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).

Photo: TWTD

dirtydingusmagee added 17:52 - Jul 28 didn't go to game but from all reports it is encouraging, Everyone seems happy even Cornishblu ! It is looking ominous re Waghorn I think, just hope if he does leave ME dosnt screw up. COYB
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BlueandTruesince82 added 17:53 - Jul 28 4k from West Ham though Cornish. None the less good performance against a team that have shelled out what £60 odd mil this summer and bought in a v good manager. The lad that scored their goal is class. Harrison and Edwards look like great additions so far and Woolfenden looks v composed for a young lad. RE Wags, we don't know if one of those conversations has been "I'm not in the right frame of mind boss" Makes sense to not to start him anyway, need to assess what the options are if he's not around. Mainly though ball meets floor at FPR for the 1st time in 5 years, players encouged to express themselves, try things..... Finally, Dozzell bossing CMF anyone know where Kiwomyas kid is this days......? Dream team

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therein61 added 18:00 - Jul 28 If Waghorn is staying he would not have been benched for the last two games the manager had to look at a team without him, I thought todays performance was encouraging with everyone working their socks off and helping each other out Harrison is a real find he's nonstop good in the air holds the ball up and finishes well! the midfield pleased me plenty of energy(no passengers!!) and spraying the ball around and looking to put the forwards in(Andre's ball for Harrisons goal was text book stuff and reminded me of long lost Dutchmen)when Trevoh came on he looked the part protecting the back four pushing forward and playing people in and had the energy to get back that for me me is premiership class!! credit to the skipper who gave 100% out of position on the left of the central defence talking the "Wolf" through the game who apart from a couple of lapses in concentration looked comfortable, all in all the most pleasant afternoon spent at P.R for a few years and seeing positive football from our boys!

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SamWhiteUK added 18:01 - Jul 28 Erm Harrison wasn't a debutant?
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WoodfordTim added 18:02 - Jul 28 I know I've had a drink, but what a game! I thought we were great: pressing, closing down, passing the ball & actually playing like a team. No hoofball. The late Bill Nicholson, the then Tottenham manager, was a frequent spectator at PR and on a panel for the preview to the 1978 Cup Final said that, "Ipswich are a beautiful team, close down the opposition and work for each other". He was the only person on the panel tipping us to beat Arsenal. Thought we showed glimpses of that today. Echoes of Sir Bobby. Without Noble, West Ham would have been in real trouble. COYB!!

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ShropshireBluenago09 added 18:06 - Jul 28 Ellis Harrison top championship goalscorer 200/1 - lump on!
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Bert added 18:33 - Jul 28 A joy to watch today. Another theory about Waghorn may be that Hurst knows what he is capable of so sat him out again to have a longer look at Harrison. Well, that's my hope.
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legoman added 18:40 - Jul 28 Its great having an owner that doesnt HAVE to sell.
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carlo88 added 18:42 - Jul 28 Omens are looking good - like the sound of everything Paul Hurst says. Remember Paul, statues are built of managers who stick around and have ongoing success, not use the club as a stepping stone.
3

whosroundisitanyway added 18:58 - Jul 28 Edwards & Harrison scared the sh!t out of them!!!! I'm really looking forward to this season.
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Bildestoned added 19:07 - Jul 28 175 mile round trip for a friendly? Well worth it! What spirit and what aggression our team showed. The new signings looked great, Woolfenden was impressive, Downes was a complete pain throughout for West Ham's highly-paid players, and Dozzell looks everything his father was once for us. We WERE careful what we wished for!
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baxter7 added 19:11 - Jul 28 Great game to watch nice to watch attacking football from us instead of the s--t mcarthy had us watching just need a couple of central defenders to tighten defence up well done lads coybs
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blues1 added 19:19 - Jul 28 Graham2408. Unless im missing something, could u tell me how u saw West ham playing at wallsall on wednesday when the actually played Villa on Wednesday?
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Dissboyitfc added 19:43 - Jul 28 Lets not get carried away, its only one game and we always do well against west ham. Now the positive bit that was really good today, so many promising individual performances and we jelled as a team, great to see the ball being played on the floor, when it did get in the air it was quite often a perfect flighted pass out to the wing, great to see us using the width of the pitch like that! So many positives today, the new signings looked very good! special mention for Harrison, who for me has a very Kuqiesk look to his game, he is going to be a fans favourite! And a big well done and thank you to Paul Hurst and his backroom staff! for bringing football back to portman rd. We could be the surprise package this season! Oops getting carried away.

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IpswichT62OldBoy added 20:08 - Jul 28 It will be interesting to see the gate next Saturday. I predict 21, 134 Lots of positivity around and it appears realistic. Entertainment and real football back at PR
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 20:28 - Jul 28 Proud of the lads today. We're getting our Ipswich back. It feels like a very long time ago that we had such positivity at the club.
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dirtydingusmagee added 20:40 - Jul 28 MICK OUT ,
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blue86 added 20:46 - Jul 28 Really good performance by the lads, to see dozzell nydam and downes in midfield was great. Harrison looks a real threat but wasnt that impressed with edwards? But not going to judge after one friendly. When chalobah came on he looked class! Looking forward to the season ahead. Coyb
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runningout added 20:47 - Jul 28 couldn't and shouldn't give a stuff how much opposition cost. A team that works as a team beats all. Will be sad to see Waghorn go, but hey ho
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marinerswagepacket added 22:04 - Jul 28 really optimistic about the future under Hurst, played some good football today , good to see that vision by dozzell for Harrison's goal , get the injured players back and 4 MORE additions from waggys money and we could be on to a winner .... well done Hursty and the boys , great to see football back to Portman rd ....
1

Mingochutney added 22:23 - Jul 28 Interesting that lankester seems to have moved ahead of folami and drinan in the pecking order. Doubt we'll ever see drinan in a first team shirt.
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Steelmonkey added 23:10 - Jul 28 I was apprehensive before the game as to how we would play and more so on three minutes into the game, but what a pleasant surprise with the overall performance. Woolfenden started slowly but grew into the game. Great performances from the new additions and from the senior academy players like Downes and Dozzell. We still need at least three players to add to the squad, and probably definite first team starters not to take anything away from those that started this game albeit a friendly. I still see a problem at right back, but early days. Today's performance seemed a million miles away from a McCarthy team, we played with freedom and a constructive attitude. If Paul Hurst has been able to do this in such a short time then I can only dream of what could be by the end of the season, can I truly allow myself believe.

3

BlueWax added 23:13 - Jul 28 IpswichT620ldboy I've told you a million times do not exaggerate 21,127 and not a supporter over!
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runaround added 08:07 - Jul 29 Entertaining and enjoyable match which is what football should all be about. Carry on playing in the same way and the stay away fans will start to return. Was especially impressed with the young midfield 3 of Dozzell, Downes & Nydam. Looking forward to seeing the match next Saturday & to be enjoying watching ITFC again
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Bluewelshman added 08:44 - Jul 29 I enjoyed this friendly, the boys really looked like they were able to compete with West Ham's multi-million pound squad. Edwards and Harrison looked great and put in a solid display giving the Hammers problems throughout, but the midfield three of Dozzell, Downes & Nydam impressed me with their determination and positive play against the premier league midfield. Lets hope that this positive attacking play will boost everyone at the club, and even the worst grumbling fans can't complain about the direction Hurst seems to be taking us in. COYB

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