Midfielder Luke Hyam felt there was no malice from Grant Ward in the incident which led to his 42nd minute red card during Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.

The scoreline was only 1-0 when Ward inadvertently caught Villa full-back Neil Taylor with a high boot and was given his marching orders.

“There was no malice in it at all,” Hyam said after the match. “His eyes were fixed on the ball. Unfortunately he caught Neil Taylor. Luckily he wasn’t injured.”

Having been reduced to 10 men, the visitors, fourth and still with an outside chance of winning automatic promotion, ran out comfortable winners in the second half, which was little surprise given their expensively assembled squad.

“The squad they’ve bought shows the gulf in the Championship at the moment,” Hyam reflected.

“The amount of money teams are spending, they are giving it a right go. They are a great team.”

Despite the Blues falling to their heaviest home defeat for seven years to the day, the crowd, Portman Road's second-highest of the season at 20,034, stayed behind the team in contrast to the more fractious atmosphere at games earlier in the campaign.

“It definitely felt different,” the 26-year-old added. “There were a lot more fans. When we were 4-0 down, they were still singing.”

Turning to former boss Mick McCarthy’s recent departure, Hyam said: “When the manager said he was going to leave at the end of the season it was a weird scenario.

“We had a huge amount of respect for Mick. But it’s just one of those things in football. Football goes on. You’ve just got to keep going.

“We’ve not got a clue about the new manager. The fans probably know more than we do. Our job is to give our all and get results and that’s what we’re concentrating on.

“You’ve got to prove to yourself and everyone else that you have pride in putting the shirt on. I’ll always give 100 per cent. All the lads are great at gearing each other up and the spirit is second to none.”

Villa keeper Sam Johnstone admitted the red card assisted his side: “It was a really good win. The first 20 minutes was difficult. We did well but I think the sending-off helped us too. To keep scoring and keep going and keep control of the game [saw us to the win].

“It can be tricky against ten. They have to work doubly hard and sometimes it works against you.

“But it didn’t on Saturday. We have an experienced squad and then helped us through. Our quality got us the goals.”

Meanwhile, Town’s U23s are in action against Bolton Wanderers in their final game of the season at Portman Road this evening (KO 7pm).

Photo: TWTD

Bad_Boy_Mark added 06:43 - Apr 23 It did not look a great tackle at the time but Luke is right, there was no intent or malice. Let's not dwell on this as Grant Ward is not a dirty player, he works hard and was having some success down the right hand side before his dismissal. Just 2 games left, we should all raise the roof with our noise and give our boys more fantastic support and the best chance of beating Reading and Middlesbrough! COYB!

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ChrisFelix added 06:58 - Apr 23 It amaze me that the Sheffield wed bloke didn't even get a yellow for the tackle on Mcgoldrick
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rfretwell added 07:33 - Apr 23 Well Town certainly make it harder tfor opponents when we go down to 10! Four goals conceded in 7 minutes at Fulham now this. And Villa are not a "great " side Luke. But great that our fans are back onside at least.
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fifeblue added 08:53 - Apr 23 It was a very poor tackle and deserved a red. Malice or not irrelevant. Ipswich Town is a club in transition and we should hope to see something completely different next season. A nice last job for Arsene Wenger ?
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Paddy39 added 10:02 - Apr 23 So does his Red card ban him for 3 games which means, he's unavailable for the first game next season. I think he just wanted to head off on holiday early lol.
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rugbytomc added 14:11 - Apr 23 I thought a red card was harsh, eyes always on the ball, the Villa player knew the dangers going in as he could see the player in front of him whereas up until the last second Ward was facing the other way. Obviously glad the villa player wasn't hurt - but a harsh red card.
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Seasider added 15:09 - Apr 23 Not sure about whether it should have been a yellow,as replays show he went over the ball onto their blokes shin,which could have been a leg breaker.Notice the ever fair Bryan Klug saying although it was unintentionable,felt there were grounds for a red. Think this means he will be banned for one game next season,as think they are carried over. I know Luke is one of our own;but quite frankly he is not first team material,although suppose could be kept on as back up by the new manager.We shall see.

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TractorBeezer added 15:44 - Apr 23 It looked unintentional but the ref had no choice especially with Bruce on the pitch doing his nut! Hopefully Wardy will continue to develop well.
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