 He scored his first FA Premier League goal on 24 April 2002 in a 1 – 0 win over Middlesbrough. He finished the 2001 – 02 season with seven appearances and two goals in all competitions, and also saw his team Ipswich face relegation into the First Division. He scored the winning goal against Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Cup on 31 October 2002 and finished the 2002 – 03 season with 18 goals. The 2003 – 04 season finished with Bent scoring 16 goals, which was followed by 20 goals in the 2004 – 05 season, being the team's joint highest goalscorer with Shefki Kuqi.
