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Jewell: We Showed Character - Ipswich Town News

Blues boss Paul Jewell felt his side showed character to come from behind against Huddersfield but admits he is never confident that they are going to hold on to leads. The Terriers went in front in the first half via Adam Clayton then after the break Luke Chambers and Michael Chopra put the Blues ahead, James Vaughan later equalising for the visitors.

Jewell said: "I don’t think we’re ever all set at 2-1. I think the problem with us is that when we get to that winning situation we don’t seem to have that air of confidence that we can see the game out. That’s been the case for a while here.

"I think we showed good character coming back from a goal down. Huddersfield have got a really good hardworking unit. They’re used to winning, they’ve got a winning mentality.

"I looked at the stats and they’ve won 33 of the last 39 games that they’ve taken the lead in. That just shows that they’re used to winning, which is a credit to the management that’s gone before and the manager that’s here now, and the players.

"It’s never easy to come from a goal behind against anyone but certainly that’s the case against a team which expects to win when they go ahead.”

Overall, he was pleased with the performance: "I thought we mixed it up quite well, Daryl Murphy won all his headers. I thought on chances alone in the first half we at least deserved to go in level.

"Again, they’ve had one corner and scored from it, we’ve had plenty and haven’t. Murph’s had a good chance, balls have flashed across the box.

"I thought there were a lot of pleasing aspects to our game. Obviously, defensively we know we’ve got to improve, not just at the back but our defensive-mindedness when we’re attacking.

"I think you can sum up Ipswich by a 10-second passage in the game. We hit the inside of the post then 10 seconds later we got a penalty - that can’t be right.

"If we don’t score the goal and it comes out of the box, we’ve got to make sure that we’re not that easy to play against. That just sums us up.”

Jewell was pleased with Paul Taylor’s debut: "I think he’s going to be good for us. He’s a bundle of energy. He was absolutely out on his feet out there. It’s been a big week for him, it’s a big move for him but we think we’ve got a really good player.

"We think he can play in a number of positions, he’s bright and we’re pleased with him. I thought both him and Daryl Murphy both did very well today.”

The Blues boss was pleased to get a more positive result after the two losses: "I think what the important thing is that we’ve lost two games in a week, one heavily, one against a team in the division below us, and in the manner we did in extra-time.

"The question marks were there before the game and at half-time. I thought we showed plenty of guts, plenty of decent football as well.

"I thought it was a decent game for both sides, honest, trying to win the game. It was end to end, probably too open for mine and Simon’s liking but I thought it was important to get something out of the game.

"Obviously at 2-2 when they got the penalty, we were staring down a barrel and the keeper’s made a fantastic save.”

Huddersfield manager Simon Grayson agreed with his one-time manager at Bradford: "It was an open game, plenty of chances for both teams. We could have won it, we could have lost it, obviously there was the opportunity to win it at the end with the penalty.

"But, coming here, I would have settled for a draw at the start of the game. We had some good opportunities, but so did they.

"Probably about a fair result, entertaining game, both me and Paul were trying to win the game right from the start to the finish and to end 2-2 both managers will be both satisfied to get a point because we both could have won it, we both could have lost it.”

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