Blues boss Mick McCarthy wasn’t unhappy with Town’s display despite their 1-0 defeat by Sheffield United at Portman Road as they exited the FA Cup at the third round stage for the eighth successive season.
"My assessment is I thought we played well up until the goal,” he said. "I’m not unhappy with the performance.
"I’ve just been asked if I was unhappy with the performance. No, I’m not unhappy with the performance, I’m unhappy with the result.
"And it probably sums this moment in this time up when we have an appeal for a penalty turned down [when Daniel Lafferty appeared to handle Luke Chambers’s early header].
"It could have been given but I’ve no idea what a penalty is now having seen them all this week. But it did hit his hand and it could have been given.
"And then [Nathan Thomas] hits one right in the top corner, that was the difference in the game, certainly in the first half.”
Asked whether he was disappointed that his team didn’t create more in the second half, he said: "It was just our final pass, our final cross wasn’t good. They’re a good side, they defended well, they sat back in and made it difficult to break them down.”
Towards the end the crowd made their frustrations known for the first time in a couple of months.
"It’s only been waiting, it’s only been in the background, it’s never gone away,” McCarthy reflected.
Did he understand the reaction with Town not registering a shot on target? "I can’t really control people’s emotions or reactions, can I? I can only do my best to try and get the team to win games.
"And if we do I guess we get cheered and if we don’t, at this moment, I guess we get jeered and people are wanting change. I can’t help that.
"I think they’re a bit sick of the same old and they want a change, don’t they? I guess that’s understandable. But for the moment that’s not happening.”
The prevailing mood going into the game was less than positive with supporters concerned at players potentially moving on.
Asked whether he understands given that and another early cup exit why spirits among the support might be low at present, he added: "I go back to my earlier comment, with the players I have at my disposal I try and make sure that they play as well as they do and what they always do is give everything, to be fair to them, and try and get a result. And we need to get one asap.”
Defender Tommy Smith is close to joining the Colorado Rapids, Kieffer Moore Barnsley, while David McGoldrick has been linked with Cardiff and Birmingham, and Crystal Palace have shown interest in Bartosz Bialkowski, although we understand have now moved on to another target - understood to be Getafe's Vicente Guaita - following discussions with the Blues this week.
Regarding New Zealand international Smith’s absence from today's squad, he said: "He’s poorly today.”
Quizzed on the interest from the Colorado Rapids, which TWTD reported earlier this afternoon, he added: "Apparently so. I haven’t seen any pictures tweeted in the first class lounge in Heathrow yet, so I’m hoping he’s still poorly. Well, not hoping he’s still poorly, but you know what I mean.
Asked whether he knows anything about the proposed switch, he added: "I’ve not spoken to Colorado Rapids.”
McCarthy says he is not actively looking to sell players - "I’m not looking to get shot of players, no” - and neither is owner Marcus Evans: "No, we’ve got to have a team that competes. We were on the back of the top six four weeks ago. I’d like to be tagging along the back of that again. I don’t want to be getting shot of players.”
The Town boss says it's not the case that the club is giving up on the season with the Blues 12th, still only seven points off the top six.
"We need to get a win. Let’s not start looking at the play-offs, let’s start turning it around and making sure we get a victory," he added.
"We’ve got Leeds coming here next week, it’s not going to be easy, and we need to win really.”
Blades boss Chris Wilder thought his team ought to have made the margin of victory more comfortable after the break.
"I think we had some good chances just after half-time to take the game away from the opposition, so we were a bit frustrated that we didn’t," he said.
"Both teams made a few changes and fortunately our changes were maybe just a touch better on the day than the opposition changes.”
Regarding Thomas’s brilliant winner, he added: "A good goal, a good strike.”