Stead praised after double

Keane: Delighted with Stead

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Ipswich Town boss Roy Keane was full of praise after Jon Stead bagged a brace in Monday's 3-0 win against QPR.

Stead was sent off in their Boxing Day defeat at Crystal Palace and only an appeal allowed him to play against Rangers.

The former Sheffield United and Sunderland striker responded positively with two second-half goals against Paul Hart's side.

"Jon did really well. Saturday was disappointing for him but you're always going to have disappointments as a footballer," said Keane.

"You're going to get injured, suspended and lose a bit of form. You have to deal with setbacks but it's about action.

"I said two or three weeks ago that I wanted one of my strikers to step out of the pack.

"Steady's done that but how he didn't end up with a hat-trick I'll never know."

Keane was delighted that his side bounced back after their disappointment at Selhurst Park.

He continued: "It was a good reaction from Saturday. All the squad contributed and there were plenty of pluses.

"We scored three goals at home and on another day it could have been more. I'm really pleased with all the players.

"Any team can win a football match but the good teams keep winning.

"We've not won back-to-back games since last May, but we're getting there."

Warranted more

Keane's counterpart Hart was happy enough with his side's first-half display, but felt that they did not feel they got their due rewards.

The former Portsmouth boss felt weary legs played a part in their second-half demise while they also failed to help their own cause.

"I thought our first half performance warranted a better return than we got," said Hart.

"We were unfortunate with their first goal, when it took a deflection and looped past the keeper.

"After that I thought we should have had a penalty and then should have scored after a great cross fell to (Adel) Taarabt. Goals change games.

"We felt if we could reproduce our performance of the first half we'd be all right but we lost our legs a bit.

"Their second goal came after a slip on the touchline and it's hard to swallow because we're not getting done by great goals. We're the architects of our own downfall.

"We should have been ahead at half-time and felt that if we could replicate our performance of the first half we could get at least a draw."