Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson scored goals either side of the break as Ipswich Town finally ended an almost 23-year wait for a win in a Premier League game at Portman Road with a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Monday.

Ipswich have not tasted home success in the top flight since April 2002, with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, but on Monday a stubborn triumph saw them move up one place to 18th in the table and boost Chelsea’s title hopes another blow.

Delap’s 12th-minute penalty and a fine 53rd-minute finish from former Chelsea player Hutchinson provided the perfect end to an exciting year for the club, who were promoted at the end of last season.

Chelsea’s defeat, on the other hand, left them with just one point from their last three games and dropped to fourth place, 10 points behind Liverpool and a game more than the league leaders.

The home side’s hopes were raised early by the penalty when Leif Davis’ sharp pass found Delap, who slid in to reach the ball and his dangling leg was caught by Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen as he stormed off the line.

It was Ipswich’s first penalty of the league season and Delap fired it under Jorgensen to the delight of the home crowd.

A strong save from Jorgensen soon followed as Delap fired a powerful shot over goal from a tight angle before Chelsea took control of the game and scored almost everything but a goal.

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João Félix had the ball in the net after blasting home with a shot at the back post in the 24th minute that was ruled offside after a lengthy VAR review.

Cole Palmer hit the woodwork twice, first with a quickly taken free kick where the rebound fell to Christopher Nkunku, who hit it straight at Christian Walton.

Ipswich keeper Palmer also made a sharp stop towards the end of the first half.

But the expected equalizer failed to materialize and instead Ipswich took a 2-0 lead at the start of the second half.

Hutchinson, who moved from Chelsea to Ipswich in a club-record £20m deal before the start of the season, repaid part of his transfer fee with a smart finish for the second goal.

The reason for this was a bad pass from Axel Disasi, Chelsea’s France international, which was picked up by Delap, who ran energetically throughout the game and was often the only man left in attack.

Delap checked as he ran into traffic before leaving it to Hutchinson, who had to intervene before he could get the perfect finish.

“It’s good to make history and finally get your first home win,” Hutchinson told television reporters.

Ipswich have let potential victories slip by this season so there was a tense atmosphere as the final whistle approached before wild celebrations began.

“We worked so hard this season and it didn’t work out. The performances deserved a win and today we showed that we are excellent and we defended well and attacked them well. We are in top form,” said Delap.