ENGLISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: Cardiff City 0 Ipswich Town 3: IPSWICH TOWN are a nice club, traditionally well run, with good manners on and off the pitch. That may not be the case for much longer, because if Roy Keane gets his way – and he often does – they are about to turn mean.
“On the outside, looking at Ipswich as a football club, maybe the team have been accused over the last years of not doing the dirty stuff well, the horrible stuff,” said Keane, having watched Ipswich take Cardiff to the cleaners in his first match after returning to management.
“I thought we did that well today. That pleased me. Besides the three goals and the good play, they got stuck in. That’s what you want from your team – to get stuck in. I didn’t learn that on my coaching course. That’s just the way I have been brought up.
“We’ve got quality, particularly going forward, but I questioned the players: ‘Can you do the other side of the game, the dirty stuff that I used to do?’ And they did that.
“They need to do that this week in training. We definitely want to finish off the season on a high with a win in front of our own supporters next Sunday. Hopefully it’s just the start of a long road.”
Keane’s charges passed the dirty test, but this was far from an ugly win. Cardiff started well but faded after Ipswich’s goalkeeper, Richard Wright, saved Ross McCormack’s 11th-minute penalty.
The chief catalyst in the visiting ranks was Jon Stead, someone you would not have blamed for lying down in a dark room and crying his eyes out when he discovered the identity of Ipswich’s new manager. Keane deemed Stead surplus to requirements weeks after becoming Sunderland’s manager in 2006, sending the striker on loan to Derby before tying up a permanent deal with Sheffield United.
So it came as little surprise to see Stead’s name down as a substitute rather than a starter against Cardiff. His introduction in the 27th minute, as a replacement for Alex Bruce, came only because Ipswich did not have another defender on the bench, necessitating a reshuffle.
And yet it was Stead who turned the game, creating a goal in either half for Pablo Counago and David Norris, before wrapping up an emphatic victory himself in the dying moments, after Ivan Campo’s shot had rebounded off the woodwork.
So does Stead have a future under Keane this time around?
“I’m quite happy to have him at the club,” said Keane. “People are quick to say I sold Steady before, but I was the manager of a Championship club and a Premiership club came in for him and I didn’t feel I could stand in the lad’s way.
“He is a very good player who set a goal up and scored one – I think he set two up actually – but that’s what you want from your subs. A lot of subs sit on the bench and daydream. You’ve got to be ready to come on.”
Keane’s arrival at Portman Road certainly seems to have focused the minds of players who might otherwise have been dwelling on which Caribbean island to visit this summer. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for play-off hopefuls Cardiff, who are flagging alarmingly with the finishing line in sight. Lose at Hillsborough on Sunday and they could miss out altogether.
Manager Dave Jones was so angry at their performance that he refused to speak to the press.
Guardian Service
CARDIFF:Heaton, McNaughton, Gyepes, R Johnson, Kennedy, Rae (E Johnson 76), Parry (McPhail 59), Ledley, Burke, Bothroyd, McCormack (Chopra 58). Subs not used:Purse, Comminges. Booked: McNaughton, Gyepes.
IPSWICH: R Wright, Bruce (Stead 27), Balkestein, Campo, Richards, Garvan, Norris, Peters (Quinn 72), Giovani, Lisbie, Counago (Haynes 57). Subs not used: Bialkowski, Miller. Booked: Giovani, Haynes.
Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire).
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