Town manager Joe Royle felt his side did enough to get a point from the visit of West Ham United. The Blues created enough chances to have gained a draw but failed to take them during the 2-1 defeat.
Royle said his team played some decent stuff against the Hammers: "We played some good football and passed our way through them a couple of times.
"I don't think we deserved to lose. There were several crumbs of comfort and in spells we looked the better side."
Pablo Couñago was again amongst Town's more profligate players and Royle says he might have netted several times: "Pablo Couñago could have had a hat-trick on another day and we had a couple of penalty claims turned down."
Marcus Bent watched the game from the stands, the striker the target of two Premiership clubs, thought to be Leeds and Fulham. Royle says he was rested so he didn't pick up an injury: "We didn't want to risk his health in the circumstances. If he leaves it will free us up to take someone on loan."
Hammers' caretaker-manager Trevor Brooking was full of praise for his strikers: "They were two great goals but once we were two up we eased off just a little and had a twitchy spell for 20 minutes.
"To play three up front was a risk but we are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. We need three or four players on loan but hopefully we will start the process of appointing a new manager next week. There have been no interviews yet.
"Our first priority is to get out of this division. We must look at where we are now it will be tough to bounce back but we still have a little bit of quality."
Brooking was particularly pleased with his side's second goal: "Connolly received the rebound at hip height and whipped in a left-foot shot.
"These two [Connolly and Defoe] will score a lot of goals so long as we provide the right depth to the side."
The Upton Park legend was also impressed with David James in goal: "He is the England goalkeeper and we hoped he'd be a big player for us in this division. A few Premiership clubs were said to be interested but no one came knocking on our door.
"James has stayed, done his job and there are no better goalkeepers when he is on top of his game."
The West Ham number one made several important save, two from Pablo Couñago, one in each half, were particularly important.