Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil, pictured after his side's 2-1 home win against Fulham. (Image: Ross Halls)
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil, pictured after his side's 2-1 home win against Fulham.
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil believes his team were full value for their dramatic late turnaround win against Fulham at Portman Road this afternoon.
The Blues trailed to Ryan Sessegnon's low strike from outside the box (55), but came on strong at the end to win it via Abdoul Ouattara's superb arrowed strike from range (88) and Dara O'Shea's close-range header from a set-piece delivery (90+1).
"I'm proud of the players and proud of the way we finished the game," said O'Neil, whose side have won three of their opening six Premier League games - all via goals scored in the 90th minute or beyond - to sit ninth in the table.
"That showed exactly how they are really together, hard working, have quality and are never going to stop.
"We looked fitter than the opposition. In the last 20 minutes it looked like they were starting to tire and we were able to keep pushing. The subs helped with that.
"They all deserve massive credit for today. Fulham have been in the Premier League for a while now, so for us to be able to compete with them the way we did today was impressive."
The Blues boss continued: "I think we deserved to win today, throughout the 90 minutes. That wasn't a performance where we were sat hanging on and trying to nick something. I thought we were the better side.
"Being 1-0 down from a 30-yard strike, nothing really in it, was a tough blow when we'd played as well as we did and had control of the game as much as we did. It would have been a tough one to take, having played in that way and been the better side, to have lost at home.
"I'd rather us have won more comfortably and managed to find a moment during our control to take the lead. But the good thing is you get to see the players under real stress and they had to make good decisions at the end there.
"You get to 70 minutes, 1-0 down at home and the crowd obviously starts to get anxious. They want some urgency, rightly so. But we managed to find the right mix, I thought, between not just chucking balls in, trying to find the right solutions, putting good balls in the box.
"We should probably have a penalty. There's a big chance for Chuba (Akpom). We were knocking and I thought we were the better side throughout. So I'm delighted that we managed to take three points. That's a few games we've played now where I've looked at us and thought, 'Yeah, we look like we can compete here'."
With winless Fulham dealt another major blow, Ipswich have started an important-looking block of fixtures - Man City (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Hull (A), Bournemouth (H) to follow - on a high.
Asked if he felt this was a significant result, O'Neil replied: "I don't know. My thinking is just, 'What did the team look like?' and 'Does that give us a chance to be successful this year?' Based on today, it does. That's my focus.
"There's such fine margins in the Premier League, a league of this quality. We could easily have lost that 1-0. I'd have been hurt, obviously, but I'd have still been delighted with the players and what they're able to produce against a team that has been in the Premier League for a long time.
"There's an amazing number of events that the club have managed to check off the list this summer - a new head coach, new coaching team, new training ground, new signings. So for us to be able to get to this level of performance and cohesion this early is good.
"It doesn't mean we're definitely going to be successful, because we're six games into a 38-game season, but I'm really pleased. I enjoyed today. I'll watch it back and make sure it was as good as it felt.
"Then we'll prep for Manchester City away and see what we can do."