Bent sees off shabby Cardiff

Darren Bent, on a self-confessed "high" after hitting his third goal for England Under-21s, scored one and made one for Ipswich, who should have put Cardiff out of their misery long before they did.

If Ipswich were, as their manager Joe Royle put it, "half a degree away from being abysmal" at Derby the week before, then Cardiff were absolutely abysmal at Portman Road. "We had a heart-to-heart afterwards," admitted their manager Lenny Lawrence.

Ipswich were little better during a tedious opening half when Bent was the only player to shine. Seven minutes after striking Tony Warner's legs with an acute angled shot, he beat the fumbling goalkeeper on his near post.

Warner's debut improved with a smart reflex save from Jason De Vos' header on the restart. Tony Vidmar cleared Richard Naylor's follow-up header off the line, but Ipswich's otherwise faultless central defenders slipped up to allow Alan Lee an ill-deserved equaliser for Cardiff. At least Lee got a shot on target, which is more than can be said for Robert Earnshaw. He was withdrawn between Ipswich's second and third goals, which were clinically finished off by Tommy Miller and Ian Westlake.

Royle was full of praise for Bent, even though he feels he is something of an enigma. "When we went to 4-4-2 in the second half and I played him wide he used his pace really well," he said. "He averages a goal every other game and that's really good for a lad so young."

Nicholas Harling (Daily Telegraph)