What Portsmouth fans' gesture meant to Conor Chaplin as Ipswich Town striker prepares to shoot down old side

With the Tractor Boys running riot against the Blues that forgettable October night, there was already some professional satisfaction to be had for the former academy graduate.

Yet it compared little to the standing ovation he received from all corners of PO4, after Chaplin was substituted following the visitors’ fourth goal of the night.

It was the perfect moment of appreciation for the striker, who had risen from Pompey hopeful to fans’ favourite during his time at the club.

And it showed how the Fratton faithful’s feelings for ‘one of their own’ hadn’t changed, despite the diminutive front man firing home the third for Paul Cook’s side that night.

Now, as the 25-year-old prepares to face his former employers once again tomorrow at Portman Road, he explained how the reception will live long in his memory.

‘I was touched by it massively,’ he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

‘I’d been back there and scored previously as well with Barnsley but we lost that day, so the fans were singing Portsmouth songs and things like that.

‘At the time (of Town’s win) I think they were in a bad place, the opposite to now, and I think it was a bit tongue in cheek to sing their song for me and maybe send a message to the players on the pitch playing for them at the time.

‘But it was amazing. All my family were in the away end, which was a rarity, and it was special.

‘I have a very good relationship with the Portsmouth fans and it was maybe one of the best moments I’ve had on a football pitch. Or walking around the football pitch after I came off, anyway.’

Despite leaving the club in 2018, it’s evident Pompey still holds a special place in Chaplin’s heart,

The 25-year-old follows the club closely on social media, and often interacts with Blues supporters by replying to, and liking posts directed at him.

After graduating from the club academy, the forward made 122 appearances in royal blue, netting 25 goals while lifting the League Two title in 2017.

But he’s often enjoyed playing against his former employers, by netting twice in three matches against them since his departure.

However, the striker is predicting a tough task tomorrow if he’s to add to his tally.

He added: ‘They are playing really well at the moment. I still follow a lot of Portsmouth pages and journalists and they are going well.

‘They’re just like us so I think it’s going to be a very good game.

‘I think they have fallen on a shape and way of playing which works for them – just like us really – and they’ve just got cooking.

‘It’s going to be a really exciting game.’

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