Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:18 pm
' Cardiff City 3-1 Ipswich Town match report: Russell Slade's call for home fortress answered '
Oct 22nd, 2014
By Terry Phillips
The scores were level at half-time after Daryl Murphy and Peter Whittingham traded stunners before Macheda and Le Fondre won it
Forest arrived unbeaten all season and lost that record against the Bluebirds. Ipswich boasted an unbeaten run of eight matches, but that’s gone now.
It seems that newly-appointed manager Russell Slade’s call for the Cardiff City Stadium to become a fortress again has been answered.
This was a different kind of win to the one Slade enjoyed in his first match in charge.
On Saturday, Cardiff got out in front and held on despite coming under intense Forest pressure.
Last night, the Bluebirds had to show spirit of a different sort against Ipswich, going a goal down to Daryl Murphy’s missile, but showing the character to bounce back and win going away.
On his arrival, Slade demanded big commitment and desire from his players and, on the evidence of his first two matches, they have answered in the right way.
While they looked a disparate group of players under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they now look a team who want to work together.
There is still a long way to go for Slade, who will demand more improvements from his main group over the next few weeks. But six points out of six isn’t a bad way to start and Cardiff have sneaked into the top 10.
Peter Whittingham, Federico Macheda and Adam Le Fondre scored the goals last night for Cardiff, who are now only one point behind their visitors and, more amazingly, just three points off the play-off places.
Left-back Fabio, back from illness which kept him out against Forest, was man-of-the-match, but there were a lot of strong performances from the Bluebirds.
They found life difficult during the first half when the visitors outnumbered them in central midfield. Ipswich set up with a three against City’s two and that left Welsh international Jonny Williams with far too much room to create danger.
Full-backs John Brayford and Fabio were pinned back a little more than usual, guarding against the danger of Ipswich breaks. And, on a wet and windy night, Ipswich had the edge over the first 45 minutes.
That first-half was low key and there were few chances, but fans were lifted out of their seats by two exceptional strikes.
Ipswich took the lead after 29 minutes with a goal out of the blue from in-form Murphy, who smashed a fierce shot across goalkeeper David Marshall and into the far corner. It was struck with such venom that Marshall was still diving as the ball hit the net.
The Bluebirds replied when Whittingham smashed home a beauty of his own, a second goal in two games under Slade. Anthony Pilkington’s inswinging corner was half-cleared and it fell to Whittingham, whose touch and turn took him away from a marker. He then fired an unstoppable shot high into the left-hand corner of Dean Gerken’s goal.
The key for Cardiff was to pick out wingers Craig Noone and Pilkington with early passes and to stretch Ipswich. Both were prominent and Noone ran full-back Tyrone Mings ragged. Conor Sammon worked back to help Mings, but Noone still caused problems for Ipswich. Mings fouled Noone several times and eventually earned a booking early in the second half.
Pilkington went close when he had a right-foot shot blocked and was first to the rebound, hitting a left-foot volley which was well saved by Gerken.
Cardiff started brightly in the second half and they went ahead with a goal which was cleverly created. The ball was dragged back and Pilkington went for goal with the shot, which flew past Gerken off Macheda.
Both players seemed to claim the goal, but it looked clear the Italian had the final touch.
Ipswich tried to hit back, with manager Mick McCarthy barking out instructions from his technical area, but City went further ahead when, after a driving run and attempted cross by Pilkington the ball ballooned high into the air.
Pilkington tried a shot as the ball dropped, but failed to connect. Le Fondre, a prolific scorer at Championship level, was ready and fired right-footed, low across the goalkeeper and into the far corner after 69 minutes.
At 3-1, City were in command and were looking comfortable.
They sent on Nicky Maynard for goalscorer Le Fondre to ensure they had fresh legs to carry an attacking threat to Ipswich right through to the final whistle.
While the Bluebirds struggled at times against the three-man central midfield unit of Ipswich during the first half they tweaked their game plan after the break, with Noone and Pilkington tucking in to give them an extra man inside when the visitors had the ball.
Welshman Williams was a major danger before half-time, but he could not maintain that form and was eventually taken off by manager McCarthy.
It was good to see Slade reacting to a situation during the match and solving a problem. He certainly won his personal battle with McCarthy and Cardiff are moving back towards the leading pack.
Their next test, though, is only a few days away when the Bluebirds go to Millwall on Saturday. It may be a case of going into the Lions’ Den, but on this evidence, Cardiff look ready to roar.
Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:31 pm
so far good under Russell Slade