The former Town striker scored twice in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Bolton in May 2000 when Town looked to have the tie slipping away from them, and netted 21 goals the next season as Town finished fifth in the Premiership.
The man signed from Huddersfield for £2.7M towards the end of the 1999/2000 campaign left Town for Sunderland at the beginning of last season for £1.5M to ease the blues financial woes which would later see them go into administration.
Speaking of the reception, current Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy said in the post match press conference: "It was nice to see a player returning to a club and being appreciated for what he has done there. I expected it from the Ipswich fans. It was nice."