Town boss Paul Jewell admitted his side were side were again under par as Crystal Palace picked up a deserved 1-0 victory at Portman Road. Eagles manager Dougie Freedman thought he had caught the Blues, who he believes will be in the top six at the end of the season, on a bad day.

Jewell said: “We didn’t perform today. Give Crystal Palace some credit, they caused us problems with their pace, but we didn’t cause them problems.

“In this little run we’ve been on we’ve created chances, we’ve had good movement, but today we just looked flat. It’s a shame that we get a terrific crowd in again and we don’t perform as we’d like to.”

The Blues boss says that during the run, in which Town won four home games in a row, he had tried to play down expectations, believing that while progress has been made, there’s still a lot of work to do: “People have been saying nice things about us and I’ve been trying saying to keep a lid on it because there’s a long way to go in the season.

“When we came here in January, we were three points from relegation, so I think we’ve come a long way in a shortish period of time and it’s not going to be one big quantum leap to where we want to go.

“We’ve had some troughs already this season, this is a kick in the teeth and we’ve got to bounce back from it.”

Jewell dismissed suggestions that his side might be tired with Palace also having played three games in a week: “I know what the next question is going to be about — we’ve got some 30-somethings in the side.

“Age is one of those things which people are always looking to use as an excuse. Our lads are fit but we just didn’t play well.

“We didn’t play well on Tuesday and we didn’t play well today. I’ll hold my hands up and say that today we weren’t at our best.”

The Town manager said Jimmy Bullard, subbed after an hour, wasn’t injured, despite the midfielder appearing to be suffering with a groin problem: “I thought I’d just try and freshen it up, whether the changes didn't work is just the way it is.

“Sonko’s a doubt for next week. He was never really going make this week; nicking a hamstring on a Tuesday and being fit for the Saturday is difficult.

“Damien’s done something to his foot, I don’t know what it is. Obviously for those two it’s disappointing.”

Jewell left strike pair Jason Scotland and Michael Chopra on the bench due to them both having minor problems: “They had one or two niggles. Without going into too much detail, I know what’s going on day to day with them and we don’t like to shout out about it, but they’ve been carrying one or two knocks.”

The Blues boss had no complaints about Aaron Cresswell’s sending off for a second yellow card for dissent in the closing stages.

Palace manager Dougie Freedman was delighted with the victory which took the Eagles into third with Town dropping to ninth: “I felt throughout the match we created enough chances to win the game. It’s pleasing to come to a place like Ipswich and win.

“I think we caught them on an off-day because I’ve seen them this season and they’ve been a lot better than that. I strongly believe with that group of players they’ll be in the top six come the end of the season.”

Photo: Action Images

Frase1987 added 18:08 - Oct 22 The diamond has been sussed out and we were crying out for wingers all game. gotta give credit to the Palace boss as it was all down to formation imo.
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Ohmyhat added 18:15 - Oct 22 Palace simply moved the ball better than we did. They looked really dangerous on the break, we seemed to keep playing the ball sideways waiting for something to happen rather than making it happen. Did Speroni have more than one save to make? I do feel that someone must have kidnapped the real referee on the way to the game, not that that's an excuse.
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martleshamitfc added 18:28 - Oct 22 Agree with Frase1987 - no width at all (same on Tuesday) - maybe time to bring back Lee Martin or Josh Carson
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tractorboy1961 added 18:40 - Oct 22 No need to panic. Shame that having such a good gate we didn't get out of the starting blocks. Don't expect to see many of the extra fans back for the next match after that but would they have come anyway? I think our diamond formation has been Sussed out now and we seem devoid of ideas to change it. The midfield is way too slow and today lacked desire being second best to almost every ball. I cannot believe how many times we gave the ball away cheaply and Bullard was poor. I think we will see in the coming weeks how good our squad is as we must have the ability to change things around and now suspensions added to injuries. Agree maybe time for Martin or Carson to give us some width. But let's not forget when PJ came in we were in a relegation battle and now sit in the top half of a very tight Championship. Away from the match I wonder if Captain Clegg will look and see that with lower prices we will fill the ground and probably generate the same amount of income? I can only aspire to his business knowledge but to me it's quite simple really!

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Pip50 added 19:17 - Oct 22 Don't panic what with a bunch of 30 something's most injury prone and the likes of Delany to come in ? We will be lucky to be top half....how is this rebuilding in approaching a year. Portsmouth Palace are not exactly promotion material but both played us off the park.
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TractorMan added 19:19 - Oct 22 Carson was in the match day squad but didnt make the bench - saw his shirt hanging up in the dressing room beforehand. Met Sonko as well before the game and he was a thoroughly nice bloke. His dad had come over for the game and until today had never seen a side Sonko played for lose he said! Oh well......
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shaunminx added 19:21 - Oct 22 What a pile of tripe that really was today. Are they coming out expecting to win or just void of any idea? Jet? What a joke of a player can't head can't trap a ball can't tackle can't pass. Guess that's him straight into the team for millwall then. Nothing but a joke out there today.
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martleshamitfc added 19:43 - Oct 22 ssshhhh but Jordan Rhodes scored another hat-trick today - 2 in 2 games!!
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martleshamitfc added 19:45 - Oct 22 ps. 13 in 5 games - ssshhhh i will go away quietly now!
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Jesney_Havoc added 19:52 - Oct 22 Well it was nice while it lasted....
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jas0999 added 19:53 - Oct 22 Completely agree with PJ - we didn't perform and with an excellent opportunity to put on a show for those who took advantage of the cheap tickets this is extremely disappointing. For me PJ has himself to blame - 100%. Poor tactics and a poor team selection with no Plan B pretty much led to this woeful showing. We were lucky on Tuesday, but as teams have now worked out the diamond formation, PJ must look to push us forward and ensure we have other plans in place. Today he failed. Hopefully this will be a one off (although were also poor Tuesday).

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realipswich added 20:07 - Oct 22 Big fan of Cresswell, but as Managers like referees to be consistant does this mean Mr Jewel won't talk to Cresswell and will make him train with the youngsters after todays red card?
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CornardBlue added 20:07 - Oct 22 We were second best today, why some people knock JET all the time i do not know there were worse players in a ITFC shirt today. I don't think we would have scored today if we played until midnight, if we had the Ref for certain would have disallowed it, did anyone else notice how friendly he was with the Palace players and what did Cresswell do to get booked in the first half.

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ramseyn added 20:13 - Oct 22 Attention PIP50.... Your quote "Palace are not exactly promotion material but played us off the park". Have a look at the league table mate.
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StowTractorBoy added 20:20 - Oct 22 I have been stating on this site for years now that we crave some pace in our team and I am so envious that Palace have Zaha and Scannell when all we can boast is Edwards who is in his thirties and not nearly as quck as the Palace boys. We were no match for their pace today as I feared and tactically Jewell was outdone by an up and coming Palace manager Dougie Freedman. Our diamond formation was clearly studied by Freedman and Palace nullified it brilliantly. JET looks a complete waste of money to me and Ellington - (yes he was free) was equally ineffective hence we had no firepower whatsoever. The bonus is we got 3 points from the last six when it should have been none but rather concerned now that if we cannot field our 1st XI we struggle. Looks like we are playing Millwall at the wrong time and the scum put in another impressive performance - feel very down tonight.

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TimmyH added 20:28 - Oct 22 What worries me is if we don't keep our loan players after xmas, the odd one or two under contract are bound to pick up injuries as we have an ageing team which doesn't bode good for the latter stages of the season. Disappointing too that we have had 2 home games and played well in neither of them, it's all about consistancy if we are going to get in the play-offs and our home form might not be good enough!

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Mark added 20:28 - Oct 22 Yes, it was disappointing to lose in front of a big crowd and it was second poor display in a week. We had our chances though and the game could have gone either way. Look on the bright side, at least we got 3 points from those two poor displays. I don't agree the tactics were poor, as the diamond formation has served us well over recent weeks given the players we have. I also do not agree that the team selection was wrong, as if Chopra and Scotland were carrying knocks we couldn't really start them. Jewell sees the players in training and knows their fitness levels and I trust him to decide the best line up. So, down to 9th but with Millwall and Doncaster to play next I am sure we can push up the table. We have only 4 fewer points than Middlebrough who are 2nd. 6 wins so far this season. Think back to our last manager's first season in charge: he hadn't yet had his first win!

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byronitfc added 20:29 - Oct 22 JET was so terrible today. He is lazy, disinterested, has no desire or hunger and at one point when we were a goal down and pushing for an equaliser - he walked around for over 5 minutes... Poor.
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IvorFeeling added 20:33 - Oct 22 Jas0999 agree with you. A day to forget all round. Jet is a complete waste. PJ got it wrong with dropping Chops who has just started scoring again, Delaney now is not good enough and Ingarmason looked off the pace. Bullard poor and to me only Bowyer, Andrews, Edwards and Collins emerge with any credit from the outfield players. Again Stockdale saved us on a couple of occasions. Desperatley need width and pace else we are one trick ponies. Palace were good and they will do well to hold on to Zaha who had the tricks and and end product. Feel that we will be knocking on the door for playoffs but will that be good enough to persuade Collins and Andrews to stay? If lower league Prem boys come in then prob not that has to be a big worry.

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EdJK added 21:03 - Oct 22 WOW!!! YES.... we lost!! YES... it was a bad performance, but the 'support' is embarrassing!! First loss in 6 and its like we are bottom of the league without a win this season!!! Any excuse to complain!! Its not the bad performance that upsets me.... Its the lack of support from our so called 'supporters'. Every team has off days, lets get behind the team and get a win next weekend! COYB

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h32 added 21:23 - Oct 22 JET !!! - surely you are all now seeing why he is here - and no longer at Arsenal. Think he will have to get on with his noise making career - sooner rather than later hopefully.
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lowtit added 21:41 - Oct 22 No desire - gutless display from town - come on town! Wake up!
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ITFC4EVER added 21:45 - Oct 22 Edwards, Andrews and bullard were terrible.
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floridaboy added 21:51 - Oct 22 ITFC must have the worst supporters in the country. They are a laughing stock IMHO. We were poor on Tuesday, won and supporters are saying we are promotion bound. We lose today to a very good Palace side and so called supporters are turning on the manager and the players. Absolutely pathetic!!
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Gazelle added 21:52 - Oct 22 I did'nt think there was a lot in it until they scored and despite the adverse comments i thought JET had a good first half. The less said about the second half the better, they had the legs on us in midfield.
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