Carling Cup: Ipswich 1 Arsenal 0

Ipswich stunned Arsenal 1-0 to take the upper hand in their Carling Cup semi-final tie on Wednesday.

Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin’s 78th minute goal was all that separated the two sides at Portman Road, with the Championship outfit to take a slender advantage into the second leg at the Emirates in a fortnight.

It was an amazing turnaround for Ipswich, who lost 7-0 to Chelsea in their FA Cup third-round clash on Saturday following the sacking of manager Roy Keane.

Arsenal had also failed to make an impression in their FA Cup match, held to a 1-1 draw by Championship outfit Leeds United, and again struggled to hit top gear against lower-league opposition.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger named a near full-strength line-up that included Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, but it was the hosts who had the first sight at goal when Priskin’s curling effort went just wide on 14 minutes.

Arsenal were controlling possession with Walcott looking dangerous on the flank, but lacked the cutting edge in front of goal to break a dogged Ipswich defence.

Priskin thought he had made the Gunners pay in the 42nd minute when he netted a spectacular overhead kick, but the linesman correctly ruled the goal out for offside.

Priskin and Connor Wickham continued to look dangerous after the restart, and it was only the intervention of John Djourou which denied the former when he was clear through on goal after Laurent Koscielny misread a long ball.

Ipswich goalkeeper Marton Fulop was called into action to save Walcott’s shot from an acute angle, and could only watch as Kieran Gibbs volleyed over from close range.

But the danger was short-lived as Priskin ran onto Colin Healy’s defence-splitting pass and coolly slotted the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Both sides had chances in the final 10 minutes, but Ipswich held on for a deserved win, and one which new manager Jewell will hope translates into some positive form in the Championship.