Boss Roy Keane felt Town beat Bristol City 2-0 at Portman Road despite not playing particularly well. Tamás Priskin scored his first goal at home and Jason Scotland netted on his Blues league debut as Town climbed to third in the Championship, behind leaders QPR and Cardiff on goal difference.

Keane says that despite the two-goal cushion, he wasn’t relaxed going into injury time: “It’s never comfortable at 1-0 or even 2-0. One goal changes the course of the game and we’ve been there before. You can’t relax in the Championship you see a lot of late goals and teams put you under pressure.

“We took our chances without playing particularly well. What pleased me most was that we weren’t that great again today but what we have to learn to do as a football club is to win games without being brilliant, and we’ve done that today, although we had some decent chances.”

The Town manager is pleased his players are taking their opportunities this season: “Whether we can continue that is the big question mark. When you look at when we played Bristol City at home last year, I’d say we had twice as many chances but we ended up drawing 0-0 with their keeper getting man of the match. This year Tamás made the most of his opportunity and then Jason scored a poacher’s goal."

The Blues boss was delighted with his new striker: "On another day he could have had a hat-trick. What I liked about his goal was that he was on the move.

"He was sniffing and we didn't have anyone like that last season. Hopefully he'll give us that and the best thing that can happen to a striker when he joins a new club is to score a goal."

Keane switched Priskin to a central role in the second half in front of Scotland and was pleased that the move came off: “It worked, but that’s a credit to the players, they adapted and what you find with good players and any good team is that they can change shape during the game, like we did at Crewe the other night.

“I’m very, very pleased with the players. They’re ready for a break some of them. It’s been a good start of the season, but with any injuries or suspensions coming up, we’ll be tested.”

Keane says there are no new injuriesafter today's game and that he still doesn’t expect any new signings before Tuesday’s deadline.

Bristol City manager Keith Millen thought his side were in a good position at the break: “At half-time I was quite pleased with what we did in the first half. They had a couple of chances but we had a few chances that the keeper had to save as well.

“I felt at half-time we’d given ourselves a platform from which to step on and win the game, but unfortunately we gave away two goals that you wouldn’t be happy schoolboys conceding.

“There was a mix-up for the first goal and for the second it was too easy for the lad to get the shot away, we’ve dropped it and they’ve followed up with the rebound.

“It was disappointing because you could see our lads’ heads drop. I think the way we conceded the goals affected us. You’d like to think we’d get a more positive response to try and get the game back. They were shocked at how poor the goals were.”

Millen confirmed that former England keeper David James made a call to defender Liam Fontaine on the first goal but that the message didn’t get through: “There was communication between the two of them, which led to the mix-up. Jamo did call for it, but it never got there.

“Unfortunately, we gave Ipswich two goals and they’ve not had to play particularly well to beat us today, which is disappointing.”

Photo: Action Images

Lightningboy added 15:48 - Aug 29 Really annoying that there's a bloody international break (again) so early in the season..this'll cock things up for us no doubt.
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jayessess added 15:48 - Aug 29 of course the Keane haters will forgive Keane if he's successful. We're town fans. IMO he should have gone last year, but I'm pleasantly surprised that we've started this season well. Hope it continues.
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StowTractorBoy added 18:19 - Aug 29 First and foremost I go to see Ipswich win and if they are brillo that is a bonus. I thought we were efficient as Bristol City hardly had a clear cut opening and that must go down to the well drilled formation that we have. Was worried when Priskin started on the left but thankfully this was put right and he put in a decent shift. Not a Peters man but he played well and am very pleased with the continuing improvement of Edwards. MaCauley as majestic as ever with Tommy Smith. If there was a negative and there isn't one really but we still have no one with any blistering pace in the squad. Lets hope Townsend who showed glimpses of pace in his two outings can give us that. Well done RK and Town can't wait for Pompey but it will not be easy.

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stinkiusminkius added 18:30 - Aug 29 Wow. Keane really is growing on me, and long may this run continue. Think we have a very good first team, but concerned about the squad. Any injuries to the Hyam/Norris/Leadbitter trio and we are down to some dross. Plus we cant rely on Hyam for a whole season. Also not sure about Peters at RB. But, whilst last season it was easy to find fault in most of what Keane did, he does seem to have had a dramatic turnaround - still most impressed by his use of 4-3-3, and that he even has the nous to switch about at times. Whereas last season there didnt seem to be any semblance of tactics. So, as an anti-keane poster, I say well done.

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Blue041273 added 20:24 - Aug 29 Interesting point RedDust. I would surmise that there are few posters on here that actually 'hate' Roy Keane. Some might disagree with his syle of management; others might not like him as a person full stop. But the bulk of supporters will see him (at the moment at least) merely as the man designated to take us to the next level. Love him or hate him he's what we have and as such re's our RK and we love him. My view, for what its worth, is that RK despite his man management flaws can improve us and take us into the EPL That won't be easy and may be beyond a man on a 2 year contract. It's still too early to pontificate about a new contract for RK but if satisfying the faithful is a criterion I guess from the posts on here that he could be a good bet to be the guy to take us further. Problem is, this could go t*ts up in September and the screams for change could become too loud to ignore. Hoping that the usual 19K at FPR could swell to 20K + ASAP.

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bluelady added 21:20 - Aug 29 This new signing Prisken - what a brave performance yesterday..... for an entire season he had the town fans on his back (i never boo'd him but wasnt his biggest fan!!) yet he came out there yesterday, head held high and played his heart out. Respect to him. He then rightly got the deserved ovation. From his point of few Keane has cleared out all this strikers bar him and Wickham - that must be an incredible compliment and given him back the self belief he so cleary lacked last season. Saw him against England and for the few minutes he was on he oozed class, just hoped we would begin to see it here. I honestly think he will only get better. Not just in front of goal but his ability to outskill defenders, hold the ball up and a good pace, our 'dud' could end up doubling his value at this rate - who thought that would happen! I guess when you think about it, he moved to Ipswich, knew nobody is a young guy away from his home country thats a big physcological barrier to overcome before you even kick a ball! Having his best friend join the club must seem like his Christmas and birthdays all came at once!! long may it last and Tamas plllleaaase dont be another Pablo who turned it on as and when he felt like it, which was not anywhere near enough! we are on your side now, take the support and prove you really are a star in the making!!!!

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Blue041273 added 10:11 - Aug 30 A very good point Stinkius. I don't think enough credit has been given to RK about his tactical nous this season. Last season it seemed that the only tactic was to lump the ball up to Jon Walters and hope he could do something with it. This season we seem to be playing from the back and looking for the players breaking into the channels (Norris, Leadbitter, and on Saturday Priskin as well). We look more like a football team and while last season this seemed to be a problem for RK, this year it actually looks like a plan. Long may it continue. COYB

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tom_the_blue added 14:52 - Aug 31 Those David James errors were great to watch, especially the first one, that is a howler
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