Ipswich Town unveiled an unlikely source for Premiership success on Saturday in the shape of 19-year-old defender Titus Bramble.

While Bramble may not be the big name signing that the Ipswich faithful expect and demand, there are not many players around with his potential and it shone brightly against some of the best players in the world at Portman Road when Fiorentina came to Town with their full array of tricks.

Players of the calibre of Portuguese internationals Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes - so instrumental in the downfall of England during Euro 2000 - were on display, but all were kept in check by the pace and honest defending of Bramble, who even had time to get forward and open his senior account with the club with a headed goal to put his side ahead on 37 minutes.

Bramble was on the sidelines for most of last season through a catalogue of injuries, but that was all put behind him against Fiorentina as he became the crowd's favourite with some quite stunning work at the back.

And to be honest, if it wasn't for Bramble, Ipswich could have lost this game heavily as John Scales, a long term absentee himself, continues to struggle to comes to terms with the pace of the game, and fellow central defender Mark Venus battles against a niggling injury.

Their lack of understanding was there for all to see and culminated with a public disagreement that resulted in the substitution of Venus soon after.

But the performance of Rui Costa was worth the entrance fee alone. His control, vision and work-rate had the fans drooling, and left no one in any doubt that he is truly a world-class player.

Fiorentina grabbed a share of the spoils with a Marco Rossi goal early in the second half, but the result was not important.

The emergence of Bramble was, and if Burley can continue to nurture his obvious talent, Ipswich will have a defender to build a successful team around.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.