Town boss Paul Jewell said he was hugely disappointed after what he described as his side’s “embarrassing” 5-1 home defeat to Norwich in the East Anglian derby at Portman Road.
Jewell said: "I’m hugely disappointed, it’s a local derby, it’s a full house and you want to try and put on a decent show for your supporters but unfortunately it’s an embarrassing scoreline really, there’s no doubt about it.
"I think possession-wise we probably had more than them, we probably had more attempts on goal than them, but they’re clinical in the box.
"Their strikers are good players and they gave us a hard time. It’s obvious that in both boxes they were exceptional and we were average to say the least.”
The Blues boss says his team’s lack of a predatory frontman was again all too evident: "It hasn’t just been notable tonight, I’ve been talking about it for some while.
"We’ve got the fourth best away record in the league and the 18th worst at home someone’s just told me.
"For some reason we just keep getting done on the counter-attack at home. Teams get behind the ball and hit us on the break and we can’t deal with it. It’s one of the areas we need to improve for next year.
"It’s not a one-off tonight. We let in three against Watford, Middlesbrough and Reading, so I know where we need to improve.
"There are a lot of good things that have happened since I’ve been here. Tonight wasn’t an eye opener for me, it’s a huge disappointment, but I know where we need to get better.”
Despite having a lot of the ball, Jewell felt his team made too few chances: "That’s typical of us at home. We don’t create a huge amount for the possession we have.
"Norwich broke and were incisive, were quick, they passed the ball, the two strikers hold the ball up and they’ve got a threat in behind.
"We haven’t got that at the moment. We need somebody we know is going to get us a goal but having said that we don’t create an awful lot.”
The Town manager was disappointed that even when the Blues managed to get something resembling a foothold in the game, they conceded another goal almost immediately: "We got back in it at 3-1 with a worldy from Jimmy and we’re thinking it’s going to be a rousing 10 minutes, then within two minutes from our corner — yet again and how many times have we said that this season? — the game’s over.”
Norwich boss Paul Lambert dismissed suggestions that it had been easy for his side: "There’s no game I’ve ever been involved in in my life that’s been easy. I think every game is hard and you have to earn the right to win football matches.
"I thought my team right from the off were extraordinary in the football that they played. It was incredible right from the off.
"We were up against a team which has been on fire lately and with a crowd as vibrant as anywhere we’ve been, so to come here and do what we’ve done was a big, big test of character and I thought the performance was excellent.”