Blues boss Kieran McKenna felt his side’s 3-1 defeat to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium was a ‘game of moments’ with not many going in Town’s favour.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid gave the Foxes the lead with an eighth-minute strike out of nothing, then just before the break, with the Blues getting into their stride, Abdul Fatawu scored a remarkable second for the home team from 15 yards inside his own half.
Seven minutes after the restart, Leif Davis slipped when seeing the ball out in front of Fatawu on the right of the box, allowing home skipper Ricardo Pereira to cut back to Jordan Ayew to make it 3-0.
Sub Jens Cajuste was presented with an appropriately seasonal gift-wrapped opportunity by home keeper Jakub Stolarczyk on 71, but the Blues were unable to find any more goals before the end.
"I wasn’t a great performance, certainly,” McKenna said. "I think the goals were the decisive thing in the game, really.
"I think when you concede a strike like that from 30 yards seven minutes into the game away from home against a good team, it’s always going to be tough.
"They had a small bit of momentum after that, but in general we got ourselves back into it and were growing into the game, and had a really good chance to go to 1-1 [Jack Clarke shooting too close to Stolarczyk].
"They had a couple of moments from set plays but nothing really in open play, so there was nothing really in the game.
"And then they score an incredible goal right on half-time when we’ve not done loads wrong in the situation. It’s just an incredible bit of individual brilliance that you have to give credit for. Not to shorten the story, but I felt like they were the decisive moments of the game.
"At half-time, you know it’s going to be tough but you still know you can get back into the game.
"But also Leicester at home with the confidence of two incredible goals like that are a really good side.
"We’re disappointed with the third goal, definitely more than the other two, just after half-time when we were expecting it to be a free-kick and we switch off in the box. From there, it’s really, really tough and it wasn’t our day.
"We got our goal back out of not very much as well, to be honest, then we have a chance to go 3-2, a couple of chances to go to 3-2 and if we score one of them then maybe we can get something out of the game.
"But I think it was a game of moments and not many of those moments went our way and they’ve grabbed a couple of incredible moments.”
McKenna felt the timing of the second and third goals either side of the break was pivotal.
"Even if we go in at 1-0 at half-time, we’ve not responded amazingly, but, OK, we’ve calmed the game down, got control of possession, created a bit chance to go to 1-1 and a goal like that happens before half-time and it’s an incredible boost for the opponent and a big blow for us,” he continued.
"And again, even at 2-0, if you can get a foothold in the second half and get the next goal, you’ve got a great chance and we need to do better on it, a bit of a strange goal.
"And then at 3-0, it’s really tough, so the moments were there for Leicester, they weren’t there for us and they came at probably the worst possible times.”
McKenna was pleased with his subs, despite them coming on with the game looking all but lost.
"I felt like we had a little bit of pressure, especially in and around the goal and just after that and there were one or two moments for us there today to maybe get the second, and then you know then the game’s alive,” he reflected.
"It’s not easy to come on at 3-0 down, so credit to the boys the way they came on, Jens still being dialled into the press and knowing his job and you have to give credit for that.
"They still came on with belief and tried to impact it and we weren’t quite able to get the second goal that would have made it really interesting.”
The game was the Blues’ seventh in a run of seven in 22 days with everyone other than George Hirst and Jack Clarke from today’s XI having started the previous two games, last Saturday’s 3-0 home victory over Coventry City and Wednesday’s 1-0 success against Stoke City, also at Portman Road.
McKenna was asked whether there might have been an element of tiredness about today’s display.
"I think every team playing in the league this Saturday will probably be carrying a little bit of fatigue,” he said.
"Us probably more probably with the extra midweek game [the restaging of the abandoned game at Blackburn] and the travelling that we had last week, and then Coventry and Stoke were two really big energy games.
"I think that’s the reality for us but I’m sure they had bit of it as well, maybe us a little bit more so, but we’re not going to lean into that too much.
"We know there are things, irrespective of the two incredible goals, that we can do better today.
"I still think the response to something like that after seven minutes is something we’ve still got to work on as a group and find a little bit more.
"But it’s been a really busy run, ups and downs in there and today’s a disappointment off a couple of good ones, but the big thing now is just now we regroup.
"No midweek game next week, a chance to do some training to recover and a home game [against bottom side Sheffield Wednesday] next week and, like always in the Championship, it’s about the next game and how we respond to this one.”
Town had looked to be getting into their stride with the wins against the top-of-the-table Sky Blues and then Stoke, also among the early season pacesetters.
Having seen that winning streak come to an end, does McKenna believe his squad is ready to put together a consistent run in the matches ahead?
"I think we can only take the next game, you can’t get too ahead of yourself about a run,” he added.
"We’ve lost today and we’ve got to try and win the next game. And if we do that, we’ve got to try and win the next game after that.
"Of course, when the games come really quick, it’s harder. If anyone wins their four games in nine days over Christmas or whatever it is, then it will be an incredible achievement.
"That’s what we’re going to try and do but, especially at this stage of the season, it’s hard to think too much about a run, you’ve just got to get out there, give the best of yourself and, win or lose, get ready to go again.
"And if you’re doing more good things than not, you can pick up a good run of form. At this stage of the season to go and win all your games in a run, is really, really difficult, so there’s no point in thinking about it, it’s just about doing what you can to win the next one and that’s where our focus needs to be after today.”
Norwegian wideman Sindre Walle Egeli missed out today having been unwell, McKenna confirmed: "He was sick yesterday.”