Ipswich secure first point of season in draw with Fulham

IPSWICH, England :A first-half goal from Liam Delap earned Ipswich their first Premier League point of the season, but they had to share the spoils in a 1-1 home draw with Fulham on Saturday after winger Adama Traore grabbed an equaliser.
Following successive losses to Manchester City and Liverpool, the home side got off the mark as Marco Silva’s Fulham followed up their win over Leicester City with another strong performance.
Roared on by an enthusiastic home crowd, Delap put Ipswich ahead in the 15th minute, drifting across the box before lashing in a powerful shot that Fulham keeper Bernd Leno got his gloves to but could not keep out.
The visitors levelled 17 minutes later after Antonee Robinson whipped the ball across the box and Traore stabbed it home with a superb first-time finish to crown Fulham’s best attack of the game.
Fulham’s Robinson went in the book just before the hour mark for dragging down Chiedozie Ogbene and both sides showed plenty of aggression, especially at set pieces.
Delap almost teed Ogbene up for a second goal for Ipswich in the 68th minute but his pass that sliced through the middle of the Fulham defence was slightly too hard, and Leno beat the winger to the ball.
Fulham’s best chances came on the counter and Raul Jimenez forced a fine save from Arijanet Muric as the clock ticked up towards 90 minutes.
Winger Omari Hutchinson almost capped a man-of-the-match display for Ipswich with a stoppage-time goal, but again Leno was equal to the task.
“(We knew) it’s going to be tough for us, how they are going to be an aggressive side, how they are going to be intense throughout the game, and they started that way,” Fulham coach Marco Silva said.
“The reaction (to the Ipswich goal) was good from ourselves, I think we reacted well, very good goal from us and after that we did react really well,” he added.
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was pleased with his side’s aggressive home performance.
“Fulham certainly won’t have found it an easy game, they would have found it a difficult atmosphere to play in and us a difficult team to play against in many aspects,” he said.