Ipswich Town 3 West Ham Utd 1

West Ham suffered a second successive defeat at Portman Road in 2012 as Sam Allardyce's side were well-beaten by the Championship side.

Back in January, West Ham suffered their heaviest defeat of the 2011/12 season when going down 5-1 to the Tractor Boys. And there was further disappointment for Allardyce and his players as they went down 3-1 to a lively Town side in Suffolk this afternoon.

Whilst Kevin Nolan and George McCartney, both nursing minor injuries missed today's game - not to mention the absence of Olympians James Tomkins and Momo Diame - there was a welcome recall for James Collins, making his first appearance for the Hammers since returning to the club from Aston Villa.

However the central defender's homecoming was abruptly spoilt with just quarter-of-an-hour on the clock when Michael Chopra put the home side one-up from the penalty spot after Gary O'Neil was adjudged to have felled Lee Martin inside the penalty box.

Still shellshocked from going a goal behind, Allardyce's side found themselves two down just four minutes later when Chambers' looping header dropped into the corner of Jussi Jaaskelainen's net. And it was nearly 3-0 just after the restart when Jay Emmanuel-Thomas took advantage of West Ham's defenders backing off to fire an effort inches wide of the post.

With new signing Modibo Maiga, making his first appearance for West Ham on English soil looking lively, West Ham began to get back into the game. However the yw were unable to reduce the deficit before the break and went into half-time two behind.

That's how it stayed until 17 minutes from the end of normal time when Matt Taylor scored from long-range to bring West Ham to within a goal of their hosts. However the game was won for Ipswich with just seven minutes remaining when Jason Scotland made it 3-1 from the edge of the box with a curlign effort that left sub 'keeper Stephen Henderson no chance.

The defeat was West Ham's fourth reversal of pre-season following defeats at Austria Wien, Oxford United an Dynamo Dresden.

And although pre-season should never be used as a barometer of form for the ensuing league campaign, there may well be some concerns inside the camp tonight at the nature of the defeat - and West Ham's apparent defensive weaknesses.

West Ham Utd: Jaaskelainen (Henderson 79), Reid, Collins, Demel, Potts (O’Brien 46), O’Neil, Noble, Taylor, Vaz Te, Maiga (Maynard 59), Cole.

Subs not used: Moncur, Lletget, Fanimo.

Ipswich Town: Loach, Edwards (Ainsley 61), Chambers, Smith (Delaney 61), Cresswell, Carson, Hyam (Murray 79), Luongo (Kourouma 71), Emmanuel-Thomas (Lawrence 67), Martin (Stevenson 46), Chopra (Scotland 46).

Subs not used: Lee-Barrett, Whight.

Attendance: 7,682 (2,075 away fans)

Pre-Season 2012/13: First team Squad Results

August
Braga v West Ham Utd
Ipswich Town 3-1 West Ham Utd

July
Energie Cottbus 2-2 West Ham Utd
Dynamo Dresden 3-0 West Ham Utd
Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0-3 West Ham Utd
Colchester Utd 1-2 West Ham Utd
Oxford Utd 1-0 West Ham Utd
Southend Utd 0-3 West Ham Utd
Boreham Wood 1-1 West Ham Utd
Austria Wien 3-1 West Ham Utd