Ipswich Town 1-2 West Ham - Match Report Saturday, 28th Jul 2018 16:55 Ellis Harrison scored his first goal in a Town shirt but Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic saw Premier League West Ham to a 2-1 friendly victory over the Blues at Portman Road. Anderson headed the visitors in front in the third minute, Harrison equalised on 15 but Arnautovic sealed the victory for the East Londoners with 20 minutes of an entertaining game remaining. Striker Martyn Waghorn was again named on the bench, while Cole Skuse was missing due to the thigh problem. In boss Paul Hurst’s first game as Town boss at Portman Road, Bartosz Bialkowski started in goal with Jordan Spence at right-back, Luke Woolfenden at centre-half alongside skipper Luke Chambers and Jonas Knudsen at left-back. In midfield, Flynn Downes and Andre Dozzell took up the deeper roles with Tristan Nydam ahead of them, while Gwion Edwards and Freddie Sears were the widemen and Ellis Harrison the lone striker. New loanee Trevoh Chalobah, who returned from the U19s Euros in Finland yesterday, is alongside another new addition Jordan Roberts and Waghorn among the subs. Former Blues loanee Mark Noble was on the bench for the Hammers, while ex-Town left-back Aaron Cresswell missed out with a groin strain. The Hammers quickly began to play the ball around confidently and went in front with the first attack of the game in the third minute. Ryan Fredericks was sent away down the right by Andriy Yarmolenko before crossing and midfielder Felipe Anderson, who joined West Ham for £40 million from Lazio earlier this month, rose unmarked to nod into the corner of the net to Bartosz Bialkowski’s right. While it was a perfectly-placed header, Blues boss Hurst will be unhappy with the defending and Bialkowski may also feel he ought to have got down to it. The game continued in the same pattern with the Premier League side dominating possession, although without threatening again, but Town gradually began to see a bit more of the ball. On 10, a Dozzell freekick was nodded down at the far past by Chambers but the skipper had strayed offside and in the 15th minute the Blues equalised. Dozzell spotted Harrison’s run between two West Ham defenders and played a sublime through ball and the £750,000 signing from Bristol Rovers nonchalantly poked past Lukas Fabianski in the West Ham goal. Harrison’s first goal in a Blues shirt gave Town confidence and they might have gone in front in the 19th minute when Sears, playing against his old club, fed Edwards in space just outside the box. The Welshman took the ball into the area but shot too close to Fabianski. The Blues, who had dominated having netted their equaliser, went even closer on 24 when Sears crossed for Harrison, who evaded the West Ham offside trap and nodded past Fabianski, but off the Polish keeper’s right post. A minute later, a frustrated Jack Wilshere was booked for fouling Downes with the Blues’ trio of teenagers in midfield more than holding their own and with the previously noisy Hammers fans now somewhat quieter. Town continued to present the greater threat. On 33 Edwards seized on an overhit cross from the left and sent the ball back into the box. Harrison could only flick it on, but Sears teed-up Knudsen on the edge of the box from where the Danish international hit a powerful shot not too far over. A Woolfenden misjudgement put the Blues under a spell of pressure as an entertaining half moved into its final 10 minutes and the Hammers began to look more threatening as the break approached. After the Blues had repelled a series of corners, Wilshere’s clever ball played in Yarmolenko but the Ukrainian was crowded out by Bialkowski and Woolfenden. Moments before half-time Sears struck a shot from distance which was too close to Fabianski. The Blues were warmly applauded off at the break having impressed after a slow start when they perhaps showed their top flight opponents too much respect. Even during that spell Hurst’s side showed their energy and pressing but once they had settled following West Ham’s goal they passed the ball around confidently with the midfield trio, 19-year-olds Dozzell and Downes and 18-year-old Nydam getting the better of their more illustrious opponents. Dozzell’s pass and Harrison’s run and finish were the half’s highlight from a Town perspective but the Blues could well have gone in ahead with the former Wales U21 international unlucky with his header which struck the post. West Ham made two changes at the break with Noble and Robert Snodgrass replacing Wilshere and Cheikhou Kouyate. The Blues were quickly on the attack with Edwards sending over a cross from the right which Nydam almost bundled into the net at the near post but it diverted wide off a defender. On 47 Dozzell made another intelligent pass to Harrison inside the area on the right and the ex-Bristol Rovers man whipped over a low cross-shot which was just ahead of Nydam. Although not as dominant or slick on the ball as they had been for spells in the first half, the Blues were still looking the more dangerous of the two sides, although on 62 Snodgrass escaped on the left but shot too close to Bialkowski. A minute later West Ham swapped Yarmolenko and Anderson for Toni Martinez and Sead Haksabanovic. With 20 minutes remaining with neither side having the upper hand, the Hammers restored their lead. Marko Arnautovic sized on Town hesitancy midway inside their own half, stole the ball and burst into the area before slipping past Bialkowski. Myles Kenlock replaced Knudsen for the Blues as the Hammers continued to make subs with great regularity, then soon after Chalobah took over from Nydam to make his first appearance in a Town shirt. Dozzell, the best player on the pitch in the first half, was switched for Grant Ward on 78. Josh Emmanuel and Jack Lankester replaced Spence and impressive debutant Harrison with nine minutes remaining, then Roberts came on for Edwards, who had also had some bright moments in his first game at Portman Road. The game rather lost its flow following the substitutions but on 86 Ward crossed from the right and Pablo Zabaleta did superbly to get in ahead of Downes on the edge of the six-yard box to divert it behind. Town kept the pressure up with a couple of corners, but were unable to profit from them. Neither side threatened in the closing minutes before applause from the home fans greeted the final whistle. Despite the result, and a draw might have been a fairer reflection, Town supporters will have been pleased with what they saw from their new-look side particularly in the first half and will have had their appetites whetted ahead of the start of the season proper next week when Blackburn visit Portman Road. Town: Bialkowski, Spence (Emmanuel 82), Woolfenden, Chambers (c), Knudsen (Kenlock 72), Downes, Dozzell (Ward 78), Nydam (Chalobah 75), Edwards (Roberts 83), Sears, Harrison (Lankester 82). Unused: Gerken, Waghorn, Clements. West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks, Ogbonna, Balbuena (Diop 71), Masuaku (Zabaleta 71), Obiang (Rice 71), Kouyate (Snodgrass 46), Wilshere (Noble 46), Yarmolenko (Martinez 63), F Anderson (Haksabanovic 63), Arnautovic (c) (Cullen 81). Unused: Adrian. Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire). Att: 15,246 (West Ham: 4,175).
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