Sam Morsy scored a crisp winner from outside the box as Ipswich Town started their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 win against Shakhtar Donetsk in Austria.
Morsy ran onto a fine Wes Burns lay-off to drill the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the 'D' in the 38th minute.
That was enough to beat the Ukrainian champions at the Sportzentrum Landskron in Villach, Austria, this match coming at the end of a week-long training camp for Kieran McKenna's men.
Shakhtar, who had already played five friendlies leading into this game, understandably looked the sharper in the opening exchanges. They had the ball in the net with less than four minutes played when a sweeping move up the left ended with Lassina Traore tapping home from close-range. Thankfully, the offside flag was up.
Ipswich players appeared to find a second wind after a difficult start and gradually started to put the opposition on the back foot.
In the 15th minute, Morsy won the ball high up the field with typical aggression, drove into space before slipping a pass into the path of George Hirst down the left side of the box. It almost led to a trademark Town goal as the striker cut the ball back into the area and Conor Chaplin's first-time effort deflected behind off the back of a defender.
There was a let-off for the Blues in the 25th minute when Leif Davis left a headed back pass to Christian Walton well short. Oleksandr Zubkov nipped in, lobbed Town’s exposed keeper only to see the effort come back off the face of the crossbar.
In general, however, Ipswich were looking the more dangerous side and they got their rewards when breaking the deadlock.
Burns dived in to intercept a poor Shakhtar deep free-kick sent across their own box and then did superbly to keep the ball alive on the deck, poking it back into the path of Morsy. Town’s skipper ran onto the ball and drilled a fine first time shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the 'D'.
Shakhtar responded after going behind and Ipswich dropped into an organised deep block. Luke Woolfended did well to block a low cross behind, while Walton was calm under pressure when playing through the press.
Having successfully navigated that spell, Town looked to add a second goal as an encouraging first half came to an end. Davis saw a dangerous whipped cross cleared, while a tight offside call went against Hirst.
The opening period did end with a scare though as Artem Bondarenko bent a low shot just past Walton’s post from the edge of the area.
McKenna made four changes to his team at the break. Cieran Slicker replaced Walton in goal, meaning recent £8m signing Aro Myric - who only linked up with his new team-mates on Wednesday - remained unused. George Edmundson and new recruit Jacob Greaves came on for Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess in central defence, while Massimo Luongo replaced Jack Taylor in midfield. Shakhtar made 10 changes to their team.
Ipswich made five more changes on the hour mark when Elkan Baggott, Ryan Carr, Leon Ayinde, Liam Delap and Freddie Ladapo were introduced. All those alterations from both sides made for a more disjointed second half in the rain.
Delap, a recent £15m signing from Manchester City, was clearly keen to make an instant impact. He was soon booked for clattering into an opponent with his foot raised. The England Under-21 international looked sharp during his time on the field.
Town twice went close to doubling their advantage around the 68th minute. First, Baggott’s driving run to the byline from left-back led to an inventive Delap effort being blocked near the line. Moments later, Luongo seized on a loose pass out at the back, slipped a low shot beyond the on-rushing keeper only to see a defender clear off the line.
Shakhtar tried to get an equaliser in the closing stages. The closest they came was when Brazilian striker Eguinaldo lifted the ball over the bar from near the penalty spot following a cut-back. Edmundson dragged an opponent to the ground to stop a promising attack from building, while Slicker bravely saved at a forward's feet after racing off his line.
Altogether, Town used 23 different players over the 90 minutes. There were no minutes, however, for summer signings Muric and Omari Hutchinson.
Nathan Broadhead and Cameron Humphreys missed out through injuries, Axel Tuanzebe was absent for personal reasons, while Harry Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi were rested as they continue to recover from surgeries.
Town are next in action when they host German side Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday at Portman Road (3pm).
IPSWICH TOWN: Walton (Slicker 46); Johnson (Carr 60), Woolfenden (Edmundson 46), Burgess (Greaves 46), Davis (Baggott 60); Morsy (cpt) (Barbrook 75), Taylor (Luongo 46); Burns (Ayinde 60, Foyo 87), Chaplin (Nwabueze 87), Harness (Delap 60); Hirst (Ladapo 60).
SHAKHTAR: Riznyk, Traore, Bondar, Sudakov, Zubkov, Azarov, Vinicius, Bondarenko, Matviienko (cpt), Marlon, Kevin. Subs: Bahlai, Tvardovskyi, Stepanenko, Eguinaldo, Shved, Ghram, Hlushchenko, Pedro, Faryna, Nazaryna, Kozik, Savchenko, Pedrinho, Newertton, Franjic, Latsabidze.
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