Boss Paul Jewell felt his side should have been “out of sight” at half-time as Watford came from behind to beat the Blues 2-1 at Vicarage Road. Town’s winless run against the Hornets stretched to 15 games and back to 2004 with their last win on Watford territory having come a year prior to that.
Jewell said: "We should have been out of sight at half-time. We created six or seven really good opportunities that we didn’t take on a very difficult playing surface.
"In the second half we didn’t do enough with the ball, we gave it away cheaply, we didn’t keep hold of it, we didn’t create like we did in the first half and obviously the manner of the goals was hugely disappointing.”
While Hornets sub Chris Iwelumo caused the Blues’ backline problems, the Town manager felt the goals were more down to his side’s errors: "He’s always going to do that, he’s a big handful but the goals we conceded were really nothing to do with his physical presence.
"He pushed us back a bit, but the reason we are where we are is because we concede bad goals and the two we conceded today were two more. It’s another game that we should have won but because of bad defending we’ve lost.”
While Jewell says skipper Carlos Edwards was to blame for the second Watford goal, he says the 33-year-old has been one of Town’s best performers of late: "He played a short backpass and it’s sloppy but Carlos has been magnificent for us lately, but it was definitely a mistake by him.”
As well as the defensive errors, the Liverpudlian thought his team should have made more of their chances before the break, particularly Michael Chopra, who missed a gilt-edged opportunity just after the half hour: "It was a sitter, wasn’t it? It was a great move. He switched it over to Emmanuel-Thomas and he got in at the back post and it was a great opportunity.
"I think Daryl Murphy’s had five really good chances in the first 20 minutes and we could have been out of sight [at half-time].
"They had a chance where Alex McCarthy made a good save, but after that it was one-way traffic. Every time JET got the ball he looked like he was going to create something. Second half we just didn’t get the ball to him.”
Jewell says his side was never going to control the match as they did in the opening period for the full 90 minutes: "They’re at home and you can’t go anywhere and dominate games all the time. I think we were the best team [first half] and it was hot out there, for both teams.
"They got up a head of steam and got the crowd behind them, but up until then, other than the chance early on, they hadn’t really created much.
"We didn’t win enough battles second half, it was a battle out there on that pitch. It was a scruffy game, it was never going to be a free-flowing game on that pitch and when Iwelumo came on they had the impetus. But the manner of the goals, it wasn’t as if we were getting absolutely battered, they were just basic errors.”
He says the much-publicised hoodoo wouldn’t have been in his team’s thoughts: "I think it plays on the media’s minds rather than the players as most of the players haven’t been here since 2004. There’s always a story about a bogey team, but I don’t think that was the case at all. I just thought we were disappointing in the second half.”
The Town boss says his side have no new injuries, while striker Jason Scotland assessed ahead of the Middlesbrough game after suffering an adductor injury in training.
Watford boss Sean Dyche, who says the Hornets plan to relay their pitch in the summer, admitted his team were second best before the break: "Make no mistake, they were the better side in the first half, considerably better.
"We actually started very brightly, we had arguably the best chance of the first half and should have been 1-0 up.
"But then we gave away a really poor goal and we could have been at least two down at half-time. Ipswich, all credit to them, they were by far the better side, they played the game and the pitch better than us.
"But it’s the marvel of half-time. We managed to get them in only one down which kept us in with a shout.
"We just really reminded the players of what we’re about and how they might have to play the pitch to get back into it in the second half, and I’m pleased to say they did that really well."