Cardiff City 3-1 Ipswich Town
- Published
Omar Bogle celebrates scoring his first goal for Cardiff City
Cardiff City moved up to second in the Championship table with a convincing win over Ipswich Town.
Junior Hoilett's volley gave Cardiff an early lead, though their start deserved more than a 1-0 half-time advantage.
Less than a minute after the restart, Omar Bogle finished a flowing team move to score his first Bluebirds goal.
Bersant Celina struck in the 90th minute to fuel Ipswich hopes, which were swiftly ended as the hosts' Danny Ward fired in a rebound.
Cardiff had endured an indifferent few weeks, failing to score in open play for six hours and 43 minutes and being held to goalless draws in each of their previous two home fixtures as they were usurped at the Championship's summit.
However, Neil Warnock's side had yet to lose a league game at the Cardiff City Stadium this season and they appeared determined to protect that record as they outplayed Ipswich in the early exchanges.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's floated cross found Hoilett at the back post and the winger neatly guided his volley into the bottom far corner, despite Ipswich protestations that players in front of the ball were offside.
Ipswich's Flynn Downes reacts after his goal-bound shot was blocked by Joe Ralls
The visitors could have been further behind soon afterwards but goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski showed excellent reflexes to deny Bogle from close range.
After weathering that initial storm, Ipswich grew into the game and twice threatened to equalise with Tommy Smith mistiming his effort from a corner and Flynn Downes having a shot well blocked by Joe Ralls.
However, those Ipswich forays into Cardiff's penalty area were short-lived and they soon found themselves 2-0 down as Lee Tomlin combined artfully with Mendez-Laing, whose pass set Bogle free to coolly slide the ball beyond Bialkowski.
Having seldom threatened in the second half, Ipswich set up a nervy finish when Celina swept in from close range after a counter-attack.
But any aspirations of an unlikely comeback were almost immediately extinguished as Ward struck on the rebound after Mendez-Laing's initial shot was saved, consigning Ipswich to a fourth defeat from five league games.
Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock told BBC Sport Wales: "We've got quite an horrific injury list at the minute... it's difficult but the lads who came in did ever so well tonight.
"Omar [Bogle] has been busting a gut to play... I thought he did well and Lee Tomlin, two new lads there and we played some good stuff at times.
"It is a tough league but I thought we deserved it. Some of the goals were very good and we could have had more; it was just disappointing to concede as we'd done so well at the back."
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy:
"In the first half we played well and created some chances. They made it very difficult for us, but we didn't defend well and conceded some poor goals.
"I think I dreamt the half-time teamtalk about not getting a bad start and making sure we didn't concede straight away.
"We did the exact opposite and their second goal was ridiculous. It completely changed the game.
"We got a goal back, but I can't believe the naivety for their third. It's frustrating and the players don't want to start slowly, but we can't hide away from the fact we gave some poor goals away."
- Published26 October 2017
