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Ipswich’s first Premier League goal in more than 22 years may win goal-of-the-season accolade
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Portman Road had waited more than 22 years to cheer a Premier League goal and when it finally came it turned out to be a cracker. Liam Delap, who hadn’t been born when Ipswich dropped out of the top flight in 2002, opened his personal account with a goal-of-the-season contender.
It was worth only a point, thanks to an Adama Traore equaliser just after the half-hour mark, but the hosts, having been schooled by Liverpool and Manchester City in the toughest of starts, at least had a point on the board.
A well-deserved one too. Delap’s goal, in the 15th minute, will live long in Suffolk memories. The striker, a £20million summer purchase from Manchester City, seized on a pass from Leif Davis just inside Fulham’s half and ran directly at the opposition defence.
Andreas Pereira was left trailing as the 21-year-old launched a 20-yard drive that Bernd Leno, the Fulham goalkeeper, got a hand to but could not keep out.
Portman Road, starved of success for two decades but now enjoying a glut under manager Kieran McKenna, erupted. The team that was in League One two years ago was deservedly on top.
“It was a great moment — his first Premier League goal and the club’s first Premier League goal at Portman Road in 22 years,” McKenna said. “And what a goal it was.
“I enjoyed his all-round performance. Each week he is getting better and stronger. He is learning and has still got great growth to come.”
McKenna had tried and failed to bring in another forward in the final days of the transfer window. A move to borrow Armando Broja from Chelsea was torpedoed by an Achilles injury, although the Albania striker joined Everton anyway.
Then there was Reiss Nelson, the winger surplus to requirements at Arsenal. He appeared Ipswich-bound on deadline day but ended up at Fulham.
‘That’s why we invested so much in him’
Delap, the England Under-21 cap and son of former Premier League stalwart Rory, put in a performance that reassured the Portman Road faithful that McKenna’s men would not be short of fire-power.
“I never lacked confidence in Liam and that’s why we invested so much in him,” McKenna said. “People probably thought it was a big fee that we paid for him.
“We have real faith in Liam and we are really enjoying working with him. I feel like he ... already is impacting things at Premier League level.
“We would have liked to have added to our squad but it wasn’t the right thing for the club or the right opportunity.”
Traore’s goal, a first-time hit of an Antonee Robinson cross that had evaded Rodrigo Muniz and the whole Ipswich defence, marked Fulham’s best spell of the game.
Ipswich finished the stronger side, another hallmark of the McKenna era, and Fulham were grateful to Leno for a stoppage-time save that denied Omari Hutchinson, who has made last season’s loan from Chelsea permanent.
“We were solid and had things under control, but we were not as good as we should have been in the second half,” admitted Fulham manager Marco Silva.
