Late goals in the space of two minutes from captain Matt Holland and Alun Armstrong dumped 10-man Everton and reignited Ipswich's season.

Alex Nyarko was sent off for the visitors 19 minutes from time and Walter Smith's depleted team failed to hold on at Portman Road, after dominating the first period.

The victory was only Ipswich's second this year and keeps the East Anglian club in sixth place and battling for an unlikely European berth.

Mark Burchill was handed his Ipswich debut as George Burley's men arrested a five-match losing streak and claimed their first double of the season.

Scottish international striker Burchill, 20, arrived on a three-month loan from Celtic in midweek and was thrust into the clash with the relegation-threatened Toffees in place of Marcus Stewart, the Premiership's 15-goal joint-top scorer.

Walter Smith's injury-hit outfit, with an entire side ruled out by suspension and injury, weathered the early Ipswich storm and controlled the measure of the opening 45 minutes.

Ipswich, 3-0 winners on Merseyside earlier this season, wrenched open their patched-up defence on numerous occasions in the opening exchanges with Burchill's pace the main weapon.

A Jermaine Wright right-wing cross was headed against an upright inside two minutes, although a foul in the challenge for the ball would have deemed the effort out anyway.

Jamie Clapham forced Paul Gerrard to block at the foot of his right-hand post before the home side were denied a clear penalty.

Burchill raced beyond the Everton backline and into the area, Gerrard upending the livewire forward, only for referee Graham Poll to wave away vociferous appeals.

That seventh-minute let-off halted the home side's upbeat start and Everton came back into the contest with a spate of chances of their own.

A long, driven cross from wide on the right from Thomas Gravesen found the head of Kevin Campbell, a deft touch laid into the path of strike partner Francis Jeffers but the left-foot shot arrowed into the sidenetting.

Richard Wright, one of four goalkeepers in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first England squad, was almost embarrassed by Abel Xavier's sliced cross that swerved the wrong side of a post.

But Wright was yet to be tested and Gravesen sent two efforts, in quick succession, wide when well placed.

It took the outstretched legs of Fabian Wilnis to avert the next danger to Wright's goal, cutting out Campbell's pass to Jeffers across the six-yard box. The ball arrived into the grateful grasp of Wright but Poll adjudged it not to be a deliberate backpass.

Following a period of intense Everton pressure, Titus Bramble released the shackles with a 70-yard dash into the visitors' area.

Michael Ball, another of Eriksson's call-ups, intercepted but his clearance struck the big centre-half and James Scowcroft mishit his resultant shot from a tight angle, dragging it across the face of goal.

Burley sought to revitalise his troops by reverting to a 5-3-2 formation on the resumption with Wilnis sacrificed, Scowcroft reverting to midfield and Alun Armstrong introduced alongside Burchill up front.

The changes wrested control back from the Toffees and Gerrard clutched a well-driven free-kick from captain Matt Holland as Ipswich began to reassert themselves.

Nyarko and Xavier entered Poll's notebook for clumsy fouls on Mark Venus and Armstrong respectively as Town pressed.

From the second misdemeanour, Burchill came close to a debut goal. Venus swung the dead ball in from the left and the Scot's header was clawed away by Gerrard, scrambling to his right.

Armstrong then steered the ball onto the outside of the angle of the goalframe with an acrobatic volley following Scowcroft's hefty tussle with Gerrard.

Everton were reduced to 10 men in the 71st minute as Nyarko received his marching orders for a second caution.

The Ghanaian midfielder halted another Bramble burst from the back illegally and Poll produced a second yellow card followed by a red.

A flurry of substitutions followed as Smith reorganised his ranks but they failed to hold out as Ipswich stole the points with a lightning double strike.

First, Burchill's left-flank centre was headed out by Ball to Holland on the edge of the area for the home skipper to control and hook in a left-foot volley beyond Gerrard's despairing dive from 22 yards for the 82nd-minute opener.

Then, almost immediately Town killed the match with a second. Substitute Martijn Reuser's cross was missed by Xavier, Burchill retrieved it at the back post for the unmarked Armstrong to power a header in from six yards.

Teams:

Ipswich: Richard Wright, Wilnis (Armstrong 45), Clapham, McGreal, Venus (Reuser 73), Bramble, Magilton (Abidallah 81), Holland, Scowcroft, Burchill, Jermaine Wright.

Subs Not Used: Branagan, Brown.

Booked: Bramble.

Goals: Holland 82, Armstrong 84.

Everton: Gerrard, Weir, Nyarko, Hughes, Ball, Jeffers (McLeod 74), Naysmith, Gravesen, Xavier, Tal (Jevons 74), Campbell.

Subs Not Used: Clarke, Osman, Myhre.

Sent Off: Nyarko (71).

Booked: Nyarko, Xavier.

Att: 22,220

Ref: G Poll (Tring).