Fulham secure a point at newly-promoted Ipswich

Ipswich Town 1-1 Fulham

The god of the fixture list can be a real tease. 

Newly promoted Ipswich Town were assigned these two opening matches: at home to Liverpool then a visit to Manchester City. Fulham at home must have seemed like a relief, even though the Whites had won a Carabao Cup tie at Portman Road back in February.

Marco Silva manifested his confidence in the starting eleven of the home victory over Leicester City. From kick-off they found Ipswich a tougher prospect. A looping header from Jacob Greaves almost gave the home side an early lead. 

After an injury to Greaves interrupted the play, some careless passing in the 15th minute permitted Liam Delap to run unchallenged through the midfield and deliver a fierce shot from beyond the penalty area. Arguably Bernd Leno should have saved but Delap’s class was indisputable. Two and a half years ago, when a Manchester City substitute, he had seemingly scored against the Whites only to have his hopes dashed by the assistant referee. Last Saturday he got his belated revenge and could have added a second just three minutes later but his header was off target.

Fulham were finding their opponents a real handful. With Rodrigo Muniz seeing little of the ball, Issa Diop and Kenny Tete made occasional forays but it was a team effort that produced a fine equaliser in the 30th minute. Calvin Bassey’s clearance prompted a move involving Sasa Lukic, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi. With Muniz boxed in by two defenders, Timothee Robinson crossed for Adama Traore to score with energy, style, and enthusiasm. Traore then created a chance for Muniz that drew a fine save from Arjanet Muric.

The excitement (and the fouls) continued after the interval with Leno probably the busier keeper. Smith Rowe had two shots blocked before yielding to Sander Berge. The newcomer quickly fed the ball to another substitute, Raoul Jimenez, whose hard shot came straight at Muric.

With the Fulham defence visibly tiring, a home victory looked increasingly possible. Silva sent on his faithful trio to see the match out – Harrison Reed, Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson – but substitute Jack Clarke had other ideas. Leno had to be at his best to protect the point though the cheeky Calvin Bassey launched a last-minute attack that might have paid off.

Almost 30,000 spectators watched this entertaining tussle, a tenth of them supporting the Whites. Statistically the teams were pretty even and a draw was a fair result. The home side deserved their first point and Fulham preserved their mid-table spot. Marco Silva now has the international break to work out how best to employ the new players that he has acquired.

It was announced at the weekend that former Cardiff and Leeds defender Sol Bamba had died suddenly. Seven years ago, we watched with delight the Cardiff City giant jousting with our new signing Aboubakar Kamara. What sad news for his family, his friends and the football community.