CELINA STUNNER WINS FIERY AFFAIR
O’Kane red turns game for McCarthy
BERSANT Celina’s wonderstrike was the difference for Ipswich as they found a way past 10-man Leeds after Eunan O’Kane’s contentious dismissal.
O’Kane’s sending-off eight minutes before half time for an apparent headbutt on Jonas Knudsen made life easier for Ipswich, who were already matching their counterparts before the incident.
Leeds manager Thomas Christiansen was resolute that the games defining moment was misjudged, and after speaking to O’Kane and viewing a video of the incident had a strong opinion on the matter.
He said: “The opponent went to him and they touched each other, but the one that went down was the opponent, and it was him that came and provoked. There was no sign that he goes to reply. Here the one that goes to the ground stays on the pitch.
“There’s no evidence that he goes to him, he just faced him then there was contact. It was a provocation and he went for that and got that and the referee fell into that.
“I’m proud because of the effort they showed and everyone in the stadium recognised that it wasn’t right to lose this game.”
Pawel Cibicki scuffed the opening chance of the game over the bar in the 20th minute before Joe Garner failed to direct David McGoldrick’s bacpost cross on target.
Kemar Roofe troubled the Ipswich defence just after the half-hour mark, but Luke Chambers was on hand to block his goal-bound shot.
The dynamic of the game changed in the 37th minute as O’Kane appeared to headbutt Knudsen when the ball was out of play. The incident happened in front of referee Robert Jones, who produced the red card.
Ipswich took the initiative after the dismissal with Celina striking the post with a fantastic 25-yard effort before Callum Connolly guided the rebound wide. The Everton loanee troubled Wiedwald again in the early stages of the second half with a long-ranged effort that was pushed left into the path of Garner, who subsequently guided wide of the far post.
It was a piece of individual brilliance from Celina that finally opened the scoring. The lively winger picked the ball up and maneuvered to within 30 yards of goal before sending the ball flying into the right side of the goal.
Leeds managed to carve out a clear chance ten minutes from time when Hernandez put a dinked cross into the middle of the six-yard box, but Liam Cooper lifted over inches from the goal line.
Victroy moved Ipswich back to within four points of the playoff places, but manager Mick McCarthy was criticial of the Manchester City loanee and his performance before the goal. “I did say thank goodness you did [score] because sometimes he was causing us as many problems as he was causing them by losing the ball,” said McCarthy. “But that’s Bersant, that’s what you get with him.
“It was a really tough game against a team that’s in good form and have good players.
“I haven’t seen the sendingoff, but if he’s headbutted him he deserves to get sent off. It didn’t make it easy. We’ve scrapped away and we needed a result over and above anything. We’ve had three defeats on the bounce and we need to get our fans back onside.”