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Jewell: Effort and Commitment There But Players Anxious - Ipswich Town News

New boss Paul Jewell was pleased with his team’s effort and commitment but felt they were anxious when they had the ball. The former Wigan and Bradford manager’s first Town game ended in a 2-1 defeat at Millwall.

Jewell said: "There was plenty of effort, you can’t fault the commitment and effort of the players but we were just a bit anxious in possession.

"I don’t think the goal just before half-time changed the game but if we’d gone in 1-0 up it would have given us something to hang on to.”

The new manager wants his team to be more positive: "We’ve got to be more on the front foot, we’re just a little bit anxious, a little bit edgy. We’ve got more time on the ball, we’re trying to play balls too quickly.

"But I’ve had one day’s training with them, so at least next week we can have a full week and try and get some work into them.”

Jewell says tiredness may have come into the Blues’ performance in the second half in the wake of the Arsenal and Chelsea matches: "It wasn’t just Wednesday, they played Sunday as well at Chelsea and got a bit of a run around.

"That came into my consideration, but I thought they were on such a high after the result against Arsenal that they’d want to play on the Saturday.

"I don’t think the players or myself would use that as an excuse and anyway we finished quite strongly and had two chances in the last couple of minutes. The keeper made two good saves.”

The first Millwall goal was Jewell’s biggest annoyance: "We were disappointed with the timing of the first goal, in first half injury time. I don’t know whether their second goal was offside, it looked it, but whether it was, I don’t know.”

Lions boss Kenny Jackett was pleased with the victory: "Every win is a good win but the commitment of the players was terrific and I felt that despite a few hairy moments, we deserved to win the game.

"We conceded against the run of play and Ipswich are a good defensive team and they showed that against Arsenal and again against us.

"For us they were hard to break down and that makes it an even better win so I'm pleased.

"It was a key goal by Danny Schofield because we started well and had chances, but we wobbled after their goal so that goal not only brought us back in to the game but gave the players and supporters a lot of encouragement for the second half."

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