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Ayoze Perez's early strike was part of a double that took his league tally to three this season

Ayoze Perez scored after 60 seconds as leaders Newcastle United made light work of Ipswich Town to earn a 10th Championship win from 12 games.

The Spaniard volleyed home the fastest goal in England's second tier this season from Dwight Gayle's flick-on.

Perez hit the second from close range after the interval and Matt Ritchie curled in a third from a Perez pass.

Ex-Magpies striker Leon Best came closest for Town with a fierce strike that came back off the bar.

Best's effort came soon after Perez had put the hosts ahead, but it was a rare attack against a Newcastle side who missed plenty of chances.

Gayle, who had 11 goals in 11 games and seven in his past four prior to facing the Tractor Boys, side-footed over and Ritchie twice shot wide during a dominant first-half display.

With Jonjo Shelvey and Jack Colback in control in midfield and Ritchie, Gayle and Perez a constant threat, the goals eventually arrived in the final 20 minutes to give a more realistic feel to the scoreline.

Ipswich drop to 17th place having failed to score for a sixth league game in seven.

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez:

"It's another good win, because it's not easy to win in this competition. We played really well in the first half.

"We had chances and could have scored more goals but we didn't do it so we had to work hard in the second half.

"It's important to keep confidence high and the only way is working hard. We know every game is difficult and we have to be ready.

"After the second goal we had more control. It was easy at the end but you could see the difficulty we had at the start of the second half."

Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy:

"We were beaten by the best team. If you see a better team than that this year I'd be surprised.

"I've just spoken to the players and there's not a lot more we could have done. We tried everything to stop them. The one pleasing thing is we kept it at 1-0 for 70 minutes.

"All three finishes were fabulous. They were better than us, they are better than us, and they will be champions in my view.

"We tried everything and nothing worked. They are a very good team and we got what we deserved. We tried to press but we didn't do that particularly well."