Blues defender James Wilson admitted the 1-0 loss at Sunderland was tough to take with Town having dominated the first half and having had a number of chances. The 30-year-old says no one at Portman Road is panicking despite a third successive defeat having seen Town drop out of the top six for the first time since the opening day of the season.
"Really tough,” the former Lincoln City and Sheffield United man said afterwards.
"I thought we played some really nice football in the first half and in the second half I think we had chances but it’s a tough place to come and when they’re on the front foot it’s difficult sometimes.
"It’s a tough one but I think there were a lot of positives to come from it definitely.”
With hindsight Wilson says the Blues should have been ready for the Black Cats’ second-half onslaught after Town had controlled the first period.
"Yes, we should have been, we should have weathered it better,” he reflected. "I don’t think we played half as well as we did in the first half in the second, so it’s frustrating.
"But they’re always going to have spells, especially here in front of a big crowd, and I think we did have some good chances in the second half so it wasn’t that we didn’t create ourselves. It’s frustrating.”
Regarding Chris Maguire’s winning goal in the 81st minute, Wilson said: "I think we can work on stopping that at source. I think there are things we can do to stop that but it was a good finish.”
Asked whether the mood in the dressing room after the game was flat, he said: "Not flat, more frustrated than anything. Flat’s not the right word, we’re still seventh in the league, we’ve still got 14 games to go, I think if we can put a run together then we’ll be right in amongst it, so I don’t think it’s flat.”
The centre-half says the biggest disappointment was not making the most of the chances created.
"Definitely,” he added. "I think things could have gone our way, there were a few decisions that didn’t go our way, that’s also frustrating but that seems to happen every week so that’s nothing new. But we need to take that out of it and do it ourselves.”
Saturday’s game was hardly the first time this season that the Blues have been unable to turn decent performances into goals but Wilson believes Town have the players capable of finding the target with the frequency required.
"Of course, we’ve definitely got the players to do it,” he insisted. "The last three games haven’t gone well but there’s no saying that we can’t go on a five or six-game run like we did before and we’ll be right in amongst it again at the end, it’s so tight in the league. I think that’s what we’ve got to look to do.”
At the other end of the field there was a change of keeper with Will Norris dropping out and Tomas Holy returning to the XI.
Wilson says Norris accepted the decision to drop him professionally: "Yes, of course, everyone’s in it together. Will knows that he’s played some really good games, he’s been brilliant for us and the big man’s got to come in and do the same.”
Despite the result, the Wales international felt the display was a significant step-up from the performances against Rotherham and Peterborough.
"I think so, definitely,” he said. "For 60 minutes of the game I think we were on top, they had spells but I think it’s really frustrating to lose the game 1-0.”
Even though the defeat saw the Blues drop out of the top six, Wilson isn’t getting too concerned about the league table at this stage.
"It’s not worrying, no, if we do what we know we can do then we’ll be OK, it’s just producing that,” he said.
However, he admits the pressure is going to build the longer Town remain in their current position.
"I guess so, but I don’t see the pressure from within at all,” he added. "I think we all know that we’re working hard and we’re doing the right things we’ll have chances in games, we’ll win games, it’s just doing that on the day.”
He added: "I think if you look at the league there’s no panic. I think it changes every Tuesday, every Saturday it changes, so we’ve just got to keep calm and keep doing things we believe in.”
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game at AFC Wimbledon, Wilson agreed that it could be a big one in the context of Town’s season with the Blues needing all three points.
"Yes, it’s a big game, but we go into every game wanting to win it,” he said. "There’s not going to be any difference on Tuesday, I think we’ll go in with the same attitude we did here, we want to win the game, we don’t do anything different.”
Town's current situation is the reverse of the one earlier in the season with the Blues now the ones chasing and with the teams above them having games in hand.
"To be honest, if we work hard and do the things we know we can do we shouldn’t even be looking at the league table,” Wilson insisted.
"We’ve just got to try and do the right things, that’s all it’s about, there are still 14 games left, so there’s plenty of time and plenty of points up for grabs if we do the right things.”