Ipswich Town 1 Fulham 0: IPSWICH Town earned another three precious Premiership survival points with a hard-fought victory over Fulham at Portman Road.

Ipswich Town 1 Fulham 0

IPSWICH Town earned another three precious Premiership survival points with a hard-fought victory over Fulham at Portman Road.

In a tight match Town showed they had learnt their lesson from the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City on Sunday and were working hard to close down the opposition in every area of the field.

But the Blues showed that they also had the finishing touch and took an early lead after nine minutes when Alun Armstrong raced onto an excellent through ball from Sixto Peralta and headed for goal. Armstrong's ball into the box flicked off the head of a Fulham defender before Marcus Bent forced the ball home from less than a yard out.

John McGreal might have put the Blues further ahead when he missed the target with a free-header from a Mark Venus corner but Town had to settle for a 1-0 lead at half-time.

Fulham put the Blues under plenty of pressure in the second-half but failed to create the chances to threaten Andy Marshall in the Town goal.

In fact it was Ipswich who had the best chance of the half when Bent beat the Fulham offside trap to go one-on-one with Fulham keeper Edwin Van der Sar. The Town striker did everything right but his low shot was blocked by the legs of the Dutch international keeper.

The Ipswich fans were anxious for the final whistle to come as Fulham tightened the screw in the closing stages but the Blues held out to earn a valuable win which catapults them out of the Premiership's bottom three and closer to safety.