Cardiff City 3-1 Ipswich Town - Match Report Tuesday, 31st Oct 2017 21:59 Bersant Celina was again on target for the Blues but his late goal wasn’t enough to prevent Town from falling to a 3-1 defeat at Cardiff. Junior Hoilett put the Bluebirds in front on 12, then Omar Bogle doubled the lead seconds after the break. Celina’s final minute goal threatened to set up an unexpected grandstand finish but Danny Ward’s injury time goal ended Town’s hopes of gaining a surprise point. Town boss Mick McCarthy made six changes to the side which beat Burton Albion 2-1 on Saturday. Into the XI came Celina, Dominic Iorfa, Tommy Smith, who was making his first appearance since the opening day of the campaign, Flynn Downes, Grant Ward and Kevin Bru, who was handed his first start of the season. Adam Webster, Martyn Waghorn, David McGoldrick, Jordan Spence and Freddie Sears were all rested - Town have three games in eight days - and dropped to the bench, while Tristan Nydam was missing from the 18. The Blues started in a 4-1-2-3 system with Downes and Bru, who came on as a sub against the Brewers, just ahead of Cole Skuse in central midfield, Ward and Celina in the wide roles and Joe Garner the lone central striker. Cardiff were without striker Kenneth Zohore and midfielder Aron Gunnarsson due to ankle injuries and full-back Joe Bennett, who has a calf problem. The Bluebirds made three changes from the team which drew 0-0 with Millwall at the weekend with Lee Tomlin, Bogle and Callum Paterson coming into the team for Craig Bryson, Town summer target Danny Ward - who both dropped to the bench - and the injured Bennett. Former Blues keeper Brian Murphy and ex-loan winger Liam Feeney were both among the Cardiff subs. The Bluebirds made the early running, Sol Bamba hooking over following a long Paterson throw, then home skipper Sean Morrison claimed he was hauled back by Garner as a corner came over from the left. The former Reading man may have had a case. On seven Hoilett struck the game’s first serious effort, cutting in from the left before shooting across Bartosz Bialkowski’s goal and wide. Town were still to get going when the Bluebirds took the lead in the 12th minute. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was given plenty of time to cross deep from the right and an unmarked Hoilett hit a rather scuffed volley into the ground and past the unsighted Bialkowski. It was a goal which appeared all too easy for the home side to score. Having gone behind the Blues began to make some headway, Bru seeing a strike from the edge of the area blocked. But on 16 Cardiff would have doubled their lead but for a brilliant Bialkowski stop. Hoilett curled across a teasing low ball from the right, which Bogle toed towards goal only for the Blues’ Polish keeper to stick out a foot and keep it out. In the 27th minute Celina was rather less successful with a freekick from just outside the area than he had been at the weekend, hitting his strike straight at the wall after Downes had been fouled as he broke towards the box after good work from the Kosovo international in the build-up. The Blues were beginning to pass the ball with more confidence and in the 31st minute they should have got on terms. Celina sent over a corner which had been well won by Ward from the right, Garner rose highest to flick across goal straight to Smith at the far post, who scraped wide when he should have scored. Chambers blocked a Bogle overhead kick inside the area with his head on 38, before Cardiff keeper Neil Etheridge badly mis-kicked when out of his goal on the Cardiff right. Fortunately for the home side Ward was unable to find space to shoot at the empty goal. The Bluebirds had another chance a minute later when Mendez-Laing was fed in behind Smith but the former Rochdale man smashed into the side-netting. Town carved out another opportunity to equalise in the 40th minute, Celina weaving his way into the box before finding Downes unmarked on the right of the area. The 18-year-old looked destined to score his first senior goal but somehow Joe Ralls slid in to divert the ball behind. The Blues again weren’t too far away from a leveller in the 44th minute, Garner rising high to head Celina’s left-sided corner over the bar. In first-half injury time Ralls hit a shot from the edge of the Town box which was deflected behind after a well-worked Cardiff counter-attack. The scoreline remained the same at the break, the Blues having come more into the game as the half wore on having made a slow start during which they conceded Cardiff’s goal. They might well have conceded again before creating but being unable to take two or three chances to equalise. However, the Bluebirds continued to be a threat at the other end. The second half was only 35 seconds old when the home side doubled their lead. After a clever pass from Lee Tomlin, Mendez-Laing squared to Bogle, who had only Bialkowski to beat, which he did confidently. Bogle, who was making his first start for the Bluebirds following his summer move from Wigan, went close again in the 53rd minute, hitting a shot which Bialkowski did well to bat away after linking up with Hoilett. A minute later, with the home side now confidently stroking the ball around, Paterson hit a low effort which the Town keeper saved down to his right. On 59 Tomlin, who scored a hat-trick against the Blues in Peterborough’s 7-1 home win over Town in 2011, tricked his way to some space 25 yards out but his shot failed to trouble Bialkowski. A minute later Smith was booked for a foul on Paterson. The Blues had done little to suggest they would win after coming from behind for a third time away from home this season, so it was little shock when McCarthy made the first of his three changes in the 65th minute. However, Callum Connolly’s introduction for Downes - who had found the game tough - was perhaps a surprise with the Blues briefly playing a 4-4-1-1 system with Celina off Garner. Soon after, Cardiff swapped Tomlin for Loic Damour. In the 73rd minute Bru was replaced by Sears, who joined Garner up front. But the Blues continued to struggle to make any impact. On 76 Hoilett was replaced by ex-Town loanee Feeney for Cardiff, then two minutes later Waghorn took over from Garner for the Blues. The Bluebirds replaced Bogle, who was given a warm ovation by the home fans, with Danny Ward for the final eight minutes. Morrison was booked for a foul on Sears as he broke towards the Cardiff area on the left on 83. Celina took the freekick and curled towards goal but Etheridge pawed behind, his first serious save of the game. Seconds later, Cardiff threatened again on the break, Skuse turning Mendez-Laing’s cross from the right behind at the far post. With three minutes remaining Ward should have made it 3-0 after Town failed to deal with a ball over the top. The former Rotherham man used his strength to hold off a challenge but somehow stabbed wide. Town were handed a surprise lifeline in the final minute when Celina pulled a goal back, the on-loan Manchester City man’s fifth of his loan spell. Sears broke into the area and saw his strike blocked and Waghorn saw his subsequent effort charged down before Grant Ward squared to Celina, whose low shot beat Etheridge. But the home fans’ nervousness regarding a shock Town comeback lasted only a minute with Danny Ward quickly restoring the Bluebirds’ two-goal advantage. With Town having committed plenty of men forward, Mendez-Laing brought the ball forward in space on the Cardiff left before hitting a shot which Bialkowski saved. However, the ball fell to sub Ward who found the net. Soon after, referee Oliver Langford brought the game to an end. The home side thoroughly deserved the three points with the match looking to have been settled 35 seconds into the second half when Bogle scored Cardiff’s second goal. Town, having spurned a number of chances to equalise in the first half, never looked like getting back into the match in the second until Celina’s surprise late goal but Ward’s third came soon afterwards to prevent a late flurry which might have yielded an undeserved equaliser. Again, having beaten a team from the division's lower reaches, Burton Albion, at the weekend, the Blues were unable to take anything from a match against a side from nearer the top, the victory having taken the Welshmen up to second. The game failing to end in a draw equals a Town club record of 14 matches without a draw from the start of a season achieved at the beginning of the 1954/55 campaign. The result sees the Blues drop to 11th ahead of Saturday’s home game against Preston, whose manager Alex Neil watched tonight’s match, with the Lilywhites a place above them on goal difference ahead of their game at home to Aston Villa tomorrow. Cardiff: Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison (c), Ecuele Manga, Tomlin (Damour 66), Ralls, Bamba, Paterson, Mendez-Laing, Bogle (Ward 82), Hoilett (Feeney 76). Unused: Murphy, Halford, Bryson, Gounongbe. Town: Bialkowski, Iorfa, Knudsen, Chambers (c), T Smith, Skuse, Downes (Connolly 64), Bru (Sears 73), Celina, Ward, Garner (Waghorn 78). Unused: Gerken, Webster, Waghorn, McGoldrick, Spence, Sears. Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands). Att:15,951.
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