Fulham 2 Ipswich Town 2: Blues left to settle for a point after Cottagers peg them back twice in tale of three penalties in west London
Ipswich Town were left to settle for a point at a top-half Fulham side as Raul Jimenez dispatched a 91st minute penalty to see them come from behind via a spot-kick for the second time.
Sammie Szmodics had scored against the run of play in the 38th minute after a defensive header came back off the crossbar to give the Suffolk side a slender lead at the interval.
The second half then became a tale of three penalties, with Jimenez beating Christian Walton for the first time in the 69th minute after Sam Morsy was penalised after a VAR check.
There was incredibly just 21 seconds between that moment and the next spot-kick being awarded, with Town this time benefiting as Liam Delap dusted himself off to convert from 12 yards in successive games, the first Town player ever to do so in the Premier League.
It looked like their top scorer’s powerful effort was to be enough to carry them to consecutive Premier League wins for the first time since February, 2002.
But football can be a cruel master and so it proved as a misplaced tackle from Leif Davis was punished with the game’s third penalty in the first of seven added minutes.
There was even time for the hosts to appeal for another when the ball bounced off Luke Woolfenden’s arm, but VAR deemed it was above the t-shirt line, so was a legal use.
It left the Suffolk side with a point to return from west London with that sees them remain third bottom but now level with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who end the gameweek by hosting third-placed Nottingham Forest tomorrow night (8pm).
The big news ahead of kick-off had been Omari Hutchinson’s absence - following his goal in the 2-0 win at home to Chelsea - from the 20-man squad with Kieran McKenna revealing in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports that it was due to a groin injury.
Szmodics was the man to come in while the more defensive Ben Johnson was brought in at right wing-back in place of Wes Burns.
Fulham showed one change from the 2-2 draw home draw with AFC Bournemouth on Sunday with Andreas Pereira, reportedly the subject of interest from Brazilian side Palmeiras, dropping to the bench and Tom Cairney coming back in and taking on the captain’s armband.
In the driving rain, Fulham were first to threaten with Cairney’s fifth-minute cross-cum-shot from wide on the left landing on the roof of the net.
Town - in their pink Ed Sheeran-designed third strip - soon got their 2,701 travelling army excited when a deep Davis cross saw Szmodics almost connect as it whizzed across the area before the hosts caused concern by breaking dangerously with Jimenez’s head into the box just too far ahead of Harry Wilson.
Walton, who had kept his place after a standout display against Chelsea, made a confidence-boosting low save in the 20th minute to push out Jimenez’s header. It came shortly before Jens Cajuste made a key block after Johnson was nut-megged by Alex Iwobi to get into the area as The Cottagers enjoyed a dominant spell.
Davis was shown a yellow card on 27, with Fulham fans calling for more and replays suggesting they had a case, after blocking off a driving run from Wilson, with VAR not overturning Darren Bond’s decision. Walton found himself behind Joachim Anderson’s header from the subsequent free kick.
Town were having to suffer out of possession but after finally getting out of their own half again, found themselves celebrating taking the lead in the 38th minute after some poor home defending.
Davis played the ball inside to Broadhead who floated in a cross from the left side of the area which saw Antonee Robinson head back off his own crossbar under pressure from Johnson. The attempted clearance from Bassey fell perfectly for Szmodics who fired it in off the back of Bassey himself. It was a fourth goal of the campaign for the former Blackburn Rovers man, all coming away from Portman Road, and the first since scoring in the pink kit’s debut, at Tottenham Hotspur in November.
Fulham made a tactical switch at the break with Emilie Smith Rowe replacing Issa Diop as Silva reverted to a back four to make better use of the wide areas.
Town had a sniff at doubling their advantage when a god low ball in from Davis found Szmodics but under pressure from Bassey he was unable to steer it towards goal.
The pressure began to build up the other end with Iwobi firing wide on the hour mark after the ball was passed from right to left.
Smith Rowe met a Iwobi cross with a diving header at the far post but saw it go some way wide of the left-hand post.
A great raking O’Shea crossfield pass out the back for Delap saw his marker only able to nod it into the path of Broadhead whose well-hit half volley was pushed out for a corner by Bernd Leno.
The third of two penalties inside 21 seconds then arrived with Morsy clipping Wilson as he went to pull the trigger and sending the former Liverpool winger sprawling. It was initially waved away by referee Bond but he then changed his mind after being sent to the monitor by VAR.
Mexican international Jimenez, who went on to be his country’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League in this match, fired the ball under the dive of Walton after a stuttering run-up in the 69th minute.
The celebrations from the home crowd had not had a chance to die down before Bond was pointing to the spot up the other end after Timothy Castagne had a rush of blood to the head when lunging in on Delap. Town’s man-of-the-moment then sent the away section, housed in the corner by the goal, wild as he powerfully fired in at the top right-hand corner with Leno going the wrong way for his eighth of the season.
Jimenez headed wide from a deep Wilson free kick after getting ahead of Woolfenden with just shy of 10 minutes to go.
Up the other end Town were still having moments with Davis running through to fire over ahead of Castagne’s sliding challenge.
Kalvin Phillips, introduced with Jack Taylor for Cajuste and Szmodics made a good block in the area from a powerful shot as Town looked to hang on to their lead.
But they almost extended it when substitute Jack Clarke saw a low shot from the edge of the area, after good work by Davis, come back off the left-hand post.
It proved a costly miss as they then undone by another misplaced tackled in the box as Davis kicked Jimenez’s ankle after seven additional minutes had been signalled.
Both sections of fans inside Craven Cottage held their breath but it was the home fans left celebrating as Jimenez executed the perfect spot-kick, with another stuttering run to test Walton’s nerve ending with a powerful effort into the top right-hand corner as the former went the wrong way.
There was still plenty of time though with substitute Rodrigo Muniz attempting an overhead kick as another ball was swung into the Town box before there was controversy in the dying seconds as Fulham appealed for a penalty when the ball appeared to bounce up and strike the arm of Woolfenden but, to the relief of all from Suffolk, it was not given by the referee or VAR.
Walton made a late save from Muniz before helping to run down the clock in the dying seconds with the final whistle leaving both sides to contemplate a point apiece as Fulham’s extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.
For Town, it annoyingly leaves them hanging inside the bottom three ahead of a break for FA Cup action before hosting Brighton & Hove Albion a week on Thursday but with what they showed once again in west London, there is plenty to be hopeful of following their first game of 2025.
Ipswich Town: Walton, Johnson (Burns 80’), O’Shea, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis, Morsy (cpt), Cajuste (Phillips 73’), Szmodics (Taylor 73’), Broadhead (J Clarke 80’), Delap (Al-Hamadi 88’).
Unused subs: Muric, H Clarke, Burgess, Townsend.
Booked: Davis (27’), Broadhead (39’), O’Shea (66’), Morsy (68’), Johnson (78’)
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Diop (Smith-Rowe 46’), Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic, Cairney (cpt) (Pereira 63’), Wilson, Jimenez, Iwobi (Muniz 69’).
Unused subs: Benda, Cuenca, Sessegnon, King, Traore, Godo.
Booked: None.
Referee: Darren Bond (Lancashire).
VAR: Paul Tierney.
Attendance: 27,042
SuffolkNews Man of the Match: Nathan Broadhead. Thoughts that two Premier League starts in row were too much for a big player in last season’s promotion-winning campaign would be too much were quickly dispelled as he ended up completing the most dribbles (4) in the match and causing the Fulham defence plenty of problems. It was from his teasing cross that Town’s only goal from open play arrived.
