Ipswich Town goalscorer Jens Cajuste has vowed the players are not about to give up on Premier League survival after the 4-2 home defeat to Nottingham Forest saw the gap to Wolves increase to nine points with nine matches to go.
The Napoli loanee bagged his first Premier League goal with a silky turn and classy finish from the edge of the box in the 82nd minute, but there was little joy from it as it came in reply to three first-half goals conceded in six hugely damaging minutes.
Nikola Milenkovic’s half-volley following a half-cleared corner on 35 was followed by Anthony Elanga helping himself to a brace as a sublime curling finish preceded firing beyond Alex Palmer after chasing down a bouncing long Milenkovic ball over the top.
And that was where the Swedish international, whose goal back was followed by a breakaway finish for Forest sub Jota on 87 ahead of a fine header from George Hirst on 93, admitted the game was lost for the Blues.
"Extremely tough,” he said of a 10th Premier League game without a win. "We let it all go within 10 minutes of the first half and it's hard for any team to come back from 3-0 down.”
Put to him that the Blues looked like they fell to pieces in that 10-minute spell at the end of the first half, he said: "Yes, I agree. I've said it before, I think in this league everything can change in the blink of an eye and we saw that today.
"It just shows how you have to stay sharp and ready during every minute of the game because that's how quick it can change.”
He also agreed that the Blues made it too easy for third-placed Forest at times.
"Absolutely,” he said, "No, these were not brilliant goals in my opinion. We have to look at ourselves, I think.”
A fourth defeat on the spin, coupled with Wolves winning 2-1 at basement side Southampton, saw Kieran McKenna’s men move from six to nine points from safety with nine games to play.
But Cajuste said he and his teammates are far from admitting defeat in the race to stay in the top flight for a second season.
"Yes, the table is what it is. It's tough but we're going to keep on going with our heads high,” he said.
"There's still a lot of points to play for and we've got Wolves coming up as well, so we just have to stay focused on one game at a time, Bournemouth first and then we take it from there.”
He added: "I think this is a tough group with great fans so I think we're able to bounce back, we're able to stay strong and then it's about applying it once the game is on. We've got to take accountability and responsibility and go on from here.”
With a 17-day break from action now until facing top-half AFC Bournemouth on the south coast on April 2nd (7.45pm), he was asked if he thought there was anything the team can work on to help them in their remaining games.
He replied: "Absolutely. You don't win the game on Saturday, you win it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, you win it at practice, how you practice is how you play and we've got to start from there.”
On what was a classy first Premier League goal, coming in his 22nd appearance, he admitted the shine was taken off it by the result.
"It was nice to see it go in but like you said, most important is winning or losing and unfortunately we couldn't get the win today,” he said.
Asked if he had a message to Town’s downbeat fanbase, with a good number remaining to show their support in a positive fashion following the final whistle, he said: "I think these fans have been fantastic so far and always showed their support.
"We've got to show them that we're going to keep fighting with our heads high and keep fighting for it. You always believe in it and that's it.”