Marco Silva
Honours ended even at 1-1 after a pulsating, physical battle at Portman Road, with Liam Delap giving Town the lead through a rampaging run and 25-yard rocket before Adama Traore got the leveller. On balance, Town probably had the better chances to win the game, but the point means they’re up and running in the Premier League ahead of next week’s international break.
Marco Silva said “It was a tough game against an aggressive side. They have great support which demanded us to win duels and beat the pressure. Liam Delap scored a cracker for Town’s opener. A tough Premier League game, as always, against a side that you know are going to be really tough to play against. “We know it can be tough to play here because last season we played against them in a different competition (Fulham won 3-1 at Town in the Carabao Cup last season) with great support from the home crowd. “You can say it was a balanced game, both sides trying to get the control of the game. We should have done much better to be tight to Liam Delap driving the ball from the halfway line for their goal, but the reaction was good from us, and we scored a very good goal in an open play moment. “From then, I think we did control the game with a clear chance from Rodrigo (Muniz) to score. “Moments that we have to be clinical, we have to build to be ruthless and to punish them in those types of situations.We were solid in the second half, but not in the way that we like to play, not with that quality in our build-up and it was more difficult for us to create chances. There were all the defensive set pieces, a lot of situations there, and I think we were really solid, we were brave enough in those moments. It’s a game, of course, that we wanted to win, we wanted the three points. We got one point, and we move on to prepare for the next one.”
