Ipswich Town 2-1 Fulham

David McGoldrick scored in his first appearance since February

An inexperienced Fulham side began their Championship campaign poorly as they were beaten by Ipswich Town.

The Cottagers, relegated last season after 13 years in the Premier League, included eight debutants in their team.

Ipswich's Daryl Murphy collected Luke Hyam's pass to fire past Jesse Joronen, before David McGoldrick added a second goal with a low shot from 18 yards out.

Tim Hoogland's deflected late strike gave Fulham hope of snatching a draw, but the hosts held on for the victory.

It was a hugely disappointing day for Fulham, playing their first game in the second tier of English football since May 2001.

Only captain Scott Parker started from Felix Magath's side that began their last Premier League match and the German boss handed a full debut to Ross McCormack.

But the Scottish striker, who moved to Fulham in an £11m transfer from Leeds United, saw little of the ball, failed to create any chances and was replaced after 57 minutes.

Did you know?
Fulham's last victory against Ipswich came on 26 December, 1963, when they won 10-1 at Craven Cottage. It remains Fulham's best win and Ipswich's joint-heaviest defeat.

The London side offered little until the last 15 minutes when, trailing 2-0, they brought on England Under-17 striker Patrick Roberts.

He produced a lively cameo, taking on and beating his opponent regularly, before playing a part in Hoogland's goal, although the defender's strike needed a deflection off Tommy Smith to take the ball past Dean Gerken.

Despite some late pressure, Mick McCarthy's Ipswich side, who finished four points adrift of the play-offs in 2013-14, claimed the three points.

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Manager Mick McCarthy on Ipswich victory

They had made a bright start as Christophe Berra had a header tipped over by Joronen and Cole Skuse twice fired narrowly off target.

However, Moussa Dembele should have put Fulham ahead when Gerken fumbled Chris David's shot, but the Ipswich goalkeeper managed to recover to block the follow-up attempt. That miss proved crucial as Ipswich took a 32nd-minute lead.

Ex-England international Parker lost possession to Hyam and he released Murphy, who outpaced Shaun Hutchinson and finished past Joronen to put Town in front.

Ipswich doubled their lead after 61 minutes when Murphy's low cross fell to substitute McGoldrick and the forward, making his first appearance since February after a knee injury, scored his side's second.

That proved to be the decisive goal as the Suffolk side began their 13th successive season in English football's second tier with a win.

Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy:

"It was a nervy end but I thought we deserved the win overall. Gerks (goakeeper Dean Gerken) has not had much to do and, while we didn't have a lot of the ball in the first half, we scored a good opener on the break.

"We are a better team with David McGoldrick in it. The fact he is now back is all down to his diligence and professionalism to get himself fit.

"He has worked really hard and was desperate to get back playing - and it was lovely to have him back."

Fulham manager Felix Magath:

"A lot of our young players are just out of the academy and they are not used to being tackled in that way.

"We knew before it was going to be a very tough match and the referee didn't have his best day."

David McGoldrick scored Ipswich's second goal after coming on as a 44th-minute substitute

Fulham's team featured eight players who were making their debuts, including Shaun Hutchinson

Ross McCormack had a disappointing debut following his £11m move from Leeds to Fulham

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Ipswich

• 1Gerken
• 4Chambers
• 3MingsBooked at 81mins
• 19HyamBooked at 37minsSubstituted forBruat 82'minutes
• 6BerraBooked at 87mins
• 5Smith
• 21Hewitt
• 8SkuseSubstituted forWordsworthat 70'minutes
• 14BajnerSubstituted forMcGoldrickat 44'minutes
• 9Murphy
• 18Tabb

Substitutes

• 10McGoldrick
• 17Bru
• 22Wordsworth
• 23Henshall
• 33Bialkowski
• 34Marriott
• 35Nouble

Fulham

• 41Joronen
• 2Hoogland
• 3Stafylidis
• 38Burgess
• 6Bodurov
• 4HutchinsonSubstituted forRobertsat 74'minutes
• 8Parker
• 30DavidSubstituted forEisfeldat 45'minutes
• 44McCormackSubstituted forWoodrowat 57'minutes
• 25Dembele
• 28Hyndman

Substitutes

• 7Eisfeld
• 14Roberts
• 16Woodrow
• 20Rodallega
• 26Fotheringham
• 33Burn
• 40Bettinelli

Referee:

Steve Martin

Attendance:

17,218

Match Stats

Home TeamIpswichAway TeamFulham

Possession

Home34%

Away66%

Shots

Home14

Away13

Shots on Target

Home5

Away3

Corners

Home5

Away3

Fouls

Home14

Away9

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Ipswich Town 2, Fulham 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+5'

Second Half ends, Ipswich Town 2, Fulham 1.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt missed. Moussa Dembele (Fulham) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Thomas Eisfeld with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 90'

Corner, Fulham. Conceded by Tommy Smith.

Posted at 90'

Attempt blocked. Tim Hoogland (Fulham) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Thomas Eisfeld with a cross.

Posted at 90'

Corner, Fulham. Conceded by Christophe Berra.

Posted at 89'

Attempt blocked. Patrick Roberts (Fulham) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Cauley Woodrow.

Posted at 88'

Attempt missed. Patrick Roberts (Fulham) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Thomas Eisfeld.

Booking

Posted at 87'

Christophe Berra (Ipswich Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 86'

Cauley Woodrow (Fulham) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 86'

Foul by Christophe Berra (Ipswich Town).

Goal!

Posted at 86'

Goal! Ipswich Town 2, Fulham 1. Tim Hoogland (Fulham) left footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Patrick Roberts.

Posted at 85'

Attempt saved. David McGoldrick (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the left is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Anthony Wordsworth.

Posted at 85'

Foul by Patrick Roberts (Fulham).

Posted at 85'

Jay Tabb (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 85'

Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Nikolay Bodurov.

Posted at 82'

Attempt blocked. Cauley Woodrow (Fulham) header from very close range is blocked. Assisted by Konstantinos Stafylidis with a cross.

Posted at 82'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Substitution

Posted at 82'

Substitution, Ipswich Town. Kevin Bru replaces Luke Hyam because of an injury.

Posted at 82'

Delay in match Luke Hyam (Ipswich Town) because of an injury.

Booking

Posted at 81'

Tyrone Mings (Ipswich Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 81'

Patrick Roberts (Fulham) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 81'

Foul by Tyrone Mings (Ipswich Town).

Posted at 79'

Attempt missed. Anthony Wordsworth (Ipswich Town) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Luke Chambers with a cross.

Posted at 78'

Foul by Nikolay Bodurov (Fulham).

Posted at 78'

Daryl Murphy (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 77'

Corner, Fulham. Conceded by Luke Chambers.

Posted at 76'

Hand ball by Cauley Woodrow (Fulham).

Posted at 75'

Attempt missed. Moussa Dembele (Fulham) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Tim Hoogland.

Posted at 74'

Offside, Ipswich Town. Anthony Wordsworth tries a through ball, but Daryl Murphy is caught offside.

Substitution

Posted at 74'

Substitution, Fulham. Patrick Roberts replaces Shaun Hutchinson.

Posted at 73'

Tim Hoogland (Fulham) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 73'

Foul by Jay Tabb (Ipswich Town).

Posted at 72'

Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Konstantinos Stafylidis.

Substitution

Posted at 70'

Substitution, Ipswich Town. Anthony Wordsworth replaces Cole Skuse.

Posted at 69'

Attempt saved. Jay Tabb (Ipswich Town) header from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.

Posted at 68'

Corner, Ipswich Town. Conceded by Jesse Joronen.

Posted at 68'

Foul by Tim Hoogland (Fulham).

Posted at 68'

David McGoldrick (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 65'

Foul by Scott Parker (Fulham).

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