Debutant Kevin Foley felt Town could have got something from Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Bristol City having got a foothold in the game via Brett Pitman’s 61st minute goal.
The Robins, with new manager Lee Johnson in charge for the first time, had claimed a two-goal first-half lead via Aden Flint’s almost identical headed goals from right-sided Luke Freeman corners.
"The main thing is the result, it’s disappointing, especially in the first half to go down to two identical goals,” the January signing said.
"We pride ourselves on set pieces so we were disappointed. We got ourselves back into the game and we could have got something at the end, but it wasn’t meant to be.
"[Freeman] swings them in like a shot on goal and it was all about the delivery, just one of those days. Foley, 31, started the game in a right wing-back role before moving to the centre of midfield when the Blues switched to a 4-4-2 system having gone behind.
"I preferred it in the middle because I got a bit more of a foothold in the game and I managed to get on the ball a bit more,” the former Republic of Ireland international admitted.
#itfc defender Kevin Foley said it was 'good to be back out there' after making his Town debut at the weekend.https://t.co/Pi0jz4914T– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) February 15, 2016
"We always knew we had the ability to change it, so that wasn’t an issue, and the goals didn’t come from our shape as it was just the set pieces.
"Second half I think we went a little more direct and we caused problems, getting the goal out of it, but it just didn’t happen at the end.”
Foley has been impressed with Town’s 10-goal top scorer since he joined the club last month: "Brett’s fantastic in front of goal, he’s so calm and he slotted it home nicely there, we had our chances at the end, but it just wasn’t our day.”
Meanwhile, manager Mick McCarthy is giving his senior players a couple of days off with the Blues not in action again until they take on leaders Hull City at Portman Road a week tomorrow.
"There’ll be a bit of downtime for them, some of them will be playing on Monday in the U21s but other than that they’ll get a couple of days rest and hopefully recover from any knocks that they’ve got.”
Town’s U21s are in action against Colchester United at their Florence Park training ground this afternoon (KO 1pm).
Photo: ITFC