, for a derby game as well, which is tough.
“Derby games are tough to have a really good, strong foothold in the game, which we did. We managed to create at home, and it’s not easy to get that in derby games. It’s usually very frantic, which it was at the start, but I thought we got control pretty early in the game.
“We were pleased with that, and we were probably a bit disappointed off the back of the game that we didn’t get all three points.”
Although the players will treat the game like any other when they’re out on the pitch, they know it’s not the same for the supporters. Chaplin witnessed that when the coach was welcomed to Portman Road in the reverse fixture, and the atmosphere inside the stadium was just as intense.
“You could tell from the drive-in, which was totally different to a normal game,” he admitted. “We were lucky enough - as a group, the players who were here last season – to experience the Exeter bus journey. This was probably beyond that, it was incredible.
“That was the real difference, but within the team and within the dressing room, it’s very much a job as normal. I don’t think you can get carried away with those extra feelings, because that’s when things don’t go to plan.
“We’re expecting the same again – hostile, a really good atmosphere from the away end. They [the Norwich fans] will obviously be up for it as well. Two teams in a good run of form, two really good teams as well. I’m really looking forward to it.”
One thing that might be different is the team they faced on the pitch. Norwich were in poor form when they travelled to Suffolk at the end of 2023, but they’ve shown a huge improvement since the turn of the year.
“I think they’re a really good team anyway,” Chaplin stated. “They’ve got really good players, they set up well, they’ve got great athletes in the team as well.
“I think they’re a good team, no doubt about it, but we’re a good team as well. We’ll be looking to go there and impose ourselves on the game.”
Norwich supporters won’t let Ipswich fans forget that they haven’t beaten the Canaries since 2009, a record which those in the away end on Saturday will be desperate to see come to an end.
That isn’t the focus for Chaplin, who’s quick to highlight that he’s only played in one of the derbies in that 15-year winless run.
“All stats like that are ones for the fans,” he said. “I don’t think it can be any of our motivation or focus, I think it sidetracks from what’s really important to us if you start believing and focusing on things like that.
“I think it’s just part of preparing for the game like any other game, that’s where all our energy is going.
“It’s probably the same as every game. The closer you get to the end of the season, every game is an occasion, or it’s built up that way in the press and with the fans – and rightly so.
“From the fans’ point of view, it’s such an enjoyable moment and part of the season. For us players, it’s our job to treat each game in isolation and prepare as best as we can do.”
It’s important to look at this game with the table in mind, too. Ipswich sit top of the league, knowing that their future is in their hands. If they were to win all their remaining games, they would secure promotion to the Premier League.
It means little to Chaplin, however, as he believes that there’s plenty of twists and turns to come in the race for a top-two finish, especially knowing that form goes out of the window in the final matches of the campaign.
“There’s six games left, so there’s a lot of points up for grabs, especially at this stage of the season,” he explained. “Every single game in the Championship is really, really tough, no matter who you’re playing against.
“There’s so many things going on in terms of fighting for survival in the league, fighting for play-off positions, fighting for promotion. There’s so much going on in the league.
“I think you see, at the end of the season, there’s always crazy results, and it’s our job to try and put in the best performance as we can to try and get as many points in the last six games.”
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