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

TractorMan added 22:35 - Oct 22 JET won man of the match today btw!....... Awarded by a palace fan though!
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ramseyn added 22:36 - Oct 22 Still dont understand your comments PIP. What makes you so sure that Palace won't be in the promotion mix come the end if season? PUP.
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TractorMan added 22:38 - Oct 22 Oh and Jewell didn't drop Chopra! He was injured and thought he could only manage 45 minutes - same with Scotland.
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davidsc1971 added 22:54 - Oct 22 Wouldn't have scored today if we were still playing now - toothless up front for an hour and no supply all match. Off days for Edwards, Bullard, Cresswell and what the hell are we playing JET for, he's hopeless. We gave the ball away too much and how many times did it get passed backwards to the goalie instead of forward? We were better with Chopra and Scotland causing more trouble but I don't recall their keeper looking too worried all match. Thank god for Stockdale - man of the match for me - or it could have been much worse. Let's hope it can be improved. Need some decent width and a bit of pace!

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Dissboyitfc added 23:01 - Oct 22 cornard blue... what game did you watch today? make no mistakes here , jets performance was shocking, the kid is not interested. and i for one am disappointed because he has the ability. and edjk, we should have lost on tuesday too, not good enough, simple. too many under par performances. ramseyn, good point , palace looked good .. COYB
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Garv added 23:32 - Oct 22 Jas if PJ had kept the same team and we lost you'd be saying he should have changed it!
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TownOnTheUp added 23:43 - Oct 22 Right, my 2 cents. So.. bad points. JET looked dreadful. If you showed me 5 minutes of his performance, I'd say that he must have played 3 games in a week and it was the 90th minute. Leadbitter lost the plot, couldn't pass the ball to save his life. Bullard needs a rest. Ellington was pretty poor. Andrews was hampered by those around him. Edwards is still not a right back. But............ it's one game and we're still in the hunt. The things I've just listed (aside from Edwards) are observations on one game. Don't over react. Don't panic. One thing I noted today, our formation has reached the end of it's cycle. First Pompey, now Palace, have pressed us with width and pace and ruined our game plan. Time to find a plan B, preferably with some width of our own. This is where Jewell earns his cash. Also, time to put an actual midfielder on the bench, to help us change the game. This seems really, really negative, but I want to stress how this was one game, and how good we've been recently. COYB

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MoscowBluesSon added 23:48 - Oct 22 I agree, the majority of ITFC fans are a joke. To be honest, I dont want the fans that took advantage of the offer today to come back. Us true fans spend a lot of money on season tickets and we accept the good and the bad performances but those that come when there is a deal on expect a win all the time. It's the same at every club, like Arsenal glory hunters wanting Wenger to be sacked etc.

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riley26 added 23:57 - Oct 22 Bit harsh on Leadbitter I think ^^^, showed some good touches and composure, was also central in some of our few good passages of play. Certainly wasn't the worst midfielder on the pitch! What games is Cresswell going to miss? Wabara seems an able replacement... The League is very tight, a couple of poor displays and we will quickly find ourselves back to mid-table mediocrity.

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martleshamitfc added 00:56 - Oct 23 Having read tonight's comments, think we all agree the diamond formation of 4 "central" midfielders has run its term. It worked but now it is time to change tactics, the other teams have sussed our 4 "oldies" out! The starting line up next week will see if PJ is seeing what the fans are seeing?
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Walk_the_Wark added 01:18 - Oct 23 I don't think the formation was the problem today. We lacked desire and commitment and movement. Too many passes goin astray at vital times. Not enough chances created. We made an average Palace team look really good. Bullard hopeless, Leadbitter needed three touches everyime he got the ball, Delaney is sh**e, Ellington not in the game, Edwards didnt go past his man once, Andrews missing....I could go on. JET at least held the ball up in the first half and tried to bring others into play... At 1-0 down we still showed no desire.. a freshen up/ kick up the backside required methinks- we had by far the most potential quality on the field of the two teams...

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arablue added 03:30 - Oct 23 Come on guys, have some faith. We have been through darker days under the previous bloke's unhappy reign. Our first loss in a while and the doomsayers are predicting a catastrophe. Wonder where these people were when we were unbeaten... We are only 4 points off boro, and they are 2nd on the table. So, trust jewell and coaching staff will sort this out.
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bobble added 04:22 - Oct 23 this performance anxiety happens to the best of us but we will rise up and be harder to beat next week.
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brogansnose added 07:53 - Oct 23 Let's face it Palace were a good side and like S'hampton they are there on merit. Our problems yesterday were that some key players didnt put a shift in and I'm looking at Bullard, Andrews and Cresswell. The passing was astray and consequently we kept inviting them onto us and with their pace it was always going to make it difficult. When the ball was fed out from the Stockdale no one wanted the ball leaving it to Delaney to do the distribution. Now we all know that Damo isnt the best at this so why did none of the midfield step up to take it off him? All of this led to our front two not getting the best of service and more importantly support when they did have it, perhaps because they were afraid of getting caught out and skinned. Has the diamond formation had its day? Personally I'm not so sure because for any system to work it needs all the players to do their duty and even with Palace's poor front pairing we held them to a single goal and I feel that if our lot played as they can that we would have got something out of today. PJ is right, it is a work in progress and the bigger picture is looking a lot rosier than this time last season. We still need to work on the passing, supporting each other and being incisive. Bit of speed would help too. As for Jet, well he had the only shot on target and when that ball is at his feet he is very talented, its just that when its not he then needs to do the other part of football, the tracking back ect. He is young and he will learn, with his ball control he is a natural. There is no way that he should be getting the stick that he has been getting on here and neither should Ellington who works very hard but like Scotland last season, with no support. The next two games are winnable so lets get behind them and do just that.

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DiamondGezzer added 08:25 - Oct 23 At the end of the day we knew the run would end, but I suppose it was the manner in which ended, with us again being below par. It would have been nieve to think we could've had Tuesday's luck twice in one week. I wonder if they'd care to sell us Scanell and Zaha ? Just a thought.
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shaunminx added 08:42 - Oct 23 How about giving jimmy a rest pushing Carlos into midfield dropping ledfoot and Martin on the wing with wabara at right back? I know it's not an option a cressy is now out but just a thought!
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brittaniaman added 09:07 - Oct 23 Palace reminded me of how Norwich played last season, fast going forward and we had no answer for it. I still say we should have put Wabara on and pushed Edwards forward to ease his workload and get more crosses in, because Palace certainly worked our fullbacks to the extreme.The diamond has failed now in the last 2 games, so time for change.!!!! which there will be against Millwall due to suspension and injuries.

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hogster1970 added 09:16 - Oct 23 well i have been saying for ages its ok playing thediamond but we have very little pace and flair, with no carson or martin on the pitch or on the bench we cant change it,so if we get out played in midfiled like tue and sat then we are stuffed. dont know what carson has done wrong but he need a chat and put back in the team or even on the bench, as we have no impact player, if we play the diamond then i would drop leadboots and put carson at the top of the diamond and have martin on the bench thus we can than switch to a flat 4 man midfield if needed . well 2 games coming up whgich pj should look at and try things out otherwise we will be a bit screwed against the better teams. yes we out played the hamers and bourough and cardiff but like said teams now can snuff out a diamond easily. but with pacey left and right backs and proper wingers with good link up play then hopefully we can feed the front 2 better. i think defo scotland and chopra are our best starting strikers, but like what else is said the loan players are going to leave big holes unless we can sign them in january, to me collins is a must, i think andrews would be a shame if we couldnt gethim but not a disarster if we dont.

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StochesStotasBlewe added 09:42 - Oct 23 DiamondGezzer. Spot on, Scannell & Zaha were different class today, scared our defence to death & pulled them out of position all afternoon. Will do that to better defences than ours too.
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Keaneish added 10:06 - Oct 23 I agree shaunmix - that's the best alternative if the diamond isn't working and completely changes the dynamic. I'd like to us utilise that. Martin was playing well until he got sent off. Trouble will be who takes the central midfield roles. Bullard and one of Bowyer or Andrews.
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shaunminx added 10:21 - Oct 23 @keaneish From what I've seen just lately jimmy could do with a reality check so a stint on the bench wouldn't do him any harm so thatd leave bowyer and Andrews to control the middle I reckon. Having said that any of us on here can say how we'd do it but at the end of the day it's down to jewell!
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Dissboyitfc added 11:26 - Oct 23 we had no plan 'b' . spoke with a scum fan last night. and he was saying about lambert, there was always a plan b and so many points were gained by late goals scored by altering things and having subs available to offer something different when required, we had nothing on the bench to change things... ie where's carson , these days? ....COYB
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h32 added 12:29 - Oct 23 MoscowBlueSon - obviously someone with non-league ambition, and content with being 'one' of a few hundred crowd. God forbid ...... we don't need too many with this type of ambition.
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SE12Blue added 13:11 - Oct 23 Having had an evening to reflect......Bit flat I thought, but it's been coming since Cardiff where I our form was, I thought, intermittent and against Portsmouth where we obviously struggled. I hate losing as much as the next fan, but we were never going to challenge on the strength of the diamond alone. You need to incorporate a variety of systems and players during the course of the season. I agree that tehre was no PLan B and we are cryinging out for width at times. That is now the challenge. Those singling out JET yesterday clearly have an agenda. I wouldn't say he was great but other players were far worse. Ellington and Jimmy in particular. And for those moaning about the atmosphere, that is football now, deal with it. The home atmospheres at Middleborough, Cardiff and West Ham were hardly massively superior to a game at Portman Road. I love a rousing atmosphere but having paid their money the punters have got a right to make as little noise as they like. If we stay top end of the league it will sort itself out, as with most other grumbles.

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RegencyBlue added 14:04 - Oct 23 Relying on just one tactic ie the diamond formation is always dangerous because once the opposition suss it out, which both Portsmouth and Palace obviously did, you are left with a problem! The lack of pace in our side is also a worry. To be fair to Jewell though he has never claimed we are the finished article yet.
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