Blues boss Paul Jewell was disappointed to see his side crash out of the Carling Cup at the first round stage as Northampton left Portman Road with a 2-1 victory. The Town manager was unhappy that his much-changed team failed to deliver and hopes to add to his squad before the end of the week.
Jewell said: "I’m obviously disappointed to lose the game. We obviously made a lot of changes and we were stretched across the back with Ãvar Ingimarsson getting injured in training yesterday.
"We’re very disappointed that we didn’t get through. I guess that if Michael Chopra was playing tonight I think we would have had a couple of goals as there were plenty of balls flashing across the box, but it just shows that we our squad isn’t as strong in depth as we’d like it to be.”
The Town boss dismissed suggestions that nine changes to the side which won at Bristol City was too many: "I think that the team we had out there was well good enough to get a result today on paper but having said that I have to give credit to Northampton, I thought they were excellent.
"We had plenty of opportunities to get a second goal. I don’t think we had chance after chance but we had situation after situation where the ball’s flashed across the box or we’ve got a two-v-one situation and we don’t make the most of it.
"We’re not clinical enough in either box, I must have said that 20 times last year. The lads up front are decent players but there were decent balls going across the box and I want them to get two or three goals and give me a problem.
"It’s not just the front players, by the way, the whole Ipswich thing — we’re nice. We win one game, lose one, draw one, win one. I wanted to give them an opportunity tonight to show what they can do in front of 9,000, a great crowd again, and we haven’t done ourselves justice.”
There were a few players who impressed their manager: "I thought Jack Ainsley did OK, better than OK.
"I thought JET did OK, I thought he showed he’s going to be a threat, although he’s not 100% fit, but you can see he’s a talent.
"I thought Cressy did well. But too many players didn’t come up to the mark today and it’s a pity for them and a pity for us because we got beaten.”
Ingimarsson has a recurrence of the thigh strain he suffered with in pre-season and is a doubt for the weekend.
Jewell says the deal to sign Blackburn’s Keith Andrews isn’t yet done, contrary to reports elsewhere but confirmed that as reported by TWTD this afternoon the Irishman is at the club: "Keith Andrews is here and we’re speaking to him and we’re trying to get a deal together so he’ll become our player, but it’s not done yet.
"That would be a loan until the end of the season. That’s not a done deal, we’re trying to do it and if things go well over the next 24 hours, hopefully, he’ll be ours."
The Blues boss also has his sights on a central defender with an offer having been tabled but Town aren't the only club targeting him: "I think there are about four clubs, including a couple of Premier League clubs in for him as well, so that’s where we are.”
The Blues boss refused to confirm or deny whether that player is Liverpool’s Daniel Ayala: "I’m not going to comment on speculation.”
Northampton boss Gary Johnson was delighted with his side’s victory, which he felt was deserved: "I love coming here. We won here with Yeovil a few years ago. It’s a great result for us early doors. I don’t think too many people gave us too much of a chance.
"But we had faith in our philosophy and I don’t think anyone can complain about the way we played. We tried to play some football, some really good combination football like Ipswich play and we were very proud to have mixed it with a good football team by playing football."