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Lambert: Kayden Let Everybody Down - Ipswich Town News

Boss Paul Lambert slammed striker Kayden Jackson for letting everybody down, including himself and his team-mates, after being sent off in the 10th minute of the Blues’ 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland.

Jackson was dismissed for catching Black Cats defender Bailey Wright with a boot halfway up his shin.

"Horrendous, horrendous, if I was Sunderland I’d be angry as well,” Lambert said. "He’s let everybody down, let his team-mates down, let himself down.

"I've not really seen it from the Sky angle, but I’ve seen it from my own angle and it was terrible. He'll know himself exactly what it means."

Reflecting on the battling display put in by his other 10 starters and his subs, he added: "Brilliant, really good. Fight, everything was there, there was nothing in the game but when you go down to 10 men it becomes harder. We were competitive but we lost. There’s a way to lose, as I’ve always said.”

Asked whether he thought of making a change to bring on a striker at half-time, Aaron Drinan having eventually been introduced on 55, he said: "The plan was to go in at half-time still 0-0, hopefully, but that never happened. You've got to stay in the game for as long as you can and think when it’s the time to try it, and that’s what happened.

"I think we made really good substitutions. The guys, they gave me everything, I can't ask for any more. There's no way on this earth you can ask for any more.”

With the Blues now down to 10th having won just three of their last 10 and losing six of their last seven at home, Lambert was quizzed on whether he fears for his job.

"I don’t worry about anything,” he insisted. "I don’t worry, I just get on with it and I guess that’s football.”

Does he understand why more and more fans are getting on his back? "Yes, but that’s life. When you do well, people think you’re great and when you don’t do great, people think you’re rubbish. But you do your best, that’s all you can do.”

Questioned on whether he believes he can turn things around with this evening's result having been a further blow, he reflected: "You have to win, as I said before, there aren’t too many managers who can walk away from their careers and say they’ve never been sacked,” he continued.

"That happens, look at Frank Lampard the other day. That's football, everybody knows you have to win."

Asked whether he would step down if he felt someone else could do a better job, he said: "[Owner] Marcus [Evans] has to say to me what's going on. I said to you last time, Marcus is the one that calls it, he’s the owner of the club.

"I don't get involved, I don't read anything, I don't get involved in anything. You don't know me that well, obviously. I get on with the job.”

Does he believe Evans still backs him? "I spoke to him yesterday, I certainly get on well with him. There's not a problem there, he’s been good. I think he knows. He's been good.”

But he knows he needs results: "Yes, no problem with that, none whatsoever. As I said before, it's up to Marcus what he does."

Jackson is now banned for three games meaning the Blues are even shorter on strikers with Oli Hawkins set to undergo knee surgery and James Norwood struggling with his hamstring.

Asked whether he’s going to up the search for another frontman - who would have to be a youngster aged under-21 due to the constraints of the salary cap - he said: "I don’t know, I really don't know.”

Sunderland manager Lee Johnson was pleased with the victory having beaten Shrewsbury by the same scoreline at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

"It’s a massive result and it completes back-to-back wins,” Johnson told the Newcastle Chronicle.

"It was a bit edgy, the sending off in the first half was pivotal, but they [Ipswich] did really well because they forced us into central, straight passes and we took the bait. It took us until half-time to settle the lads both emotionally and in terms of the team shape.

"We told them they needed more width, to feel the five zones across the pitch, and to manage the game a bit better.

"I’d have liked to have scored a second goal — if you don’t, it always makes it a little bit hairy in the last five or ten minutes because they can throw caution to the wind. But generally we saw the game out well with good possession, and it was another clean sheet.

"We have got quality, we have got that movement in the box now, the timing is good, and that has been consistent over the last five or six games.”

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