Ipswich Town beat us by playing rugby, says Arsenal's Cesc Fábregas

Cesc Fábregas, the Arsenal captain, has criticised Ipswich Town's tactics during the Gunners' Carling Cup first-leg semi-final defeat at Portman Road last night and said the winning goal came courtesy of a "rugby kick". Ipswich repeatedly launched quick counter-attacks by hitting long passes from their own half to the centre-forward Tamas Priskin and, after the Hungarian had failed to exploit several of them, he finally made Arsenal pay in the 78th minute – incidentally the same minute that Roger Osborne scored for Town to defeat the same opposition in the 1978 FA Cup final. "I don't know if it is long ball or it is a rugby kick but it worked for them," said Fábregas. "In England, a lot of teams play like that and it works for them, they create chances like that and it is their football. We just have to put the ball on the floor and try to play football. "Credit to them because they played well but Arsenal played the football, the other team refused to play football, they were lucky to score with a long ball. "Still, we played well. We were good enough but just did not put the ball in the back of the net. I can remember only two opportunities for them but it was from a long, long ball because when they were playing football they could not really get in behind us. "It is disappointing because we were the much better team but it was one of those nights." Fábregas, however, is adamant that the Premier League club did not take their Championship opponents lightly, expecting an easy victory after Chelsea's 7-0 FA Cup drubbing of Ian McParland's team on Sunday. "It is not the same to play at Stamford Bridge as it is to come here," he said. "Here they play in front of their fans, they are more motivated, the pitch is not as good as Stamford Bridge, so they play their game. They know how to do it and did it very well, so credit to them. Now we will see how they cope at the Emirates against us. "Once you are in the semi-final, you have to go for it with your best players. We played with our best players. We did not win but it is half-time. We still have to go to the Emirates and we are confident that we can do it there."