Daryl Murphy has revealed that Lee Martin, sent off in Town’s 1-0 midweek defeat at Nottingham Forest, wasted no time in apologising to his team-mates.
Martin was shown the red card towards the end of the first half and was followed by Richard Stearman, who collected a second yellow card in the 69th minute.
Despite being reduced to nine men, however, Ipswich were heading for their fifth clean sheet in seven games before an 84th minute shot by Lewis McGugan was deflected past Stephen Henderson to earn Forest a fourth successive win.
Murphy, a likely replacement on the left of midfield at Peterborough tomorrow as Martin starts a three-game suspension, said: "Lee has apologised and we move on.
"He knows it was stupid of him to do what he did, but you have to learn from these things. In the heat of the moment it is hard not to react but you have to hold it back and control yourself.
"Lee’s not really that type — he’s a great lad and I was really surprised when it happened. I didn’t see it at the time but I’ve seen it on television and it was clearly a stupid mistake by him.”
It was the third red card in Martin’s time at Portman Road and with both him and Stearman dismissed it was a tall order for Mick McCarthy’s men to hold on.
Murphy added: "It was a tough task for us and I’ve not seen the stats but they must be way up there with all the running we had to do.
"We battled away for so long with just nine men and I think the lads deserve a lot of praise for their effort in the circumstances.
"I was gutted that we were beaten. Even when we were down to nine men I couldn’t see them scoring to be honest. We held out for so long and then for a goal like that to go in was obviously very disappointing.
"The defence played so well and Hendo had pulled off a great save to keep them out. It’s tough when that happens but you don’t get time to think about it because the next game comes along so quickly.
"We now look to Peterborough, going there in a confident mood to produce a good display on the day and hopefully coming away with a result.
"I don’t know what the manager is thinking but it won’t be a problem if he asks me to replace Lee on the left side. I’m more than happy if the manager wants me to play there and do a job for the team.”