George Burley admitted that Town's first half performance had been so bad he hadn't known quite what to say to his team at half-time. This failure to turn-up before the break was what gave the game to Blackburn.

The Town boss said: "We were so bad in the first-half that I did not know what to say at the break. I had to remind them that our supporters had come a long way to watch us and they responded to that with a much better performance in the second-half but you can't give teams like Blackburn a two goal start and get away with it.

"I'm very disappointed we did not get something out of the game, but you cannot afford not to start until the second half.

"We have got to go and compete and play and we did neither in the first half which is disappointing. Overall we did not cause them enough problems in the first half."

He was also unhappy at the way Town conceded Damien Duff's goal: "It was poor defending for the first goal from Duff. It shouldn't have happened.

"It's going to be a battle to stay in the Premiership. But the spirit's there and I thought that perhaps we deserved a point tonight."

Graeme Souness was unsurprisingly more chipper after the match: "I think we deserved the three points tonight - and it's a big three points for us. We sat back for 45 minutes but I thought for the first 45 we were excellent.

"We got the goals and then became nervous - but that's understandable."

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls