Stowmarket-based Tyreece Simpson makes league debut for Ipswich Town before being rewarded with his first professional contract

It has been some couple of days for Tyreece Simpson and his Stowmarket-based family after the 18-year-old striker signed his first professional deal at Ipswich Town, off the back of making his league debut for the club.

The player who lived in Barningham, between Bury St Edmunds and Diss, until the age of four, before relocating to Gorleston and then Stowmarket, came off the bench with six minutes to play at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road on Saturday in a game the Blues lost 2-1.

Despite the short amount of time he was on the pitch, Simpson's cameo earned positive reviews, and the club have announced he has put pen to paper on a contract until the summer of 2022, with the option of an extra year.

Ahead of tonight's crucial home Sky Bet Championship game with Joey Barton's Fleetwood Town, he told Ipswich's iFollow subscription channel: "I'm delighted for me and my family. I've got to keep pushing forward from here.

"I want to stick around the first-team and get as many minutes as possible before the end of the season."

Simpson, who is understood to have been recommended to Town by former goalkeeper Richard Wright, off the back of a trial at Manchester City, signed a scholarship with Ipswich in the summer of 2018.

The striker was also a talented schoolboy rugby player - he was part of the Norfolk-based Langley School side that reached the national final of the ESFA Playstation Small Schools’ Trophy in 2017 - and came close to signing for the Leicester Tigers' academy prior to his recruitment by Ipswich.

He made his breakthrough into the senior side in the leasing.com Trophy (EFL Trophy) group match against Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s at Portman Road in September, coming off the bench in a 2-1 win for Town.