George Burley says Town would have won last night's game had it been last season, while opposing boss John Gregory said Town's performance at Villa Park was their best for several weeks.
Burley said: "We deserved at least a point and can take a lot of positives from our performance, but when you're down the bottom you don't get the breaks. That is the sort of game that we would have won 1-0 last season. There was a lot of spirit but we need that little bit of luck to turn things around."
Burley says that these are the things which happen when a side is in the position Town are: "When you are down there, you don't seem to get the breaks and I think tonight was a classic example. I thought in the first half we really worked hard and closed them down. We took the ball off them so many times and then to concede a goal two or three minutes from half-time, when we should have cleared it, gave them a lift. Then, of course, we have conceded a goal from a wicked deflection, but that's football. I don't think there was a lack of confidence and there certainly was not a lack of work-rate, but it just did not happen and I thought we deserved something out of the game."
But as Burley says it is results that count: "Results are very important. Tonight it was important to get a win, which we went for, but it just did not happen. There's only so much you can give and I think every one of the players gave 100% - and I think overall, when you look at the game as a whole, you think 'well how did we lose the game?' But that's football. We've got to take it on the chin and all I can do with the players is keep their heads up, they've got to keep believing it and working hard, keep fighting away and believing that results will come."
A triumphant Gregory, in between swipes at his chairman's transfer policy, said: "Ipswich were possibly unlucky to lose and that is the best they have played in the last few weeks, but my lot kept bounding away and we'll take the three points."
Gregory becomes the 15th manager in a row to make such a comment about Town.