Martyn Pert praised the work rate of Freddie Ladapo following Ipswich Town's 2-0 win over Arsenal U21s in the EFL Trophy this evening.

Ladapo struck his second goal for the club, and second in this competition, with five minutes remaining after squandering earlier chances and beginning to look frustrated on the field.

His goal came after Dominic Ball had put Town in front early on and Ipswich looked relatively comfortable throughout the 90 minutes.

Martyn Pert on Ladapo

Pert was pleased with Ladapo's late finish and said the former Rotherham United striker's goal was a reward for his hard work throughout the night.

Town's assistant manager said: "He's got a flick on the first goal. He had a chance from a header in the first half, again from a great delivery from Leif [Davis].

"He got in front of his man and perhaps didn't connect as well as he would have liked but then he's kept going, good movement in behind consistently throughout the game and then he's got in behind on that last time and a nice slot into the goal.

"Left foot, opened himself up, good finish. Nice, pleased for him."

Pert was also keen to praise Ball, who scored and assisted on just his second start for the club following an injury sustained in pre-season.

He said: "He did [take the goal confidently]. It was a great delivery from Leif, I thought Leif's corners were terrific from the outswingers from that side in the first half.

"Freddie gets a nick and it's great movement to get round the back and he scored with a good finish. Good connection with it, I thought he was really good throughout the game and he shows what a valuable player he is for the squad and for the group for us to achieve something this year."

On the pass for Ladapo's goal, Pert joked: "I was doing the sub with Gerrard [Buabo] and I looked up and he's got through on goal and scored.

"Whoever made the pass, it was a good pass. I thought Cam [Humphreys] was good as well throughout the game."

On the debutant 

Buabo made his Ipswich debut this evening, coming on from the bench for the final few minutes.

"Really pleased for him," Pert added. "He's smiling as you can imagine down there in the dressing room.

"He’s happy as anything, it was nice for him to get on the pitch. He’s been with us on different occasions since after pre-season. He’s shown a good attitude and he deserved his moment today to make his debut.”

Pert knew the occasion would not be the same as previous matches but was pleased with the way his side set up as usual.

He added: "Enjoyed the game, was a different type of game as obviously you don’t get the same amount of crowd that we had at Hillsborough on the weekend.

“I think we’re trying to create that high standard in training and in any game that we go out and play in. Last time we played in the tournament we tried to keep the same.

"The sort of messages were reiterated today in that we keep the standards high, keep working at what we’re trying to do and trying to achieve here and don’t drop off at any opportunity.

"It was a good game but in fairness, we dominated the majority of it and we showed good play again and showed the lads that have been working so hard that haven’t played as many minutes as they’d have liked that have come in and shown that they’re part of the group and understand the way we want to play.

"Overall I’m pretty happy."