Ipswich 1-1 Cardiff: Bluebirds cling on after Bamba dismissal

Cardiff hung on to claim a deserved 1-1 draw at Ipswich, despite being reduced to 10 men following Sol Bamba's bizarre dismissal.

The Bluebirds took the lead in the first half of the Sky Bet Championship clash through Aron Gunnarsson, who capitalised on a mistake by Bartosz Bialkowski, before Ipswich levelled through Luke Varney.

Cardiff centre-back Bamba was then shown a red card in the 70th minute, clashing with the fourth official after reacting angrily to a challenge by Jonathan Douglas.

In an unsavoury incident, Bamba raged at referee James Adcock, opponent Douglas and his own manager Neil Warnock, but Ipswich were unable to take advantage of their extra man and had to settle for a disappointing draw.

Cardiff went within a whisker of a fourth-minute lead when a clearance sat up for Gunnarsson to produce a well-executed volley which cannoned off the near post.

Ipswich almost opened the scoring after a horrendous error from Ben Amos who dropped the ball when attempting a simple catch from Luke Chambers' header. The Cardiff goalkeeper made instant amends after reacting quickly to block Tom Lawrence's shot.

Gunnarsson's shooting prowess was again a threat in the 24th minute when another volley was well pushed away by Ipswich goalkeeper Bialkowski.

An even contest was nearly lifted by David McGoldrick who found some room to drill a powerful left-footed shot from 25 yards that the diving Ben Amos did well to hold.

The deadlock was broken in the 38th minute when Bialkowski somehow dropped Peter Whittingham's corner right at the feet of Gunnarsson and the midfielder had the simple job of firing the ball into the unguarded net.

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Ipswich grabbed an equaliser seven minutes after the restart when Lawrence drove at the defence and teed up Adam Webster whose low cross was fired home by Varney despite Gunnarsson's best attempts to block the shot.

Cardiff were offering a lot less in the final third although substitute Craig Noone went close when he cut inside but missed the far post with a strong effort.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men following Bamba's moment of indiscipline, which also saw him appear to clash with Cardiff's physio.

Bialkowski made a fine save to deny Sean Morrison's low header before Bruno Manga's goal-bound shot was brilliantly blocked by Christophe Berra.

The final chance again fell to Noone's left foot but the shot whistled just wide of the far post.