Boss Jim Magilton conceded that his side were second best on the day after Town's 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City. Paul Parry netted the only goal of the game just after the half-hour mark.

Magilton said: "If we had scored after fifteen seconds with Alan Lee's lob it would have been a different game.

"I think we are too open away from home, but in any case we were bullied out of it by Cardiff and it was very disappointing.

"It was sloppy defending for their goal, although it was a good strike by the lad. But we got bossed in the middle of the park, bossed up front and there wasn't enough belief in the side that we could go on and get a result.

"We didn't have enough leaders on the park. We can't just rely on Jason for that and, after they scored, at one stage I thought they might go right through us and that is what upset me more than anything else.

"We never really made any chances and were second best, particularly in the first half.

“Had we got off to a good start it would have been very different, but Cardiff showed a real desire to win today that we were unable to match."

Magilton says Gavin Williams will have benefited from his first senior game since his ankle ligament injury: "It was good to see Gavin back out there and he will be better for the 90 minutes.

"We kept him on because he can get on the ball and get us playing, but in the end it was too little, too late."

Cardiff boss Dave Jones was relieved that Alan Lee's first minute lob came back off the post: "You make your own luck in this game and the players responded well after that"

"We played some good football in the first half and I knew it would be a battle after the break.

"We scored a great goal and with a little more composure may have added another.

"You cannot always play pretty football and today the players learnt how to win ugly."

Photo: Action Images

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