As a minority of Cardiff City fans try and erase the earlier rugby score of where Wales were cheated out of a game due to a dubious decision, there was a sense of dejavu to happen at the Cardiff City Stadium!
The game starts and while Chopra's name is read out, returning to the Cardiff City Stadium, he receives an applause from the Cardiff City fans honoring his time at the club. I was suprised that Anthony Gerrard wasn't even included in the match day squad, Kenny Miller on the other hand I had my doubts about and would prefer a full fit Kenny Miller against Peterborough than a half fit one against Ipswich.
Cardiff caused a considerable amount of pressure but Ipswich had their fair amount of chances but in the nineteenth minute, a header scored by Rudy Gestede after Aron Gunnarsson's long looping throw put the Bluebirds ahead.
Rudy Gestede has grown on me, he's turned out to be my favourite striker for the club, I've always thought he was a great capture for the Bluebirds and he composes himself brilliantly, everyone's compared him to Jay Bothroyd and I'd agree with that but he doesn't fall on the floor constantly and moan, he gets on with the game. Rudy has grown to love the club as well I guess, every time he plays he'll try and motivate the crowd and when he scored today he instantly got a "RUDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY" from me!
The goal was a wake up call for Paul Jewell's men and ten minutes later Jason Scotland found himself in a lot of space and smashed it from twenty two yards which was one of the sweetest goals from an opposition player I've seen in a while, being an ex-Swansea player, he went over to the Cardiff fans and put his finger to his lip taunting the Cardiff fans.
As I wonder how that goal went in, I was amazed to see that Scotland had lost a lot of weight over the summer, he seemed more mobile! Chopra nearly put the Tractorboys ahead but narrowly missed, the first half finished and Cardiff fans were a bit shocked to see a goal of that goal go in.
I somehow felt really ill in this game, was it nerves? I watched the halftime entertainment as a fellow CCMB'er Elliot Cantor took a penalty in front of the crowd for Sky's Take it Like a Fan, he missed sadly!
In the 51st minute, controversy and confusion came into the equation when Michael Chopra returned to haunt Cardiff by putting his new side in front with a header. It seemed controversial when the linesman seemed to have flagged for infringement or an off-side, but then the decision seemed to be reversed? I was confused like any other fan, we all just stood there, some Cardiff fans waving and taunting Ipswich fans thinking it didn't go in, it was given though and this frustrated me even more, prompting me to shout "If you're going to raise your flag, raise it correctly"
This was just a taste of what the linesman perspective of the game, a lot of decisions were going Cardiff and it frustrated Andrew Taylor so much that Andrew Taylor rightfully went over to give the linesman a piece of his mind! Cardiff were refused a countless amount of penalties, Dean Whitestone was having an absolute nightmare, having to ask his assistants for almost everything really, I'm suprised he's a referee at this level!
In the end the referee gave in and Cardiff were awarded a deserved penalty after Carlos Edwards handled the ball in the area, Peter Whittingham slotted home a perfect penalty lifting the Cardiff hearts, I felt this was well deserved, Ipswich played horrible, trying to foul us on every attempt we had, we deserved this penalty after turning the tide against them!
In the final fifteen minutes it was all Cardiff, after the penalty we should have had another when Kevin McNaughton was brought down recklessly and we screamed for a penalty, we could have wrapped up three points when Hudson's defensive header caught the Ipswich Town napping and Gestede was in, only to be denied by a great save from David Stockdale. Don Cowie was also denied by a great save from Stockdale with a header.
The full time whistle blew and a part of me felt happy that we didn't lose to a team we class as our "bogey" side but another part felt that we were cheated out of a win by the officials but in other ways we should have put our chances to bed.
Peterborough on Tuesday for us, I won't be there due to school but I'll be at Cardiff City Stadium for certain against Keith Hill's Barnsley.
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