5 January 2025
Fulham 2 Ipswich Town 2
Marco Silva’s side welcomed Ipswich Town to the capital for their first game of the calendar year. The visitors had beaten Chelsea in midweek to seal their first home win of the campaign so came into this one brimming with confidence. Fulham were hoping to take advantage of results elsewhere and propel themselves up the Premier League table.
The Tractor Boys were without Hutchinson, who put in a talismanic display against his old club in their last game. He would prove to be a big loss for Kieran McKenna’s side. Despite this, they took the game to The Cottagers. Delap did well to hold the ball up to allow support to get forward but he was hauled to the ground and a free-kick was given in a dangerous position.
The hosts managed to stand firm but as Davis whipped in a cross into the middle, Szmodics was a whisker away from getting a telling touch to give the visitors the lead. It was an early warning for Fulham that this Ispwich Town side could not be taken for granted. There is no such thing as an easy win in the top-flight, unless of course you are playing Southampton.
Cairney was starting to have an influence in a rare starting appearance. He whipped a cross into the box and Jimenez rose well to meet it. Walton got down to make an important save to keep his side in this game. The visitors needed to have a better plan for the dangerous Mexican. If they gave him this much time or space, he would no doubt punish at some point.
Wilson then exchanged a one-two with Jimenez and burst through the middle. Davis slid in and brought him down. The Ipswich defender was lucky that O’Shea was in close proximity which meant he was only shown a yellow card instead of red. Marco Silva looked like he was going to explode on the touchline, he was raging that the Ipswich defender was still on the pitch.
Towards the end of the half, the Tractor Boys ventured forward. Broadhead clipped a teasing ball into the back post, which saw the Fulham defender head it against his own crossbar. As it came back out, Szmodics drilled it into the back of the net to silence Craven Cottage. This was most definitely not on the script everyone had planned for their Sunday afternoon.
Into the second-half and the rain started to hammer down. Cairney was fouled and it gave the hosts a free-kick in a dangerous position. As the visitors headed clear, it was well recycled and fed back into the box. Smith-Rowe arrived at the back post and somehow glanced his header wide of the target. It had seemed as though he had done all the hard work getting there in the first place.
Fulham had no time to rue their miss as Ipswich poured forward again. This time Broadhead tried his luck from the edge of the box. It took a superb save from Leno to claw it out of the goal. Had they doubled their lead, it would have been hard to see a way back into this game for Marco Silva’s side. With his current mood, he may have well been on an assault charge by the final whistle.
Instead it was The Cottagers coming forward as Smith-Rowe played it into the path of Wilson. He ran into the box and went to ground, demanding a penalty. The referee waved away their protests. VAR reviewed the incident and sent the referee to the monitor. That only ever means one thing, he will change his decision, penalty to Fulham.
Jimenez stepped up and calmly stroked it past Walton. With just under twenty minutes to go, you expected the hosts to go and win the game. However, something seems to have changed with Ipswich Town of late. They have a newfound confidence and resilience, not knowing when they are beaten and continuing to give it their all.
The visitors came forward as the ball was played into Delap in the box. He checked onto his right foot and seemed to be caught by Castagne. After a moment’s thought, the referee pointed to the spot. The game had seen two penalties awarded in as many minutes. Suddenly this match was end-to-end stuff as they both threw everything at their opponents to try and get the win.
Delap stepped up and thundered his spot kick into the far corner, sending Leno the wrong way in the process. He is starting to look like a player who looks right at home in the Premier League. Ipswich Town will just be hoping that the rumours are not true that Man City want to exercise their option to buy him back at the end of the season. He would be a huge miss.
Marco Silva’s side tried to search for an equaliser. Jimenez met a cross but it went narrowly wide of the far post. So close to drawing his side level. Ipswich went straight down the other end of the pitch and Clarke fired off a shot that came crashing back off the post. You just did not know what was going to happen in this game next.
Deep into added time, Jimenez took it past Davis and was upended. The referee immediately pointed to the spot. The Mexican striker stepped up and stroked it into the top corner to ensure Fulham were to get a share of the points. Ice cold temperament from The Cottagers’ frontman opting to send his second penalty to the other side of the goal.
The Fulham manager was still fuming over the fact that the Ipswich Town defender was not sent off in the game. It is swings and roundabouts for The Cottagers as it was in fact Davis who gave away the last-gasp penalty. Who knows what would have happened if he had not been there to commit the foul. Either way, there were plenty of positives for both sides to take from the game.
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