Marcus Harness was on target but the Blues were beaten 2-1 by Fortuna Düsseldorf in their second public friendly of pre-season. The 2. Bundesliga side went in front in the fifth minute via Danny Schmidt before sub Harness levelled on 48 but the Germans restored their lead on 57 through Tim Roßmann and overall deserved the victory.

New signings Aro Muric, Ben Johnson, Jacob Greaves and Liam Delap all started for the Blues for Fortuna’s first game at Portman Road and their first in England since 1956.

Muric was making his first appearance for the Blues in goal with Ben Johnson, playing his first game at Portman Road at right-back, with Leif Davis at left-back. Greaves, also making his first start for the Blues, and George Edmundson were at the centre of the defence.

Skipper Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo were in the centre of midfield with Delap, also making his first start since joining the club, the central striker.

The three behind the ex-Manchester City man were Conor Chaplin, Wes Burns and Jack Taylor, with the former Peterborough man on the left, Chaplin in the centre and Burns on the right.

Absent from the squad were Omari Hutchinson, who also missed the Shakhtar game last week, apparently due to his workload being managed, Harry Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi, who both underwent surgery earlier in the summer, Nathan Broadhead and Cameron Humphreys, who suffered knocks earlier in pre-season, and Axel Tuanzebe, who missed the Austria camp for personal reasons.

In blazing hot sun, the 2.Bundeslia team dominated the early stages and went in front via the game’s first real chance in the fifth minute, Isak Johannesson crossing from the left and Schmidt heading down and across Muric and into the net at the back post.

Town looked to get back in the game quickly and on seven Morsy put a ball over the top for Delap, but the £15 million signing’s first-time effort was too close to keeper Florian Kastenmeier.

On 12, Davis overhit a cross from the left from a good Edmundson pass, then Fortuna broke and Felix Klaus was found in space on the right of the box but Muric did well to save his low effort down to his right. Meanwhile, Burns and goalscorer Schmidt had collided accidentally off the ball but both stayed on after treatment.

Fortuna continued to see most of the ball but with neither side creating another opportunity before a drinks break on the half hour with the temperature very hot.

As the players returned, Burns was swapped for Marcus Harness, the Welshman having suffered his earlier collision.

Harness was immediately into the action, skinning Emmanuel Iyoha on the right of the box, cutting in and clipping a cross to the far post where Taylor headed goalwards and Kastenmeier tipped over.

From the resultant corner, the keeper made another save, this time from a Greaves header.

In the 41st minute, Chaplin slid a pass in for Delap on the right of the box but a defender got in a toe as the striker shot and the ball deflected easily through to Kastenmeier.

In the first of two minutes of added-on time, Harness caught out Iyoha as they chased a ball which looked set to beat them to the byline, the former Portsmouth man slipping it between the Fortuna man’s legs and taking it into the area, but the sub’s low cross was too close to Kastenmeier.

That was the final action of a half in which the visitors had had the better of it overall and led through their early goal.

As was the case against Shakhtar last week, the Blues had long periods without the ball but without the opposition unable to create too many chances.

At the other end, the Blues had threatened on a few occasions with Taylor and Greaves going closest with their headers, while Davis hadn’t found his range with his crossing, despite having been played into decent positions on a few occasions.

Town made four changes ahead of the season half with Christian Walton, Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and George Hirst taking over from Muric, Edmundson, Greaves and Delap.

And it took less than three minutes for the Blues to restore parity, Chaplin playing to Harness on the right of the box and the forward shooting low across the keeper left-footed and into the corner of the net.

On 51, Town almost went in front. Chaplin played a great ball for Hirst to chase on the left midway inside the Fortuna half with Taylor breaking down the middle. Hirst may have taken a little too long over his pass but still found the ex-Posh man, who seemed certain to score but somehow Kastenmeier clawed over.

Three minutes later, Fortuna threatened, Ao Tanaka working himself space on the edge of the box but shooting too close to Walton, who saved comfortably.

But the close to 500 travelling German fans weren’t to be denied their second goal too much longer.

In the 57th minute, the Blues were caught out on one side of the pitch, leaving space on the other for Tim Roßmann, who was played in on goal behind Johnson and beat Walton confidently.

Three minutes later, as the game approached the hour mark, Town were again caught short of players on that flank and Roßmann was allowed another shot at goal, but this time hit his effort across the face and wide.

Town had made an improved start to the second half with Hirst’s movement having afforded Chaplin more space than he had had in the opening period, however, since Fortuna’s second goal, the visitors had taken charge. On 63, Jona Niemiec shot straight at Walton from a free-kick just outside the area.

The Blues swapped Luongo and Davis for Freddie Ladapo and Elkan Baggott in the 66th minute, the former Rotherham striker going to the left-sided forward role with Taylor moving back and Baggott at left-back.

Fortuna almost had a third in the 70th minute with the ball loose in the area and with Walton grounded, but Johnson did well to stab it away from Schmidt with the goal gaping.

Two minutes later, Johnson sent over a corner from the left and Hirst headed powerfully towards goal, however, Kastenmeier was equal to it.

On 74, Iyoha shot not too far wide of Walton’s left post with the visitors continuing to present the greater threat.

Three minutes later, Burgess was booked for a foul on Niemiec on halfway and the teams used the stoppage for drinks. On 81, as play resumed, Finley Barbrook replaced Johnson.

Following all the substitutions by both sides, the game drifted to a close in the final minutes, Ladapo blazing deep into the Sir Bobby Robson Stand on 86.

Two minutes later, Chaplin was swapped for Leon Ayinde, then Ladapo headed not too far wide from a right-wing cross.

Neither side threatened in the remaining minutes and overall the 2-1 scoreline was a fair reflection of the game with Fortuna ahead of the Blues in terms of pre-season with their campaign opener at Darmstadt a week on Sunday.

The Blues’ best spell was at the start of the second half with Hirst making quite a difference when he came on but Town never got back on top again following Fortuna’s second goal.

But, as with last week’s game with Shakhtar, there will have been plenty for Town to take from the game, not least limiting Fortuna to relatively few opportunities in periods when they had a lot of the ball, something they will almost certainly need to do once the season proper gets under way.

Following the game, there was a penalty shootout, also won by Fortuna, 7-6, Chaplin hitting the post with Town’s first kick and Woolfenden seeing his saved, while Morsy, Hirst, Ladapo, Taylor, Harness and Burgess found the net.

Walton in the Town goal saved from Matthias Zimmermann with his Fortuna counterpart Kastenmeier netting the final kick following Woolfenden’s miss.

Town are next in action in Germany when they take on Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hoffenheim on Friday and Saturday.

Town: Muric (Walton 46), Johnson (F Barbrook 81), Davis (Baggott 66), Edmundson (Woolfenden 46), Greaves (Burgess 46), Morsy (c), Luongo (Ladapo 66), Burns (Harness 30), Taylor, Chaplin (Ayinde 88), Delap (Hirst 46).

Fortuna: Kastenmeier, Hoffmann (c) (De Wijs 80), Tanaka, Johannesson, Klaus (Niemiec 61), Oberdorf (Quarshie 80), Iyoha (Jastrzembski 86), Schmidt (Manu 80), Appelkamp (Roßmann 46), Zimmermann, Sobottka (Suso 86). Unused: Kwasigroch, Schock, Affo. Referee: Josh Smith (Lincolnshire). Att: 15,337 (Fortuna: 453).

Photo: Matchday Images

bluebullet29l added 17:14 - Jul 27 Oh dear
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Europablue added 17:32 - Jul 27 KM lost two in a row for the first time.
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Europablue added 17:33 - Jul 27 It was interesting to see Muric so far up the pitch. I thought that he made some excellent saves and claimed a cross really well early in the second half, only to find out that Walton came on at half time.
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Help added 17:40 - Jul 27 Greaves for me looked solid. Johnson was hardly used in first half. Hurst looked better than delap, but he still got to learn the system. Harness was good but no right foot if he can't get it onto his left. Muric was tidy. Still some work to do. To much space which better teams will exploit more. Got cut apart a couple of times far to easily. But preseason game. So how we look against Nice on 10th.

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RobsonWark added 17:45 - Jul 27 Ben Johnson caught out and left his man for both goals. I was hoping he would be an upgrade to right back this season.
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Carberry added 17:48 - Jul 27 Ladapo getting game time???
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MickMillsTash added 17:51 - Jul 27 15000 !!
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jas0999 added 17:53 - Jul 27 A good work out and great for fitness. Disappointing result at home, but they were ahead of us in terms of pre season. Goals conceded a worry. Glad to read earlier on the week that additions will be made, as desperately needed in my opinion. Squad lacking the quality to compete right now. But KM will know that and today was useful.
3

Lukeybluey added 17:59 - Jul 27 If I was McKenna I would seriously look at Tanaka for Dusseldorf. I thought he was outstanding! He was everywhere in midfield, tackling, and everything good went through him it seemed.
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Lukeybluey added 18:02 - Jul 27 Also their goalie Kastenmeier I thought looked class too. Bit of a S**thouser, but I liked him. Competition for Muric if Walts goes...?
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ArnieM added 18:04 - Jul 27 Thd defence in thd first half looked a lot more comfotable than the defence after the changes were made. The attack dorzng into life when Hirst came on and Harness was a breath if fresh sir on thd right wing even he came on gor thd injured Burns ( heavy challenge finished him unfortunately). The kids who came on in the second half looked impressive and Baggot looks very comfortable at LB. Overall, we did ok but defence remains a big problem . Out of what I've seen today Edmundsin / Greaves central pairing is by far our strongest CB pairing. I wonder what's up with Axel (" personal reasons") that is causing him to miss so much pre season. I personally feel he and Edmundson will be fighting it out to partner Greaves. More players needed through the door. Morsy yet again, immense!

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ArnieM added 18:05 - Jul 27 Ps whoever the FD number 18 was, SIGN HIM UP!!
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oioihardy added 18:37 - Jul 27 We didn't move the ball fast enough . Felt a little bit too much sideways backwards . Didn't feel like mass and morsy gave us enough movement in the midfield. Wolfy when he came on had a little bit of a nightmare Greaves was a beast , thought he was quality Harness looks like a different player , he's hit the gym he looks good. I thought he'd be a player look to get rid of but from that performance thought he played really well . But overall this game was mainly for the fans. And that's what matters it was a fun game for us to experience and worth it Nice is the game where id like us playing good football and looking a bit more of a team and to have fluidity in our play :)

1

Steelmonkey added 18:41 - Jul 27 Great to be back at PR. Off subject I know but was I the only one who thought the beer tasted terrible, I think it’s down to the plastic pint glasses with the nice town badge on them, the new lager and bitter tasted of plastic. I think you’ve scored an own goal with that one ITFC. Something needs to be done quickly because I don’t think I’ll be partaking again. It’s really not acceptable especially at the prices being charged.

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SickParrot added 18:42 - Jul 27 It's only a pre season friendly but losing to a 2nd tier german league team doesn't bode well, even if their ahead of us in pre season training. Hopefully it's just a case of players being missing and new players getting used to our system. I hope Omari doesn't have an injury. It's odd that he hasn't been in the squad at all so far. We need cover at left back, cover in midfield, a left sided number 10 or winger, and Szmodics.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 18:50 - Jul 27 A little bit of a reality check today, given that the opposition was probably equivalent to a good Championship side. I thought they looked fairly comfortable, while we were at full stretch all game. There was some good play in parts from us, so not all negative by any means: I thought Harness did well, as did Morsy, Greaves, and Delap, plus a few others. But we got cut apart defensively, and that will happen against most PL teams unless we tighten up. But things are in progress at the moment. We're not the finished article, and in Kieran we trust. COYB!

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ITFCson added 18:52 - Jul 27 2nd tier maybe. But if it wasn’t for a big blow up in their 2nd leg they’d be a bundiliga team. They were clearly a decent team.
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skankerman added 19:13 - Jul 27 A special mention to Marcus Harness thought he played well
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Linkboy13 added 19:25 - Jul 27 Don't normally go to pre season kick abouts but was persuaded to by family members. Fortuna looked a well organised team and gave us a bit of a lesson in keeping the ball. Im not the sort of person who criticises players on here but i thought Greaves looked very assured. We looked very exposed down our right side especially when Burns went off leaving Johnson in acres of space with no one tracking back. Yes we looked like a team of new players still finding their feet. Definitely will not be going to any more friendlies at the end it was like walking football which just about sums things up.

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algarvefan added 19:30 - Jul 27 Early days to be too critical thought Harness was very good and Hirst made such a difference up top when he came on. Muric is an obvious No.1 and Baggot always looks class when he comes on. Morsy was immense as usual. Still time to get a few more players in and get the side settled, thought we just looked vulnerable to counter attacks. As I said though early days but we will be OK

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Flight_of_Shefki added 19:35 - Jul 27 Some cracking possession and hold up play, and even some nice one-touch football in there today. I felt that we performed - for the most part - reasonably well. We were exposed on the wings a bit when they switched play, and struggled to track back in places, but chuffed with what I saw. Massive credit to the FD fans though - good to see them leave with full smiles.

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KBsSocks added 19:54 - Jul 27 "without the opposition unable to create" might need an edit for simple brains like mine :)
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TimmyH added 20:06 - Jul 27 Harness I would off load as well as Ladapo, maybe 1 or 2 others. Don't take these friendlies at all seriously.
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pragmatic added 20:54 - Jul 27 Being short on fully fit & competitive players, will dictate who eventually moves on, & not before adequate replacements are signed,
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ArnieM added 22:33 - Jul 27 I thought Harness looked far more effective than Burns tbh. Able to take his man on and beat him. The same can’t be said of Burns unfortunately….
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