Boss Paul Jewell has revealed that he was seriously concerned that Town might be relegated after the 2-1 loss at Millwall in his first game in charge. Since then, despite Saturday’s defeat to Portsmouth, the Blues manager says he’s pleased with the progress made, but says there’s still much work to be done.

Jewell says that while he was worried after the game at the Den, he similarly wasn’t getting carried away after Town’s hammering of Doncaster: “After my first game in charge at Millwall I thought, ‘Christ, it’s going to be all on to stay up here!’

“After the Doncaster game we won 6-0 I said that it was never a 6-0 game, it was a freak result. Even the Derby game which we won, I didn’t feel we played that great.

“But in the three games since then — Hull, QPR and Portsmouth — I feel we’ve been outstanding for a large part of them.

“If we play like we did against Portsmouth in every game between now and the end of the season we won’t lose too many.”

Town’s recent performances have been significantly better in the first half than in the second, which Jewell says is down to a couple of factors: “I think it’s two things. Once the opposition get a goal they have a spring in their step. You can’t dominate any game for 90-odd minutes.

“When they scored [on Saturday], it was a bad goal from our perspective defensively and they got a lift. I think they’ve had three shots on target in the whole game.

“They got a lift and it puts us on the back foot a bit. And that’s what I mean when I talk about mental strength. We need to move forward, instead of taking a backwards step, next year we want to take a forwards step and go toe to toe with them.

“But then we gave a goal away like the second one, which was a bit of a comedy cut. Once that happened we were a bit deflated.

“We had a couple of chances after that, for example when Tamás went through, although it wasn’t a penalty. Chances like that we’ve got to take. We didn’t even make the goalkeeper work.

“We’ve got to get the mental ruthlessness into us so that when things go against rather than taking a step back and feeling sorry for ourselves, we take a step forward. We’ll get that either from within the group or by getting players of that mentality to join us.”

The Blues boss says that although he is disappointed with the result, he was pleased with the performance: “When I wake up the first thing I’ll think of is that we lost 2-0. Then when I watch the DVD we’ll analyse it and we’ll see that we have played well, which we did, even their guys are saying that.

“There’s nothing worse when you’re having a drink with the opposition manager and he says ‘We were lucky today’.

“We passed it with a purpose, which was the thing that pleased me. We went up, back, through, we had good rotation in the middle of the park and they couldn’t get near us.

“Their goalie’s made a couple of saves and even when we beat him it hit one of our lads on the line. It’s horrible sitting here when you’ve lost 2-0 but if you look at the overall picture, anyone who has an ounce of football knowledge will know we were unlucky not to win, although I hate saying we’re unlucky because teams who are bottom of the table are always unlucky they say.

“I’m quite happy with a lot of the progress that’s been made here but also I’m aware that there’s loads of progress and loads of work ahead to make us into a tough team that’s hopefully going to be challenging for promotion next year.

“We’re not out of the woods yet this year, there’s a long way to go yet, but it doesn’t look like a relegation team to me. After the game at Millwall, I have to be brutally honest, I thought it was a team which had it all to do to stay up.”

Photo: Action Images

PlymptonBlue added 09:03 - Feb 28 Interesting he says we looked doomed after Millwall when the previous game at home to Arsenal was one of our best performances of the season! I agree, we played very well Sat and the signs are there for a good season next year provided we can find a decent goal poacher. Whist we're playing well with 4-3-3, we really need 2 up front and revert to 4-4-2 to give the lone stricker some support. Scotland didn't have the best of games Sat but i felt sorry for him as he had no support.

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bobble added 09:09 - Feb 28 imagine how a small minority of us had felt for nearly 2 years previously under the dark lord .everything is better now and i know we aint going down this year.it was worth all the abuse from all the one eyed keanite fanatics to keep lodging protests day after day about where he was taking us just to see the back of the hopeless dark lord. this bloke seems a lot more capable even with the dark lords players....... blueskys nothing but............................

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clive_baker added 09:13 - Feb 28 I agree, after the Millwall game i was worried, we were absolutely terrible, especially second half. It was a combination of thinking that the Arsenal game would change us into world beaters and that a new manager would guarantee us results. Doesn't work like that though, especially after only 1 training session. The progress we have made under Jewel has been excellent. Points wise it's been average-good but performances are much better. 7 points from 5 games on the road is very good and from his 4 home games wins against Donny and Sheff utd, draw against an in form hull who we really should have beat and a loss to pompey but good performance. The future's bright under Jewell. We'll finish 6th next season.

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Bluroo added 09:39 - Feb 28 Jewell's points per game record so far is pretty similars to Keanes. Things are a touch better, mostly down to the Bullard signing. We're definately playing far better stuff, but points aren't awarded for style, in a relegation fight.
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Karlosfandangal added 10:18 - Feb 28 Plympton Blue Signs are good for next season, However I still see us as a mid table team as we will lose Bullard and a very good possibility that Wickham will leave us, we also have 20 player out of contract. I can see a big re build next year and really cant see us getting this 25 a season man, there is a massive set from League one to Championship as Austin is starting to prove and we just cant afford the wages of prem strikers who will get us 25 a season. Side that come down from the prem now will have loads of money to spend and it will be very difficult to get out of this league. I think we are looking at a 2 year re build

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naa added 10:20 - Feb 28 Bluroo: which Keane run of games is this? The 14 without a win at the start of last year or the 1 win in 13 just before he was sacked? Tail end of last year we were just about scraping a points tally of note, though doing so by playing terrible football, and at the start of this year we were doing fine, but that really wasn't a very long run of games.
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emergencylime added 10:48 - Feb 28 Perhaps Bluroo refers to the end of 08/09, when Magilton was sacked and everyone was playing for a new contract.
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Trotsky added 10:51 - Feb 28 No I think he's talking about the run of 46 or 47 consecutive games from the end of the bad run at the start of last season through to the start of the bad run in this season in which we'd picked up 72 points.
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brian_a_mul added 10:54 - Feb 28 Play Ronan Murray!! He is rated as the best finisher at the club. Plus he is fit, hungry, aggressive and is quick. I think he is worth playing, give him some game time and see how he gets on. He could be a 15+ goal striker Scotland had a few chances but looked short of pace and sharpness. He diddnt seem confident he could chase balls played in front of him. I think 2 up front would suit him better. I like Priskin, technically very good but he is not a great finisher.

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brittaniaman added 11:04 - Feb 28 Man management must be the key factor of Jewell, because Keanos signings (who we all thought were a waste of Evans money) are now shining through this dark tunnel we have been in and proving there worth. Martin for example has given us great width, with crosses that should have been turned into goals, but the basis is there and progress, The only loanee we had playing was Bullard, where keano had probably 4 or 5.

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grumpyoldman added 11:05 - Feb 28 Why do people on this site keep referring to what happened under Keane, its the past, we have a new manager with different ideas who I think doesn't really care about what happened under Keane. He has given under preforming players a chance which some have taken and switched around a few players, improving the style and confidence of players and supporters alike. What happened in the past few years has no relevance to PJ or the future, so why keeps trying to score cheap points off other people, it just shows how petty some people are

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Greybritain added 11:41 - Feb 28 I also thought we were in trouble after the Millwall game.
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chripswich added 12:03 - Feb 28 is the honeymoon over then??.. bossing halves..nothing to show..losing games - QPR, Pompey. last minute equalisers...Barnsley - Hull lack of finishing...etc etc etc all sounds very familiar hey?.. But its OK coz we've got a chirpy scousy at the helm.. who knows how to talk the talk far better than Keano.. he'll keep you lot "on-side" far longer than keano coz of his media training.. he knows what say, how to say it, and when! wise up... hes AVERAGE!

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itfc4eva added 12:03 - Feb 28 everyone was worried about town's future, imagine what could have happened if keane didnt leave. i believe that jewell is a good manager. from the last three games we have shown premier league quality, until the final half hour of each game. we need priskin upfront with wickham 4-4-2. priskin will score if he has a chance. i know he missed that chance against portsmouth but he will score when given the chance

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chripswich added 12:15 - Feb 28 2 points from 12...4 given away in last minutes in 2 games...no goals in long periods of domination in other 2 games... so its now time to take everyones minds back to January.. very very clever mr media..
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Suffolk_n_Proud added 12:17 - Feb 28 sorry to mention keane again but the results under jewell are very similar, won 4 lost 4 drew 2. under keane we won 28 drew 25 lost 28
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brittaniaman added 12:18 - Feb 28 I saw that Marcus Evans had a smile on his face the first half, probably thinking to himself that a lot of his money has not been wasted after all hey !!!!
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shackleton added 12:31 - Feb 28 i'm struggling to think of any halves we 'bossed' whilst keane was in charge....we now create more chances in 18 minutes than 18 months under keane
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Mark added 12:47 - Feb 28 > sorry to mention keane again but the results under jewell are very similar, won 4 lost 4 drew 2. under keane we won 28 drew 25 lost 28 So 109 points for Keane from 81 games (1.35 points per game) and 16 points for Jewell from 10 games (1.60 points per game). Quite a difference! As well as results improving we have gone from 19th to 14th in the league, possibly saving us from relegation. Our play has been transformed from dull, defensive football to exciting, attacking play. Attendances are up as most fans feel the good times are returning. For the negative comments above, I'd remind everyone that Jewell as spent only £0.1M in fees compared to Keane's £12M.

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Basil_Smallpiece added 12:55 - Feb 28 Spot the legion of logic errors in Mark's post. He's a true fan, all right!
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Lightningboy added 12:55 - Feb 28 Well said Mark. Liking everything Jewell's doing/saying so far..lovely having a positive man in charge. We do need a goalscorer or 2 though...something no doubt PJ will sort out this summer.
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Premiertown added 13:22 - Feb 28 Based on the last few games and who we can beat and who we dont seem to (teams above us) I reckon we will get 55 points this season. Under keane we might have made it to 45. We have to start looking for 11 players who play in their natural positions and midfielders who know how to adapt to the play and give the strikers a chance. i agree it will take at least 2 years to get a team together.

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chripswich added 13:34 - Feb 28 premiertown.. I agree but the scouse media comic is not the man to do it...
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chripswich added 13:35 - Feb 28 clearly Keane wasnt either.. but we missed a real opportunity when he left...
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devontractorboy added 14:03 - Feb 28 Is it me....did anyone expect a miracle overnight when Jewell arrived?? I can't believe how negative some are on this site, at least we are starting to play football again and the camp seems happy. Yes of course the team needs a rebuild of sorts, but chucking the baby out with the bathwater like Keane did is stupid. It will take a long time ( 2seasons at least) to undo all the errors of the past 2 managers, I'm behind Paul Jewell and think we should get behind the lads and support the team, comparing Keane to Jewell isn't gonna get us anywhere!!!

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