Town boss Mick McCarthy admitted that losing 1-0 in extra-time was a painful manner to exit the Capital One Cup at Crawley. Izale McLeod netted the winner for the League One side in the 110th minute.
"It’s a painful way to go out,” McCarthy said. "I would prefer it not to have been in extra-time and Christophe Berra, Chambo and Elliott Hewitt not having another half an hour.
"What did I make of the performance? I thought bits of it were OK, I thought we had the chances to win the game, but we weren’t good enough, we didn’t score.”
The Blues had chances in the first half, most notably Frank Nouble’s opportunity from an Anthony Wordsworth pass, while McCarthy thought they should have made more of their dominance after the break.
"We had good spells in the second half when could have done better and didn’t. And by not doing so we let them off the hook a few times.
"And likewise the with the goal. Alex Henshall had a chance to put a ball in and it ends up as a corner kick for them instead of us, and they score from there. It was a tough way to go out.”
However, the Town manager took some pluses from the match, despite the loss: "Sometimes you come off the pitch and I’m asked whether I can take any positives out of it.
"Clarkey was absolutely outstanding, I thought Teddy Bishop did well and I thought Steve McQueen, Daz, when he came on did well, to be fair.
"I was really pleased with them and I’ve said to them that I’m disappointed that we haven’t got another game that they could have played in because I think they acquitted themselves really well.”
Bishop came close to winning it late on with a superb strike off the bar and McCarthy wonders whether Nouble should have scored from the rebound.
"[It would have been quite a winner], and then we had the follow-up as well. I haven’t seen it again yet to see whether he could have done better with it. He did well, Teddy’s a good player, I’m delighted with him.”
The Blues boss also had praise for widemen Henshall and Paul Taylor, although felt the ex-Peterborough striker should have scored: "I know what Tayls is about and I thought he could have done better with his chances.
"He opens the goal up and he misses the target completely, he tried to put it in the top corner. If you hit the target you might get a rebound, but he did brilliantly to get in that position and then you just want to hit the target.
"I thought Alex Henshall did well, he’s a work in progress, he’s just a kid who has come from Manchester City and I think we’ll get something out of him. I’m pleased with him.”
McCarthy says Taylor’s situation hasn’t changed: "No, not really, he’s still available for loan or for transfer.”
The Town manager was also pleased with central defenders Berra and skipper Luke Chambers, although wasn’t happy that they had put in such a lengthy shift: "I think they just make us solid, they’re outstanding, the pair of them. I just wish they hadn’t have had 120 minutes today, that wasn’t in the plan.”
Ex-loanee Jonny Williams was spotted in the crowd, but McCarthy says nothing ought to be read into it: "He asked for a couple of tickets and I said he could have two tickets and a fiver out of the till if he wants, no problem there.
"He came to watch the game, I think he’s fairly local. That’s not even a story. I can give you one answer one way or the other and you can make a story out of it.
"He’s come to watch the game, I’ve not had any discussions about him with anybody else. He’s come to watch his mates play, I would imagine.”