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Keane: We Didn\'t Deserve to Lose - Ipswich Town News

Boss Roy Keane felt his side didn’t deserve to lose their fourth round FA Cup tie at Southampton, but thought they weren’t good enough to win it. In addition to the defeat, skipper Jon Walters could miss the next few games with a hamstring injury.

Keane said: "The players know they have wasted a good opportunity to go further in the competition.

"I did not think we deserved to lose the game but we certainly did not do enough to win it.

"We played well in the last 15 minutes but the game starts at three o'clock and not 20 to five.

"The starting 11 was very good so nobody can accuse us of taking Southampton lightly but our performance was not up to the standard I expect."

"Credit to their player for the first goal, it was a wonder strike but the second goal was very disappointing.

"Pablo gave us a chance with a goal late on and we had a couple of opportunities after that but it was too little, too late.

"We started playing a bit after we were two goals down but it's easy to do that, I want my players to be brave on the ball when it's goalless."

The Blues boss revealed that Jon Walters could be out of action for a few weeks after picking up an injury which forced him off at half-time: "Jon Walters felt his hamstring in the first half and he could miss a few games."

Keane had no criticism for referee Andy Hall ruling out Town’s ‘goal’ from Carlos Edwards’s throw-in, which Pablo Couñago claimed to have touched: "I have not spoken to the referee about it and I don't know if anyone touched it but the referee made his decision and I have no problem with that.”

Southampton boss Alan Pardew thought it was a good cup tie: "It was a hotly contested tie between two evenly matched teams and we had to dig deep.

"Ipswich have got some good young players, who get around the pitch very well and we struggled to cope with that in the first half.

"Wayne's goal was a bit of a surprise to me but he played well today and deserved his moment of glory.

"You won't see many better strikes than that in the whole competition and the second goal came at a very good time for us."

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