THANK goodness that Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane decided to appeal Jon Stead's red card!

Carl Marston

THANK goodness that Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane decided to appeal Jon Stead's red card!

It was always odds on that Town would contest Stead's harsh sending off, during the Boxing Day defeat at Crystal Palace, but even Keane would have been hard pushed to predict Stead's devastating display against QPR yesterday.

Stead bagged a second-half brace in Town's refreshing 3-0 home win, achieved in front of a crowd of more than 25,000, after skipper Jon Walters had netted the opener as early as the third minute.

"This was a big game for me, because if my appeal fails and the suspension is not rescinded, then that's me out until the end of January," revealed Stead.

"But fingers crossed, we'll win the appeal later this week. The gaffer and I watched the video on the bus trip home, and we felt that we had a case from the evidence we saw on the TV.

"Saturday was a big blow for me, with the sending off and the result, especially as I had never been sent off before in my career.

"But it feels good today. We're getting some decent results and I've now scored six goals in the last nine games," added Stead.

In fact, Stead was unlucky not to celebrate a hat-trick - he had three further chances to score in the second half.

"I've never scored a senior hat-trick in my career," explained Stead.

"The only previous one was for Huddersfield Under-18s against Newcastle. I wanted the match-ball today, but it wasn't to be."

Town boss Roy Keane was naturally pleased to sign off 2009 with a win, that sees his side inch up to 19th in the Championship table. He praised the overall team performance, and that of Stead.

"Jon (Stead) could have had a hat-trick," confirmed Keane.

"In fact, I don't know how he didn't get a hat-trick. It would have been nice for him to walk away with the match-ball, but maybe he'll do that next week. I thought he did really well.

"You have to deal with lots of disappointments in football, like getting injured, a loss of form and suspension. I should know about that!

"It's all about how you deal with these setbacks," concluded Keane.

QPR manager Paul Hart rued: "We felt we should have been ahead at half-time. I thought we should have had a penalty and we also missed a sitter. We are the architects of our own downfall at the moment."