Daryl Murphy came close to netting his first goal of the season with a header against the post but Town’s home game with Cardiff City remains 0-0 at the break.

Jonny Parr replaced the injured Jonas Knudsen at left-back in an otherwise unchanged Town side, the Norwegian having taken over from the Dane early on at Nottingham Forest last week after he suffered a hamstring problem. Knudsen is expected to be fit for Tuesday’s home game against Bolton.

Manager Mick McCarthy lined his team up in a 4-3-3 formation with Murphy, Freddie Sears and David McGoldrick all up front as they were at Forest.

The Bluebirds made two changes from the team which drew 0-0 at home to Bristol City on Monday with Joe Ralls and Sammy Ameobi replacing the injured Kagisho Dikgacoi and Craig Noone, who dropped to the bench.

Suffolk-born former Blues academy schoolboy Stuart O'Keefe was also amongst the Cardiff subs.

The visitors had most of the ball in the early stages but without threatening Dean Gerken’s goal.

On nine Town claimed a perhaps ambitious penalty when Kevin Bru’s strike was blocked by Fabio after a well-worked move down the left involving the Mauritius international and Murphy amongst others. Two minutes later, Ameobi was booked for a foul on Parr.

As the game hit the 15-minute mark Murphy came within a whisker of opening his goals account for the season. Kevin Bru sent over a corner from the right and the Irishman flicked a near-post header off the upright. The loose ball fell to Sears at a tight angle but the ex-Colchester man blazed over.

A minute later Icelandic international midfielder Aron Gunnarsson, who had a trial with the Town academy as a schoolboy, struck a powerful effort from the edge of the box but Gerken did well to get down to his left to push it behind.

Cardiff continued to take the game to the Blues and on 22 Christophe Berra cut out Ralls’s low cross from the left.

Town began to take charge and in the 27th minute, shortly after Ainsley Maitland-Niles had seen a strike blocked on the edge of the box, Luke Chambers fed Sears to his right and the striker’s low cross was diverted towards his own goal by Sean Morrison, keeper David Marshall doing very well to keep it out.

Fabio suffered an injury as Cardiff had sought to defend the cross and the Brazilian was replaced by Scott Malone in the 31st minute.

Three minutes later Parr’s mis-hit clearance led to Sears breaking away into the Cardiff half before he was halted by Matthew Connolly’s foul, which saw the defender join team-mate Ameobi in referee David Coote’s book. Cole Skuse laid the freekick off to McGoldrick but his shot curled wide.

McGoldrick seized on a loose Cardiff pass on 39 and sent Murphy away towards goal but last season’s 27-goal Championship top scorer took an extra touch and Morrison got across to block his shot. Maitland-Niles was first to the loose ball and sent it back over from the right and Sears eventually hit a 25-yard shot which was straight at Marshall.

Two minutes before the break Ralls had his name added to referee Coote’s book for a foul on Bru the, as the game moved into injury time, Tommy Smith joined him somewhat harshly for following in Murphy’s hooked attempt at goal as keeper Marshall claimed following the second of two Town corner.

The scoreline remained level at the break with the Blues having got on top after making a slow start.

Town had had the half’s two best chances with Murphy unfortunate not to have broken his duck for the season with his header and Morrison lucky his keeper prevented him from scoring an own goal.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Parr, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Bru, Maitland-Niles, Sears, McGoldrick, Murphy. Subs: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Emmanuel, Douglas, Oar, Coke, Pitman.

Cardiff: Marshall (c), Peltier, Morrison, Connolly, Fabio (Malone 31), Ralls, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Ameobi, Revell, Mason. Subs: Moore, Tamas, O’Keefe, Pilkington, Noone, Kennedy. Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls