Carlton Cole’s first half goal was enough to give West Ham a 1-0 victory over Town at Portman Road. However, the result didn’t tell the whole story with the Blues matching their top flight opponents throughout.

Town lined up again utilising the 4-3-3 formation that has been a feature of pre-season with Luke Hyam taking up the midfield holding role behind Grant Leadbitter and David Norris, who was returning from his back injury.

There was no places for Pablo Couñago, Lee Martin or Jon Stead, who has turned down his move to Blackpool, in the 18, while Owen Garvan is set to complete his switch to Crystal Palace on Monday.

Carlos Edwards was on the left of the front three with skipper Jon Walters on the right and Tamás Priskin in the centre. As expected, former Blue Kieron Dyer started in the West Ham midfield with Suffolk-born skipper Matthew Upson at the back and former England goalkeeper Robert Green between the sticks.

Town created the first chance of the game in the 15th minute, David Norris threading Tamás Priskin in behind the defence but the striker took the ball wide and Green blocked. From the corner, Gareth McAuley headed over when unmarked. Both Priskin and McAuley will feel they should have done better.

Soon after Green stopped a regulation low drive from Leadbitter to a huge sarcastic cheer from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

On 23 ex-Town loanee Mark Noble replaced Matthew Upson, who was suffering from a thigh strain, then moments later Priskin headed Edwards’s cross from the left over after a corner.

Town had looked significantly the more dangerous side, but the visitors went in front on the half hour. Kieron Dyer, who in the reshuffle after Upson’s exit had moved to right-back, made a run down the right, laying the ball back to Julian Faubert, who crossed. Brian Murphy saved Luis Boa-Morte’s header but Carlton Cole scrambled home the rebound from three yards.

West Ham ought to have increased their lead in the 37th minute when Dyer fed Noble down the right and the midfielder played in a low ball to Thomas Hitzelsperger, who scuffed his shot wide from 12 yards.

A minute later, Peters sent a dangerous ball across the Hammers’ box just too far ahead of Edwards and Walters, then Green was out quickly to clear ahead of Edwards.

A minute before the break, a Thomas Hitzlsperger corner from the right was allowed to reach James Tomkins six yards out but he failed to get a significant touch on the ball.

The 1-0 scoreline was a bit harsh on the Blues at the break after a half in which Town had matched their Premier League opponents and probably had the better of the chances until the closing stages when Hitzlsperger in particular should have increased his side’s lead.

Two minutes into the second period Green, who had been serenaded with chants of ‘USA, USA, USA’ from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand, saved Walters’s close range header from a corner.

The Blues continued to enjoy the better of the game, keeping possession long spells and in the 55th minute Norris saw a shot from the edge of the area deflect wide.

West Ham gradually came back into it and sub Danny Gabbidon shot wide, then in the 70th minute Murphy did well to get to the ball ahead of Hammers sub Freddie Piquionne.

Soon after, Edwards sent in a cross from the Town right but Walters’s header was too weak to test Green.

On 72 both sides made numerous subs, Jack Ainsley, Ronan Murray, Reggie Lambe and Shane O’Connor replacing Jaime Peters, Tamás Priskin, Carlos Edwards and Mark Kennedy for the Blues.

Republic of Ireland U19 international Murray was straight into the action, flicking a header from a Leadbitter freekick to Green.

Town should have been on terms in the 74th minute from another Leadbitter freekick, Tommy Smith rising above everyone but nodding the ball wide.

A minute later, Leadbitter went even closer to grabbing an equaliser after Murray had been fouled 25 yards out. Norris played the ball to the midfielder who flicked it up and struck a shot only narrowly over Robert Green’s crossbar.

At the other end, Cole took the ball down and made a strong run in from the left but Brian Murphy blocked.

West Ham sub Alessandro Diamanti struck a shot straight at Murphy as the game entered its final 10 minutes, then Leadbitter curled a freekick goalwards but without overly troubling Green and that was the Blues’ final chance.

Town had been by no means out-classed by their opponents and a draw was probably a fair result on the balance of play. The Blues had plenty of the ball, Hyam again impressing in the holding role, but all too often failed to test Green sufficiently once they had got into dangerous areas.

Tamás Priskin continues to look lacking in confidence in front of goal, but as at Bury did well with his overall game. The Hungarian, like several members of the side, could do with a goal when Town take on a Spurs XI in their final pre-season friendly on Tuesday, but overall it was a heartening display from Roy Keane’s men.

Town: Murphy, Peters (Ainsley 72), Kennedy (O’Connor 72), Hyam, McAuley, Smith, Walters, Norris, Priskin (Murray 72), Leadbitter, Edwards (Lambe 72). Unused: Lee-Barrett, Brown, Hourihane. Att: 10,564.

Photo: Action Images

NormanFawnNorfolk added 17:01 - Jul 31 "former England goalkeeper Robert Green" Ha,ha. Made I larf.
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Snedders added 17:04 - Jul 31 "Former England keeper" Has Green retired? Promising. Just need a striker! COYB
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Coolpooper added 17:04 - Jul 31 Refreshing read.
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olimar added 17:05 - Jul 31 "former england goalkeeper Rob Green"?! Wonder what the point being made here is...
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mickeyjb added 17:07 - Jul 31 Chopra please, now
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Blueknight85 added 17:08 - Jul 31 The ground was a bit empty .... guess the ticket prices were as unattractive as the oposition.
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Blueknight85 added 17:08 - Jul 31 The ground was a bit empty .... guess the ticket prices were as unattractive as the oposition.
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Yeasayer added 17:19 - Jul 31 A lot of positives to be taken... Goal could have been prevented with a taller right back, and the need for a striker is staring us in the face. Hyam, Edwards and Priskin looked good IMO.
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PimsNumber1 added 17:20 - Jul 31 The lads played well , including Priskin who tried hard and had some nice touches. i just wished he had nicked a goal today. peters i thought was the poorest for us , he isnt a RB . ainsley did better than i expected when he came on .Lambe was his usual ineffective self but hyam looks a decent player out of the youngsters.
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Bobby_Petta added 17:27 - Jul 31 3 holding midfielders, no wonder we didn't score! bring back Garven
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RetroBlue added 17:37 - Jul 31 Hyam at this rate will be player of the season. OMG what a little gem this lad is ! I am really looking forward to this season on this afternoons showing. All we lack is an experienced striker to partner Connor, and dare I say it Fulop in goal and we are well on the way. Make no mistake this Town side looks like it can certainly kick on this season, and the style of football was by and large ON THE DECK !! COYB's

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superblueflude added 17:50 - Jul 31 petta - get real. Leadbitter always played as an attacking minded midfielder throughout his career at sunderland and its showing now in the new 4-3-3 formation. what would Garvan bring to the team which is different now? we're creating chance after chance again all we need is someone uptop to plant them, unless you begin to understand football, id stop writing stupid comments TBH.

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SiBo added 18:00 - Jul 31 Bobby Petta, were you at the game? I was and the game I watched didn't have 3 holding midfielders in the Ipswich side... we had 1 (Hyam) with Leadbitter and Norris in Front. The above write up states we played 4-3-3, but a more accurate description would be 4-1-2-2-1 set out as below: …………..…..Murphy……………… Peters…McAuley…Smith…Kennedy ………………Hyam………………... ..Walters………..…………Edwards.. ………..……..Priskin………………. I think it generally worked well, with Walters and Priskin switching as well as Walters & Edwards. It made for a very fluid midfield/attack line. If I had any criticism it would be that Walters got sucked deep a little too often and could have made a few more earlier forward runs; but I think that will come the more he gets used to the system. Like Yeasayer said, Priskin Hyam and Edwards all looked good. Priskin had a fair few chances and OK he was a little weak with some of his shooting, but he got to the right place at the right time… get a goal and I can see him easing down a little, relaxing and scoring a few. The main point here is that if you compare him to West Ham's Centre Forward, he got more chances by making better runs and taking up better positioning than the West Ham man, who basically just used his strength to bundle a goal. Edwards played better than I saw last year, which again is encouraging and Young Hyam looked like a seasoned pro in the defensive midfield role… good covering, talking and most importantly, decent (mainly simple, which is good) passing. I also liked the fact he was always on the move, looking to make space (deep) an opening himself up as an option for a pass either from the defenders or midfielders. Really good solid mature display from the youngster. I also thought Peters had a decent game… I know a poster above doesn't agree, but I thought he had a decent; solid game. He wasn't skinned once, was only beaten on the outside once (which he then got back to make the cross difficult) had some decent passing and was pretty good. Not sure how you can blame him for the goal… it was in the centre and so was McAuley/Smith territory, not Peters… if anything Murphy should have done better with the initial shot… I can't imagine anyone is trained to parry the ball to the six yard line in the centre of the goal! But maybe that's a little harsh. Negatives? Only a few; Murphy's mistake above; Walters being a little too deep and we didn't score even though we had many more chances than WH. (Probably a little harsh) So all in all a decent showing from ITFC and we were NOT playing long ball as so many say we do… good passing football today and kept possession well. (A lot down to Hyam… really good) So I'm happy even though we lost… it's a crazy world isn't it!

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hogster1970 added 18:11 - Jul 31 well not a bad game thought we didnt look overaud buy the hammers at all, thought genrally it wasnt a bad effort with quiet afew postives to take from the game. how ever the so called 4 3 3 formation didnt realey exist it was more like 4 1 4 1 to me and when priskin is a vetual loan striker he was never in the right postion, when playing like this he should awys be in the center of the field just behind there back 4 but all to often he was wide and miles from the back 4 so when we did get the ball and pushing forward he was no were to be seen, you just cant play like this, but at times though he done ok to be fair, also thought the subs coming on done well but the game went very flat in the last 10 mins. young reggie looks good and the new irish conner didnt look bad neither, hyam had a good game but don think he should be there i think pablo infront of the mnidfield would have proved a better attacking opition, and to be fair with whickam injured for a month i think keene should adopt this as we are so week upront unless we get chopra of course. also after last year we were so narrow on the wings at one point edwards was half way between the center circle and the oppiste wing, my god there was about 4 hammers players with the whole pitch to them selves we must stop playing so narrow. but hey hopefully we may get a draw at borough if we are lucky and scrap a win at home

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Monkey_Blue added 18:16 - Jul 31 I think petta's point is that there is no creativity in that midfield three. Leadbitter is a straight up central midfielder, not a flair player, not quick..he's nicky buttesque, norris is hard working and a good player, but also not what you would call a flair player. Last season was characterised with us lacking real creative guile to either finish teams off or be able to get back into games. The two games against decent opposition and even the two midweek games this week has seen us struggle to score goals...its not just about the strikers, none of the midfield bar walters looked like scoring regularly, so that suggests its the set up(too much long ball to players who want it to feet) and perhaps the lack of creative players? We now have three players who are all not too disimilar to keane in style in midfield.

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jas0999 added 18:28 - Jul 31 I was unable to attend today's match. Clearly the lack of goals is a concern, but when even the West Ham Official website says we were on top at times it is very encouraging. This sounds like a decent work out - but no doubt several people will complain and moan!!
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blues1 added 18:31 - Jul 31 think i must have been at a different game than ne1 else. all i saw, was 2 very poor teams playing each other. the lack of width in our side is appalling, ne decent team wld have exposed us down the wings. the only bright spot 4 me was the performance of luke hyam, who was so composed playing the holding role. priskin, while showing a few decent touches, was poor, 2 easily brushed off the ball, & doesnt look lyk he'll ever score a goal. unless we get the striker we so desperately need, we will b in a relegation dogfight, u mark my words

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blueoff added 18:35 - Jul 31 agree with Pimms, Peters is out of his depth at full back & any manager that does his home work will soon sus this out
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blues1 added 18:36 - Jul 31 oh,2 b fair, i shld have added that leadbitter & norris had decent games, & defence luked solid enuf, albeit against a poor w. ham strikeforce, only cole did nething, & he wasnt gr8
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Rambert added 18:40 - Jul 31 There was so many Ipswich fans dressed as blue seats. Amazing.
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ChambersM added 18:42 - Jul 31 Not bad to contain west ham today but tbh were not going to do anything other than that after watching todays game. There is still no quality in that team, Edwards CANNOT. Play left wing and although priskin was better he is still pretty average , where was stead and Pablo, that's a joke.
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AlexanderFields added 18:44 - Jul 31 Many thanks, SiBo, for a thoughtful and very readable report.
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StowTractorBoy added 18:51 - Jul 31 This was a lot better than I expected but the biggest worry is where are the goals coming from ? We are obviously tuning up for Middlesbrough next week with the 4-1-4-1 formation which is OK if you don't concede but of course we did hence Walters was pushed up front. Plusses for me were Hyam who was way ahead of his years and Edwards who looked better than he did last season but how long it will last who knows. The goal they scored was a disappointment as Kennedy was beaten far too easily on the left and the subsequent cross ended with a mix up involving Murphy and Peters that let in Cole although Murpy has to take the blame. Kennedy has a wonderful left foot for free kcks etc. but his lack of pace is a concern to me. I so want Priskin to succeed but he so badly wants a goal to give him a much needed boost again today he flattered to deceive. Smith was excellent at the back and looks a lot more assured than last season which is a plus for me as I had doubts about him at the end of last season. All in all a good workout against useful opposition - just get us Chopra this week please Mr Evans.

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Mark added 18:57 - Jul 31 Well done to the lads today. Let's give them what they deserve and bring in a quality striker or two next week, as without the goals all the hard work of the team will be for nothing. Chopra would be nice, but he should not be our only option: let's have a plan B and plan C ready in case Cardiff or the player himself demand too much money. Let's hope that this time next week we have a new striker and have our first point of the season from the Middlesbrough match.

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Ipswichboy14 added 18:58 - Jul 31 I think Hyam passed the ball well at times
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