Ipswich still playing above their station

FK Sartid ... 0 Ipswich ... 1 A Marcus Bent penalty proved sufficient yesterday to send Ipswich into the second round of the UEFA Cup.

With Ipswich needing to score at least once, Bent stroked home a ninth-minute penalty to put Ipswich in front in the tie and, in truth, their victory should have been by a much greater margin.

Despite a winless run of six first division matches before this second-leg tie, Ipswich played with poise and discipline to fully deserve a fourth away UEFA Cup win in the past two seasons.

At the same stage last season, they travelled to Russia and beat Torpedo Moscow 2-1. They followed that up by winning at Helsingborg and, this season, they recorded a 1-0 win over Avenir Beggen in Luxembourg.

Ipswich's George Burley was forced into six changes, four because of injury, but his side still had too much for a side in their inaugural UEFA Cup season.

A near full house of 16,500 turned out for the biggest match in the history of Sartid, a steelworks company team in Smederevo, 35 miles outside Belgrade.

Having finished third in the Yugoslav league last season, they lost their first match of the current campaign last weekend to champions Partizan Belgrade.

The stadium was only just over half full at kick-off with thousands queueing on the hills surrounding the ground. Some missed the Suffolk side's decisive goal in the ninth minute.

Finidi George managed to deliver a deep cross from the right flank and Spanish referee Luis Medina spotted Slavoljub Kizic's shove on Bent in the area.

Bent, top scorer in Ipswich's relegation season, stepped up to take the penalty himself and stroked it powerfully past FK Sartid's giant goalkeeper Dragan Zilic.

FK SARTID: Zilic, Socanac, Paunovic, Spasic, Kizic (Kulic 46), Bogdanovic (Djokic 25), Vaskovic, Savic (Kocic 56), Radosavljevic, Mirosavljevic, Zecevic. Subs Not Used: Rankovic, Panic, Ramovic, Zivanovic. Booked: Socanac.

IPSWICH: Marshall, Makin, McGreal, Brown, Clapham, Wright, Holland, Magilton, George (Miller 64), Marcus Bent, Counago (Darren Bent 84). Subs Not Used: Pullen, Armstrong, Gaardsoe, Richards, Westlake. Booked: McGreal, Counago. Goals: Marcus Bent 9.

Referee: L Medina Cantalejo (Spain).