Liam Delap’s first Town goal gave the Blues the lead but Fulham levelled through Adama Traore to leave the scoreline 1-1 at half-time at Portman Road.

Town made two changes from the team which lost 3-1 at Manchester City last week with Kalvin Phillips coming in for his home and league debut in the centre of midfield, while Chiedozie Ogbene was wide on the right, also making his first home and league appearances for the club having signed from Luton earlier in the week. Massimo Luongo and Ben Johnson dropped to the bench.

Recent additions Jens Cajuste, Dara O’Shea, Conor Townsend and Jack Clarke were also among the subs.

Fulham were unchanged from the team which won 2-1 at home to Leicester City last week.

The Blues started brightly and there was controversy in the second minute when Leif Davis was blocked off as he sought to get on a return ball from skipper Samy Morsy as he burst into the box.

Referee Lewis Smith failed to spot the incident at all and replays suggested the initial contact was outside the area and VAR didn’t intervene. Davis was OK to continue after treatment.

In the fifth minute, Anthonee Robinson conceded a needless corner from which the Blues threatened for the first time. Jacob Greaves just about reached Davis’s overhit kick and looped a header which visitors’ skipper and keeper Bernd Leno pawed from under his bar.

A minute later at the other end, Traore beat Davis far too easily and burst into the area on the right before being dispossessed by Greaves. A subsequent Kenny Tete shot was blocked by Luke Woolfenden.

On 10, Tete looped a header well over the Town bar from a corner on the left, Woolfenden having given it away with a shinned clearance aimed towards touch on the right.

Omari Hutchinson, playing in the centre of the three behind Liam Delap with home debutant Sammie Szmodics on the left, found space for the first time midway inside the Fulham half in the 11th minute but eventually scuffed his shot through to Leno when a ball to Ogbene to his right would have been a better option.

Within a minute, Traore was sent down the right and cut the ball back, but Woolfenden did well to get back to cut out the cross.

The early stages of the game had ebbed and flowed but on the quarter hour, the Blues drew first blood.

Davis brought the ball forward on the left and fed Delap not far inside the Fulham half. The striker took it on towards the area and to the right before hitting a powerful shot across Leno, the keeper only managing to help it into the net with his right hand.

An already very noisy Portman Road went wild celebrating their side’s first Premier League goal since April 2002 and Delap’s first for the club and in the top flight.

And the former Manchester City striker wasn’t far from a second in the 19th minute, nodding Davis’s corner from the right wide at the far post.

The Blues had forced that flag-kick with determined pressing and having gone in front they were taking the game to the Cottagers with greater confidence, for a spell dominating the ball in a manner which became familiar in League One and the Championship.

Fulham, however, quickly recovered themselves and began to take control, forcing the Blues to defend in their final third.

And in the 32nd minute, they levelled. Alex Iwobi played in Robinson on the left and his cross flashed across the area to the far post where Traore stroked home.

The Cottagers weren’t far away from taking the lead two minutes later, Traore crossing from the right and Rodrigo Muniz heading goalwards, however, Aro Muric, making his Portman Road debut, got down sharply to his right to save. On 37, Morsy was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Muniz.

As the half moved into its final five minutes, the Blues started to get more into it again. On 41, Phillips looped over a cross from the right to Ogbene, whose header was saved by Leno. The loose ball ran to Delap, who shot over when he should have hit the target. However, the linesman subsequently raised his flag for offside against Ogbene.

That was the last serious action of an entertaining half. After an evenly balanced start, Delap’s excellent goal had given the Blues the lead and for a spell Town were well on top and might even have had a second goal via the striker’s header.

But Fulham gradually took charge and had dominated for long spells but with the Blues restricting their chances until the move from which Traore equalised.

After that, the Whites remained in control for the most part but with the Blues having spells at the other end, but without threatening Leno further.

Town: Muric, Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis, Morsy (c), Phillips, Ogbene, Szmodics, Hutchinson, Delap. Subs: Walton, Johnson, Townsend, O’Shea, Cajuste, Luongo, Chaplin, J Clarke, Al-Hamadi.

Fulham: Leno, Tete, Diop, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic, Pereira, Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Muniz. Subs: Benda, Andersen, Cuenca, Castagne, Reed, Cairney, Berge, Wilson, Raul. Referee: Lewis Smith (Wigan).

Photo: Reuters

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