Two goals in a minute from Irish January signings Barry Cotter and Aaron Drinan gave Ipswich Town’s U23s a 2-1 victory against Cardiff City after spending much of the game behind. Despite the first-team players and staff having two days off, manager Mick McCarthy was in attendance for the entire game, dampening online rumours that he is set to leave the club imminently rather than when his contract is up at the end of the season.
McCarthy was making his way to the pitch when Ibraham Meite put the visitors in front inside the first minute, and it took until the 80th minute for Cotter to score the equaliser, with Drinan netting the winner a minute later.
The wind played a big part in the game and caught Ipswich out almost immediately. Mark Harris ran through on goal from a long-ball that had the Blues defence left watching, giving him plenty of time to pick out Meite who tapped in.
Michael Crowe, who was in the Wales squad for their recent visit to China but without making his full international debut, had to be alert with the unpredictable flight of the ball during the game, and reacted quickly to come to the edge of the box and smother the ball at the feet of Harris.
Ipswich’s first attempt on goal didn’t come until the 39th minute, Drinan’s dragged shot past the left post the only threat on the Cardiff goal during the opening 45 minutes.
The visitors almost doubled their lead in first-half injury-time, but Crowe stood his ground and got down well to block Josh Walker’s poor effort from inside the box for a corner.
Gerard Nash’s side looked more threatening in the second half and came close to leveller on the hour mark.
Shane McLoughlin played a precise pass through the Cardiff defence and into the path of substitute Kai Brown, but Connor King did well to get out and block.
The Bluebirds were still looking for a second and Ipswich — not for the first time in the game — had Crowe to thank for keeping them in it. The keeper got down quickly to his right to tip Harris’s volley from the edge of the box away from danger.
Ipswich passed up another great chance to draw level in the 69th minute when Drinan robbed a Cardiff defender of the ball and rolled it back into the path of Ben Morris, who took it into the area before firing over.
The Blues continued to trouble Cardiff and finally got their breakthrough in the 79th minute. Drinan saw a shot saved by the keeper and the ball eventually fell to Cotter on the right side of the area and the Irish defender, a January signing from Limerick, lashed a low volley across the box and into the goal.
Seconds after the restart Ipswich were on the attack again with Morris collecting the ball to the right of the box and playing it across goal to Drinan, Town’s other Irish January signing, from Waterford, who confidently struck in from close range.
A victory means Ipswich took advantage of their game in-hand in the Professional Development League Two, putting a three-point gap between themselves in second and Charlton Athletic in third.
Team: M Crowe, D Crowe, Cotter, Ndaba, Clements, Blanchfield (Sagaf 54), Nydam (McGavin 46), McLoughlin, McKendry (K Brown 51), Morris, Drinan. Unused: Wright, Lankester.