Goals from Chris Martin and Ragnar Sigurdsson saw Fulham to a comfortable 2-0 Boxing Day victory over the Blues at Portman Road, their first win against Town for precisely 53 years. Martin opened the scoring with a freekick on 36, then sub Sigurdsson headed home a corner in the 78th minute but the margin of victory should have been wider.
Jonathan Douglas replaced the injured Jonny Williams in an otherwise unchanged Town team.
Andre Dozzell kept his place in a three-man midfield and was making his first home Championship appearance of the season. Leon Best was back on the bench with no place in the 18 for Luke Varney.
Fulham started the brighter and Christophe Berra did well to cut out a cross from the left. Following the corner, Whites skipper Tom Cairney screwed a shot well wide.
Town first threatened to create an opening in the 12th minute when, after good work from Brett Pitman, Dozzell played the ball towards the left of the area to Tom Lawrence who dummied for Douglas but the ball ran behind the breaking midfielder.
The visitors continued to dominate possession, prodding and probing and looking for an opening. On 17 Floyd Ayite was played in on the left of the area by Stefan Johansen but Berra slid in to make a fine saving challenge.
Fulham almost scored the goal their first-half performance deserved in the 32nd minute when Scott Malone crossed from the left and Chris Martin turned the ball towards goal from close range only for Bartosz Bialkowski to somehow keep the ball out with his feet.
Following the corner Kevin McDonald diverted the ball wide at the far post with what looked to be a hand.
But the goal Fulham deserved wasn’t too much longer in coming. After Cole Skuse had fouled Johansen 25 yards out, Martin hit a freekick which appeared to go through the Town wall before nestling in the corner of the net to Bialkowski’s right.
Having gained the lead, the visitors continued to control the game, passing the ball around slickly - the home crowd were chanting ‘we’re supposed to be at home’ with good reason - and a minute before half-time created another opening, Jonas Knudsen doing well to block from Sone Aluko from the right of the area.
As the half moved into injury time, Fulham keeper David Button was forced into his first save of the afternoon, the former Spurs man diving across to his right to palm defender Tim Ream’s header towards his own goal wide.
Town were unable to create anything from the corner and referee Oliver Langford’s whistle was met with boos from the home support.
The Blues had been thoroughly outplayed by the visitors throughout and on another afternoon might well have found themselves further behind.
Fulham had passed the ball around as well as anybody Town have faced this season, while Mick McCarthy’s men were left chasing shadows for the most part. That the closest they had come to a goal was Ream’s inadvertent late header summed up the half.
That the Cottagers ended the half only one goal up was perhaps the only positive, but Town needed to be a very much better prospect after the break.
As had seemed likely, McCarthy made immediate changes of personnel with Pitman and Dozzell, who had never really got into the game, although the 17-year-old was far from alone in that, replaced by Leon Best and David McGoldrick.
Town had more of the ball in the early stages of the second half but the visitors created the first opening when Ayite was found on the left and broke into the area before being halted by skipper Luke Chambers. From the resultant corner, the ball found Michael Madl but the centre-half was unable to get it under control and Skuse cleared.
Fulham had quickly reasserted their dominance and should have made it 2-0 just before the hour when an over-casual Webster lost possession to Aluko and Ayike was sent through on goal but was forced wide by Bialkowski and shot across the face of goal.
Denis Odoi was then harshly adjudged to have fouled Chambers as he shoulder-charged the Blues skipper and played the ball back into the box for Martin to tap home.
Bialkowski subsequently sent Sears away on the Town left and the ball eventually deflected off Knudsen and into the six-yard area before being claimed by Button. The Dane screwed a shot well wide after a later Town attack. On 64 McDonald was booked for a foul on Lawrence.
Despite those attacks, Fulham were still very much in the ascendency and again should have added to their lead in the 69th minute when Johansen crossed low from the left and Ayite smashed well wide when he should have scored.
As Bialkowski prepared to take the goalkick Lawrence was booked for an earlier foul. Soon after, McGoldrick joined him in the book for a late tackle on Madl.
Fulham wasted another opportunity to seal their victory in the 78th minute when, after a free-flowing moving which cut through the Blues, Ayite’s effort was saved by Bialkowski.
But the second goal finally came from the corner, Sigardsson nodding in Johansen’s flag-kick from close range.
The second Fulham goal, which had certainly been coming, prompted shouts of ‘Evans sort it out’ from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand and then later chants of ‘what a load of rubbish’.
Bialkowski saved from Cairney as the game moved into its final five minutes, then at the other end Chambers turned a Lawrence cross from the right well over.
Fulham saw out the final minutes comfortably while sections of the crowd chanted ‘McCarthy out’ and again called for owner Marcus Evans to ‘sort it out’.
Late on, Bialkowski saved from Martin from a tight angle before the final whistle was greeted by further loud boos. Manager McCarthy was booed by a section of the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand support as he made his way into the tunnel.
Prior to kick-off McCarthy said he wanted a unifying performance and result but he got anything but that with the Blues putting in as poor a display as they have this season against an excellent and attractive Fulham side who really should have scored more than two goals.
Town began the game on the back foot and never really recovered with Fulham, the best side to visit Portman Road this season, taking the game to them from the off and they could have been ahead prior to Martin’s goal.
The half-time changes briefly made a difference - and McGoldrick showed his quality in patches throughout the second period - but the visitors continued to dominate and while a repeat of their 10-1 Boxing Day victory back in 1963, their last victory over Town, was never on the cards, the margin could have been more significant if Ayite in particular had been less profligate
The result leaves the Blues in 16th, still eight points from the relegation zone, with Bristol City, who lost 3-2 at Wolves today, at Portman Road on Friday evening.
Town: Bialkowski, Knudsen, Chambers (c), Berra, Webster, Skuse, Douglas, Dozzell (Best 46), Sears, Lawrence, Pitman (McGoldrick 46). Unused: Gerken, Bru, Ward, Emmanuel, Kenlock.
Fulham: Button, Odoi, Ream, Madl, Malone, McDonald, Cairney (c), Ayite (Piazon 83), Johansen (Parker 90), Aluko (Sigurdsson 65), Martin. Unused: Bettinelli, Fredericks, Kebano, Smith. Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands). Att: 19,723 (Fulham: 907).