Liam Delap's Return to Portman Road: A Striker Searching for Form
Liam Delap’s return to Portman Road was supposed to be a reminder of what he once was. Instead, it became a stark snapshot of what he is right now: a striker searching for himself while his team did more than enough to win and still walked away with only a point.
Nottingham Forest dominated Ipswich, led, created the better chances and controlled long spells of the game, yet somehow were dragged back into a 1-1 draw that will feel like a defeat for Oliver Glasner.
Forest strike early, Ipswich gifted a lifeline
Forest arrived in Suffolk second from bottom, but you would not have known it from the opening exchanges. They were sharper, braver on the ball, and far more coherent in their attacking patterns.
Within six minutes they almost had their reward. Jair Cunha went close, then Delap – the £ big-money man who once lit up this ground in Ipswich blue – lashed wildly off target after clever work from the fit-again Morgan Gibbs-White. It set the tone for Delap’s night: present, involved, but wasteful.
The breakthrough, when it came on 13 minutes, was pure Glasner. Direct, coordinated, ruthless.
Delap held the ball up strongly under pressure from Issa Diop, Gibbs-White snapped onto the second ball ahead of Dara O’Shea and slipped it wide to Daniel Munoz. The wing-back didn’t hesitate, lifting his head and picking out his opposite number Neco Williams arriving at the far post. Williams met it flush on the volley, right-footed, drilling past Christian Walton. A goal straight off the training ground, and Forest were flying.
Ipswich responded in flashes. Julio Enciso curled a free-kick over, a reminder that Gary O’Neil’s side still carried threat. But Forest kept their grip on the game. Gibbs-White dragged another effort wide, then watched Leif Davis rescue Ipswich with a superb goal-line clearance to deny him a second.
Forest looked in control. Then they handed Ipswich a route back.
With four minutes left in the half, O’Shea launched a long ball forward that should have been routine. Nikola Milenkovic brought it down but then inexplicably underhit his pass back to Matz Sels. Enciso smelled panic, burst through, and slid a calm finish into the bottom corner. From nowhere, Ipswich were level and Forest were staring at a self-inflicted wound.
VAR drama and missed chances
Any sense of injustice building in the away end only grew two minutes after the restart.
James McAtee broke clear and Diop hauled him down, a cynical challenge that looked, in real time, like a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Referee Thomas Bramall somehow waved play on. VAR intervened, sent him to the monitor, and still the outcome felt lenient: only a yellow card.
Forest failed to make anything of the resulting free-kick, but they refused to retreat into frustration. They kept coming.
On the hour, Williams saw another effort blocked in a crowded box before Murillo, sharp on the spin, forced Walton into a save. The pattern was set: Ipswich deep, Forest probing, the home side hanging on.
Murillo went close again soon after, then Dan Ndoye threatened in quick succession, only for Davis to again throw himself into a crucial intervention in front of goal. Ipswich were surviving on last-ditch defending and Forest’s profligacy.
Then the moment Delap had been waiting for arrived.
Abdoul Ouattara misjudged a clearance and looped the ball invitingly into the six-yard box. Delap, unmarked, attacked it. Portman Road held its breath. The net should have bulged. Instead, his header flew over. Minutes later, he stepped up from distance and unleashed a 30-yard drive that skimmed just wide of the post – a spectacular effort, but again, no reward.
This is a player who scored 12 times here last season, a campaign that earned him his move to Chelsea and turned him into one of the most coveted young forwards in the league. Since leaving Ipswich, he has found the net only twice in the Premier League. On this evidence, the weight of that contrast is heavy.
A point that feels like two dropped
When Bramall blew for full-time, Ipswich looked relieved. Forest looked stunned.
Glasner’s side had been bolder, more structured and more threatening. They had scored a superbly constructed goal, carved out the clearer chances and seen a major decision go against them. Yet they left with only a 1-1 draw and a record that now shows just one league win from eight under the Austrian.
The performance offered encouragement. The table will not care.
For Delap, Portman Road used to be the place where everything went right. On this return, it only underlined how far he still has to climb to become that player again – and how urgently Forest need him to find that version of himself.
