Just 25 seconds were on the clock when Jacob Murphy timed his run perfectly in behind the defence on the right wing, and although his cross was blocked, the ball fell to Alexander Isak and the in-form striker belted his finish beyond Arijanet Muric in the hosts’ goal.
In a dominant first half for the visitors Murphy was a shining light, and midway through the first half his excellent diagonal through ball left Isak one-on-one with Muric, but the Swede sliced his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
As the rain battered down on Portman Road, the home side would soon be washed away in a deluge of Newcastle pressure. On the half-hour mark, Anthony Gordon dribbled across the Ipswich box unchallenged before finding Murphy, who thumped the ball down the centre of the goal and off the underside of the bar to double the away team’s lead.
On McKenna’s three-year anniversary of taking charge of Ipswich, this was a hard watch for the 38-year-old as his team gifted their opponents a third goal on the stroke of half-time.
With seemingly no danger present, Muric passed to an under-pressure Jens Cajuste, who was instantly dispossessed by Bruno Guimaraes, allowing Isak to pick up the pieces and apply a simple finish beyond Muric from just six yards out.
Things could only get worse for the home team as they continued to be overrun at the beginning of the second half.
Guimaraes narrowly failed to put a glorious finish to the end of a sweeping move as the Brazilian got on the end of a Gordon cross, but his header brushed the outside of the post.
Three minutes later Isak would grab his third - his first hat-trick for the Magpies - and it was once again from a Murphy assist, as the former Norwich man looked out of options when surrounded by five Ipswich defenders, but an ambitious backheel found his teammate and left Isak to poke home the fourth goal of the game.
With such a comfortable lead against a now-deflated opposition, Eddie Howe seized the valuable opportunity to rest key players ahead of the Magpies’ busy schedule of 10 games in the next six weeks.
Meanwhile, the hosts stumbled their way to the end of a disappointing performance, and will now turn their attention to tough fixtures against Arsenal and Chelsea over the Christmas period.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jacob Murphy (Newcastle)
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