Liam Delap's Haunting Return to Portman Road

Liam Delap’s return to Portman Road was supposed to be a homecoming. It turned into a haunting.

Back on the ground where he exploded into a £ big-money move to Chelsea with 12 league goals for Ipswich last season, the Nottingham Forest striker walked off with his head down, a glaring late miss still fresh in his mind and only a point to show for a game his side largely controlled.

Forest were excellent. The scoreline was not.

Forest fly out, Glasner’s blueprint on show

Oliver Glasner’s team arrived in Suffolk second from bottom, but they played nothing like a side marooned in trouble. From the first whistle, their structure, their aggression, their intent all carried the stamp of a coach who knows exactly what he wants.

He also knows exactly who he wants leading the line. Delap, under scrutiny after costly misses at Crystal Palace, kept his place and almost helped Forest strike early. In the sixth minute, Jair Cunha went close, then Delap, fed by the returning Morgan Gibbs-White, thrashed a wild effort well wide. It was a warning of what was to come.

Forest, though, kept coming. The opening goal was straight out of the Glasner playbook.

Delap battled Issa Diop, held the ball up and brought others into play. Gibbs-White snapped in ahead of Dara O’Shea and slid a clever pass into Daniel Muñoz’s path. The wing-back looked up, picked out his opposite number Neco Williams, and Williams met it with a crisp right-footed volley that flew past Christian Walton after 13 minutes.

One move, three touches of quality, and Forest were in front. Classic Glasner: wing-backs high, midfielders aggressive, forwards linking the play.

Ipswich tried to respond through Julio Enciso, who curled a free-kick over, but the pattern was set. Forest dominated. Gibbs-White dragged another effort wide, then thought he had scored only for Leif Davis to appear on the line with a superb clearance that kept Ipswich alive.

Portman Road knew they were hanging on.

Milenkovic’s gift changes everything

Then, out of nowhere, Forest handed Ipswich a lifeline.

With four minutes left in the half, O’Shea launched a hopeful long ball forward. Nikola Milenkovic initially dealt with it, bringing it down under little pressure. What followed was disastrous. His back pass towards Matz Sels lacked conviction, pace, and direction. Enciso read it in an instant, burst through the gap and, one-on-one, slid his finish into the bottom corner.

From total control to 1-1 in a heartbeat, and all of it self-inflicted.

Glasner cut a frustrated figure on the touchline. His team had bossed the half, yet walked down the tunnel level because of a single, dreadful decision at the back.

VAR drama and Forest fury

Any hope Ipswich had of riding that momentum after the break was checked almost immediately – and wrapped in controversy.

Two minutes into the second half, James McAtee burst through and Diop hauled him down. Referee Thomas Bramall somehow waved play on. VAR intervened, sent him to the monitor, and a free-kick was eventually awarded. The colour of the card, though, lit the touchpaper.

Yellow, not red.

Forest players surrounded the official, the away end howled, and Glasner was left incensed on the touchline. McAtee had been denied with the goal in his sights, yet Ipswich kept 11 men on the pitch.

Forest failed to make anything of the resulting set piece, but the sense of injustice sharpened their edge.

Williams, excellent all evening, saw another shot blocked around the hour. Murillo swivelled and forced a save. Pressure built, wave after wave, the home crowd growing restless as red shirts poured forward.

Murillo again threatened, then Dan Ndoye went close in quick succession, only for Davis – Ipswich’s saviour on the line in the first half – to step in with another vital intervention in front of goal. Ipswich clung on, Forest kept probing.

Delap’s moment goes begging

And then came the chance. The one Delap will replay in his mind.

With 16 minutes left, Abdoul Ouattara completely miscued a clearance, sending the ball looping into the air inside the Ipswich box. Delap, perfectly placed, rose to meet it. Portman Road held its breath.

He headed over.

No deflection, no excuse. Just a centre-forward, on his old pitch, with the game there to be won, and the ball sailing harmlessly above the bar. Later, he unleashed a 30-yard piledriver that flashed just wide, a strike full of anger and frustration rather than composure.

Forest kept pushing, Ipswich kept scrambling, but the net would not bulge again.

Dominance without reward

When Bramall blew for full-time, Ipswich had their point. Forest had their fury.

Glasner’s side had been the better team by distance – sharper in possession, stronger in duels, clearer in their patterns of play. They had the lead, they had the chances, and they had every right to feel aggrieved over Diop’s escape and Milenkovic’s error.

Yet the table does not care about aesthetics. One win in eight league games under Glasner tells its own story.

Delap walked off slowly, head bowed, another big miss added to a growing list and just two Premier League goals to his name since leaving this ground in the summer. Forest, for all their structure and promise, are still searching for a ruthless edge.

The performance said a team on the rise. The result said something else entirely.