Dara O'Shea's strike saw Ipswich Town complete a late turnaround to beat Fulham 2-1 (Image: PA)
Dara O'Shea's strike saw Ipswich Town complete a late turnaround to beat Fulham 2-1
Match-winner Dara O’Shea spoke to the press after Ipswich Town’s 2-1 victory at home to Fulham. Alex Jones reports.
O’Shea hadn’t scored a Portman Road goal prior to the visit of Fulham, but that changed in emphatic fashion.
With the scores level at 1-1, he latched on to Jack Clarke’s free-kick, powering a header into the back of the net to win the match in the first minute of stoppage time.
“It’s the best way [to win a match],” the centre-back said after the game.
“When you score late on like that, it's amazing. To be a goal down and to win the game 2-1 is obviously amazing in itself, but to have that feeling after the game, where I was a late winner and we can all celebrate together, is really nice.
“Late goals are really important and it says a lot about us as a group, the character and the fitness levels that we can show.
“I’m really glad to score under a late winner as such. Hopefully, that can give us even more confidence. Going into games, we're obviously confident and we know that if it goes down to the very end, that we're going to be there and we're still going to be pushing.
The skipper made contact with Jack Clarke's free-kick to bag his first Portman Road goal (Image: Steve Waller)
“Today reaffirms that again. Great points for us, and moves us on up.
It’s even sweeter that it came from a free-kick, days after the club appointed Adam Berry as first-team set piece analyst from Scottish giants Rangers.
In O’Shea’s eyes, Town haven’t scored enough of them.
“We've been banging on about it this whole week, that we need to score a set-piece goal – since we've been back,” he revealed.
“We've practised a lot of set-pieces, brought in a new set-piece analysist. In first game we get a goal!
“It's good. A lot more to improve on with that and keep kicking on. Set pieces are so important. They're going to be vital for us this season.”
Ipswich were only in the position to win the match because of Abdoul Ouattara’s equaliser, which cancelled out Ryan Sessegnon’s powerful, low opener.
The former Strasbourg man, in for his first league start at Portman Road, took aim with a stunning left-footed strike, firing past Bernd Leno to equalise in the 88th minute.
“It was some goal,” O’Shea admitted with a puff of the cheeks. “Unbelievable. I'm really happy for him and really proud of him.
The Blues were level in the game through Abdoul Ouattara's long-range strike (Image: Steve Waller)
“He's a young lad. He's been working really hard. It’s a great goal for him. Obviously it puts us back in the game and gives us that even more belief to kick on and get that winner.
“Credit to him.”
Ouattara has come into the side at right-back – a move which has seen O’Shea move back to his preferred centre-back role, which the skipper certainly won’t complain about.
“I'm happy that he's playing there!” the Republic of Ireland international chuckled.
“He's been unbelievable. Obviously, in the last game against Everton, I thought he was our best player and I thought that again today.
“He showed that again. Really athletic, really good going forward, solid defensively. He's so young as well. He's got a lot to learn.
“It's really exciting for us to have him here at the football club and hopefully he can keep improving.”
It brings a crazy week to an end for O’Shea, who returned from international duty early with his partner, Louise, heavily pregnant. She gave birth to a girl, Vayda, last weekend.
“It's been a mad time really,” O’Shea reflected.
O'Shea is looking forward to spending time with his newborn daughter after the victory (Image: Ross Halls)
“There's been a lot going on, and to welcome my little girl into the world was amazing.
“I haven't really had enough time to spend with her and my family, so I'm really looking forward to that now.
“Day off tomorrow, put my feet up, help my missus around the house with her and just spend some time together, which we haven't had a lot of time to do.”