League One: Ipswich boss makes Oli Hawkins admission ahead of Portsmouth reunion | Sunderland and Gillingham gets fiery

The ex-Pompey striker's 62nd-minute header delivered the Tractor Boys a 1-0 victory over Crewe to stay second in the League One table.

The Blues will come up against Hawkins for the first time since his release from Fratton Park when they travel to Portman Road in the FA Cup first round next Saturday (3pm).

He scored 18 times in 96 games during his three years on the south coast, but Kenny Jackett didn’t offer him fresh terms.

Hawkins had to wait until his 10th appearance for a maiden Ipswich goal – but Lambert feels the big hitman is underrated.

The Tractors Boys boss told his club’s website: ‘We rode our luck at times but also defended well and stuck at it. I'm pleased for Oli getting on the scoresheet.

‘He's done so well for us and deserves that goal. He's a better player than people give him credit for.

‘But yeah, I've been in football matches where we've deserved to win and not got anything, and I've seen games where we haven't deserved the win but got all three points - that's football.

‘We'll rest up then get out on the training pitch for a tough game at Sunderland on Tuesday.’

Peterborough are the new pace-setters after thrashing Shrewsbury 5-1 at London Road.

Siriki Dembele notched a hat-trick while Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Taylor were also on target.

However, Posh manager Darren Ferguson admitted the scoreline was better than his side's performance.

He told the Peterborough Telegraph: ‘It’s a great result but the result was better than the performance. There were certain aspects of the performance in the first half and the first period of the second half that frustrated me.

‘It’s nice to be top, but it means nothing yet. We now need to keep our standards high starting with a tough game at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday. After that, we have a couple of weeks away from League One which we will use to get players some game time.’

Sunderland picked up a 2-0 victory at Gillingham in what proved to be a fiery clash.

The Gills’ Alex MacDonald was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Luke O’Nien, while Steve Evans’ touchline antics when the Black Cats were awarded a penalty – which Chris Maguire converted to break the deadlock – earned him a caution.

Lynden Gooch also bagged for the visitors at the death.

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, manager Phil Parkinson said: ‘It's a difficult place to come, conditions were really tough. When you come here with the gale-force winds and driving rain, it suits that style of play.

‘I thought that lads coped with it really well. I thought, if you look at when we came here last year, we came here a couple of times and competed, battled, but didn't play.

‘On Saturday we got the balance right. We competed with their direct style and the ball coming into the box well, but we played with real composure as well.’

Grant McCann rued Hull’s defensive lapses in concentration after they threw away a lead to lose 2-1 at Swindon.

Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring for the Tigers but Paul Caddis and Joel Grant fired back to give the Robins a much-needed three points.

Grant told Hull Live: ‘We pride ourselves on defending corners this season. We’ve been really good at it. We switch on and it goes 1-1 and it gives them the ascendancy.

‘I was pleased to get in 1-1 at half-time because I felt as if they were coming and coming. We tried to reorganise some things at half-time. The centre-halves were getting too much time on the ball for me.

‘It’s a poor goal, the second one, for us to concede. It’s a runner from the middle of the pitch. The centre-backs were split and he just runs right through.

‘I expect more from this group. I expect more from us. They’re disappointed in there but we just didn’t get going.’

Other League One results

Accrington Stanley P-P Plymouth Argyle, Burton Albion 1-2 Blackpool, Doncaster 1-0 Lincoln, Fleetwood 2-0 Oxford, MK Dons 1-1 AFC Wimbledon, Rochdale 1-1 Bristol Rovers, Wigan 2-3 Northampton.