Blues boss Paul Jewell feels that Town’s performance during the 4-0 defeat to tonight’s opponents Burnley earlier in the season was even worse than the display in the 7-1 loss at Peterborough. An angry Town manager described his side as a “pub team” after their capitulation at Turf Moor.
Jewell said: "When you look at the Peterborough [away match] it was probably five minutes of madness which cost us that game, whereas at Burnley we were abject, there’s no other way to describe it.
"It’s an unfortunate phrase ‘pub team’ and it’s sometimes difficult when you’re so angry so soon after a game to choose the right words to say.
"It was a long old night travelling back and I think the players were embarrassed by their performance.
"The supporters who had gone up to Burnley on the Tuesday night saw a performance that wasn’t befitting the players that we’ve got.
"And I’m part of that because I’m the manager. I’m not putting all the blame on the players, I’m saying as a group on that night we were rubbish, and there’s no getting away from it. But hopefully we’ve put that behind us and there won’t be any more of those performances.”
The Town boss was most upset that his team — which included a midfield four of Lee Bowyer, Jimmy Bullard, Keith Andrews and Mark Kennedy — was out-battled: "I think when you look at that midfield that night it was probably the oldest midfield ever in the Championship.
"That doesn’t mean to say it was just because of the age we got beaten. As a team from back to front, from start to finish we were just totally out-played and totally out-fought.
"Sometimes you are going to be out-played and you accept that, but to be out-fought and not to show enough desire was the thing that hurt me most. We’ve all had those games in our careers and they’re not nice. We don’t want any more of them.”
Jewell says Burnley, who are currently 15th, one point and one place above the Blues, are a decent side: "They’ve got some good players. When we played them down at Burnley, as I say, it was a very poor performance from us.
"They came into that game on the back of beating Hull City 3-2 having been 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go and I think they were on a worse run than us at that time. And then they went on an unbelievable run and I think got into the top six.
"They probably epitomise the Championship - they were in the top six, they were in the bottom four I think at one stage and now they’re probably mid-table.”
He was impressed with their weekend performance as they drew 0-0: "They played well against Cardiff on Sunday and I was just watching the tape of their game against Watford where they were 2-0 up.”
The Clarets expect to have striker Jay Rodriguez back in their side after a groin injury, the England U21 international having been the subject of a £3 million Town offer last summer.
Jewell remains a fan of the 22-year-old: "Rodriguez has missed the last couple of games, but he’ll probably be back.
"I think he’s as good a striker as there is in the Championship and I think he will eventually play in the Premier League, there’s no doubt about that.”