A MISCHIEVOUS plot by soccer saboteurs to rig a vote held to find a song to celebrate Ipswich Town goals has been unveiled by club bosses, it emerged today.

A MISCHIEVOUS plot by soccer saboteurs to rig a vote held to find a song to celebrate Ipswich Town goals has been unveiled by club bosses, it emerged today.

Chelsea Dagger by Scottish rockers The Fratellis triumphed in the poll with the chart-topping tune scooping almost 55 per cent of the vote, finishing just ahead of The Pogues' Fiesta, with Blur's Song 2 and One Step Beyond by Madness well adrift.

But the club's website provider, PTV, has since launched an investigation after the poll was nearly scuppered by a handful of rogue voters.

Around 7,000 votes were taken on the club website in the first seven days before nearly 4,000 votes were cast for Fiesta in a matter of only a few hours just before the deadline.

The late surge changed the face of the results and would have seen Blues fans jumping up and down to Fiesta every time their team found the back of the net.

But the club was alerted to the sabotage and opted to take the final count before the last minute hacking.

The voting mechanism is designed to allow only one vote per computer but is not sophisticated enough to prevent IT experts from overriding the restriction.

A spokesman for Ipswich Town said: “It's disappointing that the voting system was abused over the last few hours but it was clear that Chelsea Dagger was the most popular choice, just ahead of Fiesta.

“We logged the votes until we became aware of the problems and used that as a cut off point with Chelsea Dagger in front so that's the song that we will be using next season.

“We thank all the supporters who took time to vote in a genuine fashion.”

The club recently dropped Tom Hark by The Piranhas, which had been played every time the Blues scored since the defeat of Sheffield United in 2003.

It is not the first time an Ipswich Town poll has been laced with scandal. In 2001, scores of cheeky Norwich City fans abused a vote to decide which strip the Blues should wear.

Can you think of a better choice of celebration music? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk