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Evans Still Backing Jewell Despite Cardiff Defeat - Ipswich Town News

Town boss Paul Jewell was given the backing of owner Marcus Evans after the Blues’ 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City. Keeper Scott Loach was at fault on both goals as the Bluebirds came from behind after DJ Campbell’s controversial opener just before the break.

Jewell revealed that he spoke to Evans after the match: "I’ve just had 15 or 20 minutes in there with Marcus.

"He thinks we’ve played well, he knows what’s required and I’ve got his full support and I appreciate that.

"He sees the vast majority of games and I’ve got his full support. I’m very disappointed with our situation at the moment because I’m a proud man but I’m doing everything I possibly can.

"We could have been sat here and I know it’s ‘ifs, buts and maybes’, but we could have beaten Brighton, who were top of the league, and we could have beaten Cardiff today if we had just seen the game out for a little bit longer and not given such a daft goal away today.”

Once again much of Jewell’s post-match press conference was spent bemoaning individual howlers: "Mistakes are costly at the moment for us. They’re not just little mistakes they’re big errors. It’s cost us the game tonight.

"Let’s have it right, we got a bit of fortune with the goal as it was obviously seen to be handball afterwards.

"We had a great opportunity through JET to make it 2-0, then I thought we defended well and the goal’s just come out of the Blue. It was completely a gift.”

Loach himself apologised for his mistakes on Twitter: "Hold my hands up today. Let the lads and you fans down. Will bounce back and put it right against Hull.”

Told about Loach’s apology, Jewell added: "There’s not a lot he can say. I better read his Twitter page to see what explanation he gives.

"You don’t really want to single players out, but there’s no hiding, two goalkeeping errors have cost us the game.”

He admitted his side never really recovered from the first Cardiff goal: "It was such a devastating blow. If someone scores a good goal, fair enough, but it was the manner of the goal.

"They came into the ascendancy, there’s no doubt about that, they put lots of crosses in. They’ve got a good team and they’re a powerful unit, but I thought we defended all right without really looking like scoring the second goal when it was 1-1. At 1-1 we would have taken 1-1 the way we feel after the goal now.”

The Liverpudlian says that after nine games without a win, his team are lacking self-belief, despite having again performed well for much of the match: "We’re making errors. It’s a bit of confidence.

"In the first half we played really well, I thought. We passed the ball well and even at the start of the second half we had some good opportunities.

"We just can’t get that second goal to give us that bit of a cushion. We’re not getting outplayed by anybody. The only team that outplayed us for 45 minutes was Blackpool and that was a bit of a false scoreline anyway. It’s a devastating blow to concede the two goals we did anyway.”

He admits Town never look secure at 1-0: "I think until we that level where we can see games out at 1-0 you don’t really get that feeling. We needed that second goal.

"I don’t think anyone complained when that goal went in, certainly they didn’t. We had a little bit of fortune but I thought we played well in the first half, had good possession, passed it well, hit the post. I thought the two lads that came in — Richie and DJ Campbell - will be better for the game.”

Jewell confirmed that Michael Chopra had been left out due to this week’s race-fixing charges: "With the situation he’s found himself in, I didn’t think his mind would be in the right place, so that’s why he was left out. He’ll be at training tomorrow.”

Midfielder Guirane N’Daw was left out of the 18 and was spotted outside the ground an hour before the match but Jewell says he remained at Portman Road: "He was in the dressing room after the game. He lives in town and he had probably gone to get his wife.”

Cardiff boss Malky Mackay: "It was an horrendous error by both the officials. Campbell punched the ball in with both his hands and I told the ref at half-time what a mistake he had made. It was an awful error and if the linesman had been where he should have been, he would have seen it.

"Ipswich deserved to be in front at half-time and we showed real character, determination and energy in the second half to get back at them.”

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