There was an inevitability about this meeting of the Premiership’s draw specialists ending all square. This rainy afternoon at Craven Cottage will be one that Luis Boa Morte will want to forget in a hurry. The Portugese winger missed a penalty and was sent off after he slapped Fabian Wilnis and then was penalised for simulation in the penalty area – an act which had Mike Riley reaching for his red card.
Fulham had looked set fair for their first league win since against when Barry Hayles blasted a loose ball home midway through the first half, but Ipswich dominated the second half after Boa Morte’s moments of madness. They made their numerical advantage pay with Jermaine Wright finding plenty of room in the penalty area to power home an equaliser. Fulham didn’t simply seek to cling onto a draw and the ten men carved out a number of chances to win the game, but couldn’t convert any of them.
Fulham took the lead on 22 minutes after a scrappy, stop-start opening that was disrupted by an injury to Finidi George that caused the Nigerian international to be replaced by Marcus Stewart. The hosts’ opener was a messy affair with Wilnis failing to clear John Collins’ set-piece and Hayles swooping to smash his fourth goal of the campaign past Matteo Sereni. It should have been 2-0 seven minutes later after John McGreal was penalised for handball in the box but Boa Morte sent his spot-kick wide of the far post. He became the second Fulham forward to miss a penalty in the space of the week after Louis Saha’s failure from twelve yards at Aston Villa.
An agitated Boa Morte was fortunate to avoid a red card for lashing out at Wilnis but he was dismissed on the stroke of half time having gone down under a challenge from Herman Hreidarsson. The former Arsenal and Southampton man protested his innocence but television replays showed it was a clear dive. That put Fulham’s winning position in jeopardy and Ipswich expertly exploited the extra space against ten men.
Half-time substitute Martyn Reuser beat Steve Marlet down the right flank and Edwin van der Sar failed to gather a cross that ran all the way to Sixto Peralta at the back post. The Argentine picked out Wright, who shot into the bottom corner from fifteen yards. Fulham rallied and almost restored their lead immediately with Alain Goma heading a free-kick from Collins just wide.
Saha stepped off the bench and almost won it with a fine strike from fully 25 yards but Sereni superbly saved the Frenchman’s fierce drive. Collins also tried his luck from distance and his rising drive flew over the bar – before Matt Holland somehow headed a great cross from Jamie Clapham past the post as Ipswich put together a spell of late pressure.
FULHAM (4-4-2): van der Sar; Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Goma; Legwinski, Collins, Clark (Davis 62), Boa Morte; Marlet (Malbranque 63), Hayles (Saha 68). Subs (not used): Taylor, Knight.
BOOKED: Boa Morte, Legwinski.
SENT OFF: Boa Morte.
GOAL: Hayles (23).
IPSWICH TOWN (4-4-2): Sereni; Wilnis (Reuser 45), Makin, Hreidarsson, McGreal; Holland, Clapham, Wright, Peralta (Magilton 72); George (M. Stewart 13), Armstrong. Subs (not used): Branagan, Naylor.
BOOKED: Wilnis, Armstrong, Peralta.
GOAL: Wright (55).
REFEREE: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire).
ATTENDANCE: 17,221.
