Boss Mick McCarthy felt his side took conceding soft goals to a “whole new level” during their 3-1 defeat at Cardiff City. The Town manager was particularly frustrated by the Bluebirds’ second goal 35 seconds after half-time, which he believed was the game's pivotal moment.
"I thought the first half was fairly even, I thought we played well,” McCarthy said when asked his assessment of the match. "There were chances at both ends.
"They made it very difficult for us with throw-ins, freekicks and corners. They’re big, it was hard to defend. We didn’t see out the first goal.
"I thought we had our chances to get back in it and I think I’ve dreamt the half-time team-talk about having a good start and not conceding and giving us a foothold in the game. We did exactly the opposite.
"They’ll see it as a good goal, and it is from their point of view. But it’s an appalling goal for us to give away, but that skewed the whole game.
"For 20 minutes after that, I could forgive our fans for thinking that we don’t care, we didn’t try, we didn’t run around because they were all over us.
"But I can look them all in the eye and I know they do care and they have run around and they’ve worked their nuts off, they’ve had to work even harder because they had a 20-minute spell there where they could have punished us really.
"Then, having got back a goal, I can’t believe the naivety of the third one then. I’m going to bitch, it should have been a freekick at the edge of the box just prior to that, I don’t know why he didn’t give it. That’s my assessment.”
Having been less than impressed with some of the goals his side conceded in earlier games, McCarthy felt this evening’s were even worse.
"A whole new level,” he said. "To be fair we defended the freekicks and the throw-ins, it was the second phase. To be free at the far post is not right.
"And the others are ridiculous, the second goal in particular. The second goal has just completely changed the game. It gave them a massive impetus, what was it, 30 seconds into the second half?”
Was it particularly frustrating as it was so soon after his half-time team-talk? "Of course, and the players know, they don’t want to do that. They want to start well and it’s important that we do.
"If the kick-off is kicked out for a throw-in and it goes right out there, and the second one that bounces and we put it in behind them. Everybody might say, ‘That’s a bit negative’, but it isn’t, it doesn’t end up in your net, it gives you a chance to start the game on the front foot, in their half and most teams do it. It was just a bad start.”
McCarthy, whose time at Town reaches the five-year mark tomorrow, made six changes from the team which beat Burton at the weekend but didn’t feel it had an impact on the performance.
"I don’t think that’s got anything to do with it at all,” he continued. "One of them was Kevin Bru and he was probably the pick of the bunch in the first half, he played really well but ran out of steam.
"Dominic’s been playing, Tommy Smith’s come back in, he’s an old head, he’s an experienced player.
"Tristan had run his race on Saturday, to be fair, so Flynn had to come in, there’s not a lot of choices with all the midfielders injured.
"Santie scored his goal, got another one, and Wardy’s been a regular, so it’s not like they’re subs that have gone and played in the first team tonight.”
He added: "The last time we had three games in eight days, we’d played well up until then and we just looked like it was a game too far for some of us.
"There are one or two players, more than that, who have had long injuries. I’m not having to take care of them, but I’d like to get the best out of them in every game we play.”
Town, who have won seven and lost seven of their first 14 Championship games, have continued their record of beating the division’s poorer sides but falling short against those towards the top of the league, something McCarthy knows they have to remedy.
"That’s what we try every day when we train,” he said. "We’re trying to address that problem.
"Neil will be waxing lyrical about his goals and he’d be right to because they finished them. But the other side of it, the other manager is always complaining that they gave goals away, and we did. They were really poor goals for us to concede.”
Asked his thoughts on Simon Grayson’s sacking this evening by his old club Sunderland and how he felt the former Leeds boss did at the Stadium of Light, he responded: "Very sad. But I don’t think it’s my role to discuss the job he’s done there, in particular.”
Quizzed further on the Championship being an unforgiving league, he added: "It is an unforgiving league, they’ve been pretty unforgiving tonight, haven’t they? We’ve been slapped, I’ve got my own problems.”
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock thought his side were worthy of the three points.
"We played some good stuff at times tonight," he said. "Sol Bamba helped us out in midfield again. We deserved it tonight. Some of the goals were very good and we could have had more.
"It’s just disappointing to concede as we’d done so well at the back, but I suppose you can’t be too picky.”
Warnock had praise for Omar Bogle, who was making his first start for the Bluebirds following his £700,000 summer switch from Wigan.
Bogle scored the Bluebirds' key second goal and Warnock also felt he might have got a touch on the first.
"Wardy [Danny Ward] picked up a bit of an injury to his calf on Saturday and we thought he would miss tonight," he said.
"He then felt a lot better but we thought, ‘Why risk it?’ because we’d already worked on Omar coming in.
"We left it as it was and Omar did well. He’s been busting a gut to play and really worked for his chance.
"He’s done extra sessions to make sure he was ready to make the most of his opportunity because he’s not played much.
"He’s a bit of a project and when I signed him I told his agent I’d only agree to the deal if he was prepared to be third choice here.
"He had to realise he had to fight his way into the side and show me what he can do. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”