Boss Roy Keane was delighted with his side’s performance as the Blues jumped to second in the table via a 2-0 victory over Cardiff at Portman Road. Cardiff manager Dave Jones felt Adam Matthews’s own goal was the turning point in the match.

Keane said: “I thought it was a good performance, I thought it was a good game. It was a good victory. I think we deserved it, once we got past the first 10 minutes when we were under a lot of pressure.

“I enjoyed it and the players reacted well, which I knew they would. I was pleased with the workrate, the strikers did well, the subs who came on did well, against a very good Cardiff team.

“Sometimes you can play teams at the right time and obviously Cardiff are missing some important players, but they’re still a handful and we saw that in the first 10 minutes when we looked like we were never going to get out of our box, let alone our half but we stuck at it.

“I think we did a lot of the basics wrong the other night,” he added, “but I thought we did the basics well today, in terms of defending, closing people down and hold-up play from the strikers.

“Cardiff will win loads of games in this league and we knew we’d have to be at our best today. We weren’t the other night and we got found out.”

The Blues manager was delighted with Connor Wickham’s display with the 17-year-old making his first start of the season: “Connor did well, it’s always a gamble when a player’s been out a long time and not kicked a ball in the reserves. His cameo performances last Tuesday and in the Portsmouth game have just about earned him his start.

“I think he and Jason gave us that foundation today with their workrate, their hold-up play and they often threatened.

“The keeper made a very good save from Connor in the second half. We could say he was unlucky, but I give credit to the keeper, he’s come out and made that save.”

Keane thought Wickham was unlucky not to win a spotkick when he was felled in the first period: “We were unfortunate not to get the penalty in the first half and his general play was very good but he’ll be tired for the next few days because it was a big shift for him. He was on for about 81 minutes and ideally I didn’t want to play him for that long.”

Cardiff manager Dave Jones thought the game was heading towards a goalless draw: “We started brightly. The second half wasn’t the best of games and it probably had a 0-0 look about it.

“I didn’t think they were causing us any problems and we certainly weren’t causing them problems, but you can’t give away the goal that we gave away."

Jones says own goal-scorer Adam Matthews wasn’t the only one to blame for his side’s second defeat in a week but was in no doubt that the own goal was the game’s pivotal moment: “It wasn’t just down to young Adam, other players around him didn’t step up to the plate in the second half.

“But the own goal was the turning point because it lifted everyone around the place, the crowd got behind them and they got a spring in their step.

“There’s no hiding place for anybody in this world, certainly not at this level. It’s a good job he’s a young player so he’s got a long, long time to get over it.

“It’s one of those in your career that you’ll mull over many, many times, but the one thing you can’t do is let it affect you. You can think about it and try not to make the mistake again, but we’ve not got time to mollycoddle anybody, he’s got to learn quick.”

Photo: Action Images

keebs_itfc added 18:50 - Sep 18 terrific win today lads! COYB!
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bonanza added 19:01 - Sep 18 well done lad's, great result. coyb's
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cphtractor added 19:02 - Sep 18 very pleased, thought second half was solid. COYB
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martleshamitfc added 19:13 - Sep 18 Fantastic, 2nd and Connor back.... so much better than this time last year. Also a mention for Carlos Edwards, really playing well and well done to Eastman.
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Mark added 19:24 - Sep 18 Cardiff looked the better passing side early on, but we came more and more into the game and ended up worthy winners. 2nd in the table - fantastic! Scotland and Wickham could become a really good partnership for us up front and without getting carried away the signs are looking positive for a good season. Well done to all involved!
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SurreyITFC added 19:41 - Sep 18 Great Result today. Well Done to Keano & The Team COYB
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mickeyjb added 19:42 - Sep 18 No ifs no buts, an excellent result well done boys
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kipper added 19:59 - Sep 18 So much better than Tuesday and nice to see the ball kept on the floor a lot more. Solid all round performance and a nice moment after Grandad's thro' ball when Mc'Auley and a few others went straight over to congratulate him. Let's hope QPR was just a blip. On another note, where do they get the officials from now ? Every week I think they cannot possibly get any worse but without fail they do. COYB

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jas0999 added 20:00 - Sep 18 Well done to Roy and the players - a great result today.
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muhrensleftfoot added 20:07 - Sep 18 After Tuesday's poor show it was a great result today. Carlos Edwards who I've never really rated, gave a man of the match performance. A few more like that & I'll certainly change my opinion. Scotland showed that if you feed the ball to his feet in & around the box, he'll score plenty of goals. MacAuley back to his best again after a dodgy performance against QPR. Good stuff!

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moomoosereni added 20:07 - Sep 18 What was important today was the RESULT. Nothing more than that. Obviously you want to see Town play well but after such a disappointing result midweek that was the perfect way to answer any critics by beating the other form team in the division. On this basis I could see us staying near the top for the rest of the season, but really early doors! It's gone a bit quiet on the anti Keane front hasn't it?

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BlooooCD added 20:13 - Sep 18 Brilliant performance against a good team that will be up there pushing for automatic promotion! Bloooooo army!
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zippyrainbow added 20:14 - Sep 18 Good job Bellamy and Chopra weren't playing or we would have been tonked. But let us not get carried away - we have played nobodies so far this year apart from one and they beat us. And young Connor was out of his depth today I think.
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hucks216 added 20:26 - Sep 18 Nobodies? Two teams from the Premiership last season, a pre-season favourite for promotion and the 2 early pace setters - hardly nobodies! Of all the teams around us we arguably had the hardest start to the season on paper.
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big_gaz67 added 20:34 - Sep 18 Thought the ref was very harsh on Connor today. Has anybody else noticed how short the refs are getting in the championship? We may be short of officials around Christmas once the pantomime season starts!
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jas0999 added 20:41 - Sep 18 zippy - why do you bother posting? Such a daft comment! We have had a VERY tough start to the season. Clearly you haven't realised, so I'll point it out to you: YOUR TEAM ARE SECOND IN THE LEAGUE - surely you can find something positive to say?
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dreblue added 20:48 - Sep 18 Zippyrainbow - your an idiot. Nobodies? Middlesborough (one of the favourites), Portsmouth - premiership last season and have been v unlucky so far, QPR, Burnley and now Cardiff! What planet you living in? 2nd place after all these games is GREAT! I would hate to sit next to you at the games (thats if you ever go or infact you actually are an Ipswich fan!) Great win today boys, a move in the right directions and great to see Wickham back in the starting line up! COYB!! 2 important and tough away league games coming up. Scunthorpe on their day are hard to break down (look at last weeks result and Reading is always a tough place to travel to) I will be there cheering them boys on!!!

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martleshamitfc added 20:48 - Sep 18 ZIPPY - ZIP UP , you obviously know nothing about football or you must support the budgies! "Connor out of his depth" hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha , a 17 year old , just returned from injury and awesome against some experienced defenders today.
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kipper added 20:48 - Sep 18 Nice to see Zippy being as negative as ever, why look for positives when there are plenty of negatives to talk about ? Connor Wickham is 17 years old and missed most of pre season. Out of his depth ? I would prefer to call it learning his trade but I guess that would be a positive slant. Played nobodies, no I think you must be referring to that lot up the A140.
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evansblue added 20:54 - Sep 18 a great result. The boys played well and i thought priskin was excellent when he came on. Looking forward to millwall now
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dannysigma added 20:56 - Sep 18 Can we not please ignore Zippy? He's clearly a budgie.
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leagueonescum added 20:58 - Sep 18 Zippy: I hate nothing more than when the cricket season finishes and you pea chasers start to try and talk football.
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Suffolk_n_Good added 21:08 - Sep 18 I'm not gonna lie to you, I likes a 2-0 win, Crackin!
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ChambersM added 21:11 - Sep 18 zippy is right about wickham he was a bit out of depth, and for his size he doesnt win enough in the air (not critisism, just pointing out facts) but a good result.....lets see if we can carry it on.
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lunatic38 added 21:21 - Sep 18 We are a few games into the season and i really do think QPR are going to win this league, on paper we have had a tough start but i really think as the season progressess Burnley and Portsmouth are going to start looking stronger , Borough look sh*te and good bets Strachan could be in trouble soon, Forest and Leicester do not look all that and i fancy Reading to do better this season, Hull could improve but i really cant see a threat there and Cardiff were exsposed by us today (Bellamy and Chopra missing did help)the rest of the Championship are capable of beating each other on there day. After our start, again tough on paper we still have many more tough games in front of us but i really honestly think we can EXPECT at least playoffs this season (maybe with some signings whenever, we could expect more maybe 2nd even) i only watched the game on the internet today but what i see was good but we are definately missing a centre midfielder with a bit of craft, other than that i was impressed with Wickham and Scotland the midfield looked neat but straighfoward and the defence i think the midfield is its weakness for many reasons, the energy is there and the team look hungry but a creative midfielder with a bit of quality could really set our team alight. Our loss to QPR was a typical Ipswich performance and i am proud of our teams reaction today because to bounce back after being well beaten by a good side shows that a lucky start or international break voodoo are not happening and we really genuinely have nothing to fear and promotion could be a reality this year. ps. Priskin looked strong and hungry when he came on and i also think he will come good (sooner rather than later). COYB

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