U21 Match Report | Cardiff City 1-3 Ipswich Town

Cardiff City’s U21 side were defeated by the Tractor Boys on Tuesday afternoon.

Leading at the break, two quickfire goals from the visitors as the second half began put Ipswich ahead, with a third goal coming late on.

The visitors had the first big chance of the afternoon, as they struck quickly on the coutner and broke into the City area. Luke Armstrong responded well to the threat, however, and diverted a shot at the near post with a well-placed foot, sending the effort out for a corner-kick.

Joel Colwill opened the scoring in the 10th minute of play, finishing neatly towards the far post. Raheem Conte’s press was instrumental in the build-up forcing errors and winning the ball for his side before playing a quick back-and-forth with Colwill as the midfielder rushed into the area.

Having fared well with the visitors throughout the first half, City were quickly overtaken shortly after the second began. Jokubas Mazonis headed home for the leveller shortly after the restart, before substitute Rio Morgan finished inside the area to turn the tables two minutes later.

Just past the hour mark, City were let off as Emmanuel Okunowo struck the post, while another cross bounded off the crossbar moments earlier.

With ten minutes remaining, the Tractor Boys doubled their lead, as Tommy Taylor poked home from close range after Armstrong did well to deny an initial strike inside his area.

In the final minute before injury time, Colwill was presented with an opportunity that was similar to his opener, though his strike was well saved by Charlie Binns this time around.

FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 1-3 IPSWICH TOWN

Following the final whistle, Darren Purse reflected on the performance:

“I thought that in the first half we were excellent,” began Darren. “Everything that we spoke about and worked on was superb, and come half-time we should’ve been more than one up. That’s been one of the things this this year where we’ve not been able to finish teams off when we’ve been in the lead.

“We’d warned the boys that no two halves of football are ever the same, but then we conceded that first goal and we were deflated from there. It’s up to the boys to show their leadership in those moments, to step up, and I thought we lacked that and were negative after that point.

“We’re stretched at the minute with the players available. If you look at the U18 side playing at near the same as us today, as well as a big double game week against Swansea City and Bournemouth next week, it’s going to be a tough one.

“The lads have played a lot of minutes for the U18 side as scholars, and have excelled at times when they’re asked to step up a level. It’s testing at times for the lads, but that’s the learning curve for these players at this moment in time, but we hope that they learn well from it in time for next season.”