Assistant boss Chris Hutchings was delighted with several aspects of the Blues’ performance as the defeated West Ham 3-1 at Portman Road on Saturday. Michael Chopra (pen), Luke Chambers and Jason Scotland netted for the Blues with Matt Taylor grabbing one for the Hammers.
Hutchings said: "We were pleased with the way we passed the ball, the way we harassed, we worked on closing down.
"I thought we defended from the front, as in Chops and Lee Martin. I thought they set the tone for us. We were much more compact as a team.
"And when we got it we actually played some very, very good football. It wasn’t too slow, it wasn’t a keep-ball session, there was a purpose in our play, and that’s what we’ve got to look for.”
The one-time full-back was pleased to see a set piece goal go in at the right end for a change: "Set pieces are always nice to see go in. We were delighted with that. It’s something that we want to work on even more because we feel that through the season quite a few goals can be scored that way.
"We also have to make sure that as we’ve conceded in the last few games, we’ve got to tighten up in that area.”
Overall though, while happy with the afternoon’s work, Hutchings was keeping his feet on the ground: "It’s only one result, it’s still pre-season, we’re not getting carried away with it.
"People will go away and look at the result, we beat West Ham 3-1, but we’ve got to look deeper than that and we’re all still working towards that first game. You’ve still got to go out and perform and we’ve done that again today.”
Hutchings took on the post-match press conference duties presumably as manager Paul Jewell was meeting with owner Marcus Evans, who was present at the match. Jewell and chief executive Simon Clegg were still at Portman Road more than an hour and a half after the final whistle.