BLUES boss Jim Magilton last night admitted time was running out in their bid for a play-off place.Although Ipswich are back into seventh place they have just four games to secure a top six spot and Magilton has called on his players to show more desire to be promoted after dropping two more points at home.

Derek Davis

BLUES boss Jim Magilton last night admitted time was running out in their bid for a play-off place.

Although Ipswich are back into seventh place they have just four games to secure a top six spot and Magilton has called on his players to show more desire to be promoted after dropping two more points at home.

Cardiff's 17-year-old Aaron Ramsey put the Bluebirds ahead nine minutes before the break and it was half-time substitute Jordan Rhodes who grabbed Ipswich's equaliser.

Magilton said: “We have to step up to the plate now. It is happening now we have to deal with it now.

“We are running out of games. Some players seem to think it is just going to happen but you have to go out there and make it happen.

“It may sound dramatic but you have to go out there and put your life on the line for 90 minutes.

“You have to show more desire to win than the opposition and at times we didn't do that. In the second half we started to.

“If they throw it away now it will because they have not shown enough desire and I don't want to be sitting on the beach in the summer thinking what if?”

After a poor first half in which Alan Lee missed a golden opportunity Ipswich managed to come back in the second half thanks to Rhodes.

Magilton said: “we started brightly enough and Cardiff were a bit leggy.

“When Alan Lee missed that chance collectively we lost heart. Their goal was down to shambolic defending on our part.”

“We seem to gift goals that we don't get gifted to us.

“We started to show sheer grit in the second half. We started to do the gritty things that some players seem to think are not in their contract.”

Magilton revealed he is ready to let reins loosen a bit more on Rhodes after he scored his first Championship goal, to go with the 43 he has at other levels this season.

Magilton said: “Jordan reacted quickest in the box the way he does and we could have gone on to win it.

“I don't really know why the referee didn't give Danny Haynes goal.”

derek.davis@archant.co.uk