Luke Chambers has hit back at Leeds manager Steve Evans for his comments after the Blues’ 2-1 victory over the Whites on Tuesday, which the Town skipper felt were “disrespectful” and “staggering”.
Evans accused Town of simply "lumping” the ball up to striker Daryl Murphy, said they had been "as bad in spells as we were” and dismissively added that if the Blues are "the benchmark [for the play-offs] then we’ll take that benchmark”.
Chambers, who scored Town’s equaliser five minutes after the break with Brett Pitman netting the winner in injury time, said he and the rest of the squad were less than impressed.
"Myself and the boys felt very disappointed by his post-match comments, having read them after the game,” Chambers writes in his column in the programme for Saturday’s match against Preston.
"I don’t whether he’s addressing the Leeds supporters who weren’t at the game to try and save face but I’ve no idea where he’s coming from.
"Yes, they look the lead and had a good 10-15-minute spell but after that it was one-way traffic.
"For him to then disrespect us as a team and say that if we are the benchmark for sixth place then he will take that, is honestly quite staggering.
"At the end of the day, we’ve walked away with six points off them this season and we are the ones who are in the play-off places fighting to get into the Premier League.
"I had a lot of respect for him before the game but I've lost some of that now.
"Nobody at Portman Road on Tuesday, even the most avid Leeds fan, would have thought they deserved to beat us, apart from Steve Evans and for him to even suggest that after the game is, in my opinion, disrespectful to the football club, the manager, the players - to everyone really.
"To their credit, I saw that a lot of Leeds fans disagreed with their manager and held their hands up, admitting we were the better team and deserved to win.
"I haven’t looked at the stats but I’m confident that we would have had more possession, more shots and more chances in their box. The stat that matters though is that we won the game.”
Evans was also highly critical of referee Fred Graham after the game - "I thought he was absolutely garbage" - and the official wouldn’t leave the field following the final whistle until the furious Leeds boss had been removed from the tunnel by stewards.