Blues boss Roy Keane dismissed suggestions that Damien Delaney’s own goal in the 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest was unlucky. The loss was the Blues seventh in nine league games and leaves Keane’s side only three points from the relegation places.

The Town manager was less than impressed with the build-up to the own goal: “A lot went on before the ball goes in. It was a minute before half-time and we had possession before that. We talk about being streetwise.

“I think we would have been disappointed at coming in 0-0 at half-time, never mind 1-0 down. But there’ll be no pity parties tonight.”

Keane felt his side again lacked quality in and around the box: “The one or two half-chances we had, the final ball let us down. David Norris got in a good position, Jason did, and Connor, but that’s been a problem for us.

“We need to be cleverer in and around the box, whether that’s playing a one-two, knowing when to cross it, knowing when to take someone on. I think we make the wrong decision too many times.”

The former Manchester United man wasn’t too unhappy with the overall performance: “I thought we played not bad. In any game when you’re up a good team there’s not going to be too much in it. They were cancelling us out, they hit us on the break once or twice in the first half and their keeper made a good save from Troy. We looked a bit dangerous from set pieces.

“In the second half we were chasing the game and Forest were always going to be decent on the break and I think it would have been the same the other way around.

“The first goal is massively important in the Championship and if we’d scored the first goal today we certainly wouldn’t have gone on to lose the game. That maybe sums up the game, we’re nearly a good team, but nearly never made it.”

Keane says he missed the tackle which led to Grant Leadbitter’s red card: “I didn’t really see it and I really should have had the best view. Because the referee initially gave the foul [to Town], I was looking forward already and thinking about getting Márton Fülöp forward for the freekick.

“I think he was trying to play some sort of advantage, but what he was playing an advantage for I don’t know because Grant’s got a lad hanging off him and there was no advantage there.

“Anyone who knows Grant knows he’s not that type of player and the boy was OK. I need to see it on video again. We certainly didn’t need Grant getting a three-game ban as Grant’s an important player for us. That rubs salt into the wounds today.”

Keane, who says no moves in or out are immediately on the cards, revealed that Gareth McAuley came off at half-time due to a hamstring injury.

Asked if he was determined to carry on as Town boss, he said: "I've not had a stupid question for a while, but well done."

Forest boss Billy Davies believed his side deserved the three points: “The goal was fortunate but I think we had some great chances.

“I was very concerned before the game that they’d had one game less than us over the Christmas period, but seven points from a possible nine we’ve got to be delighted with.

“It was scrappy, they made it difficult for us, they brought in a lot of physical presence and played a certain way. We had to defend well and at times we got the ball down and played, but it was a difficult surface, very slippy, and it was a difficult afternoon with the type of game that it was.”

Davies said he and Keane got on fine on the touchline, despite a potentially explosive incident in the first half: “I apologised to Roy when McGoldrick nearly scored from the drop and I genuinely think that it was accidental.

“I apologised straight away, it certainly wasn't what we wanted and we’d have been gutted if the ball had gone in the net. I apologised before he punched me!”

The Scot said he would have looked to have made amends had the ball gone in rather than striking the woodwork: “I would probably have asked the referee to take the drop again or done all we could to make sure the goal didn’t stand, if that were possible. Without a doubt we’d have done something about it, I don’t want him to kick my head in!”

Photo: Action Images

bluelady added 20:53 - Jan 3 Sorry dont you love predictive tx, meant to say sack him or back him cause stay as we are and we are going down. I fear it will be loan signings keane is allowed, he will stay till end of contract then new manager has clean sheet, trouble is Evans it'll be league one and with twenty one out of contract going on free there will be no team so sort it now!!!! I find his whole faceless priceless attitude nothing but disrespectful to the fans.

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WarkyWonderLand added 20:53 - Jan 3 And to just read Keane on the EADT that he says he has been keen to strenghthen over the past 16 months so a few more days won't make a difference!! Since you joined us you have spent circa £10M (£3m of which were not on the pitch) signed 13 players permanently and another 9 loan signings. This proves how poor you are in the transfer market and you can't creat a team. Keep Calm, keep calm WWL. This is the most depressed I have been as supporter of ITFC for over 30 years. GO NOW.

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Mungo added 20:55 - Jan 3 Asked if he was determined to carry on as Town boss, he said: "I've not had a stupid question for a while, but well done." It's not a stupid question Roy. Most fans are sick of you and the dismal shambles that you have engineered! If you had any pride left you would walk like Strachan did, but instead you stay, pick up your ludicrously oversize salary and make feeble excuses blaming everyone but yourself. There are no excuses. Other managers have achieved so much more at 'smaller' clubs, with a fraction of the resources you have squandered. Staying will do nobody any favours (particularly Town) so just go now and be a "great manager" somewhere else...

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bobble added 20:57 - Jan 3 we got a one way ticket to nowhere and the train that goes to nowhere go's all the way straight down i think that great old song sums it up. i'm off to the beach its to hot to sit around and think about this idiot.........keane out but more if thats possible
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BongoSponglemeister added 20:59 - Jan 3 To be fair to Keane it was always gonna be difficult this season due to the fact we now seem to be a loaning club. However, he must have a major say on the loanees that come in and that being the case he seems as unsure about them as he has been about any formulation of a regular team since day one. If a player plays well, they are far from assured a start next game for example. He has played under decent managers yet seems to have learned little. A revolving door of players in and out of any club can achieve nothing, never has. Priskin obviously being the latest in his list of players he can no longer work with. Townsend, 'couldn't give him the minutes'......erm did you not know that before you brought him in? and he, along with Priskin was one of the highlights of a dismal, disjointed, lost squad. Most of the players usually look like they dont want to be an Ipswich player, albeit with a couple of exceptions. The urine has been extracted, I'd say go now whilst you still have some dignity, but that evaporated a while ago.

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runaround added 21:02 - Jan 3 Please FORK! His random team selections, poor tactics etc have gone on for too long now. Everyone knows Scotland is better at home than away but Clowno plays him in the away game and drops him for the home game. Everytime Peters plays at rightback he does better than anyone else at the club and we tend to get a better result, so he gets dropped, we play 4 central midfielders meaning the only width could be from the fullbacks, so plays a centrehalf and an immobile veteran at fullbacks, no wonder we kept hoofing the ball to their centre halves as we had no other option. The negative tactics, soundbites and play have engulfed the whole club, its not about trying to win, its about trying not to lose, but 10 defeats in last 14 league games suggest we cant even get that right! We are playing like relegation fodder and unless we change now we will go down. The Keanestyle is alienating fans and I know a number of people who have been season tickets holders for many years who will not renew if lack of entertainment continues, these are not glory hunter fans, but ones who love ITFC and have stuck with the club through the dark days of Duncan, McGiven etc, if the club loses people like that then its dark days ahead. Marcus Evans needs to stop thinking about getting his company logo everywhere and seriously get it going in the right direction again starting with sacking the manager. Yes having to pay RK off will cost but the cost to the club in lost revenue if our first home league next August is against Rochdale in front of 9000 fans will be much higher and will take longer to recover from. FORK

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mickeyjb added 21:09 - Jan 3 Since when is a question about him staying on as manager, stupid? Near the bottom of the table loads of money spent and going backwards rapidly. erm the guy had every right to ask the question and expect a sensible answer. I don't give a fook about the carling cup/FA cup what ever happens it will only paper over cracks. I doubt either arsenal or chelski will put out strong teams so we won't get thrashed. They hardly need to put out their stars to beat us do they. This muppet should have gone and take the gormless tw@t that sits next to him and the so called worlds best fitness coach (Italian donkey) with him. Change the manager to an exciting and popular choice and we will be back to 25k in the ground again this season and not the manufactured amounts due to season tickets that are blindly obviously not true. FORK now

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Lightningboy added 21:12 - Jan 3 Another game gone..another game wasted.. Keane just sits there with the same braindead scowl every week,during both the games & the press conferences. What exactly is our beloved owner actually doing about this disaster?..has it become a mexican stand-off?..ME waiting for RK to walk?..RK waiting for ME to sack him? One of you gutless cowards make a move..please.
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Lightningboy added 21:21 - Jan 3 Also Leadbitter's sending off..that's been a red card waiting to happen for ages..the guy comes across as petulant to me..never worth £2.6m. The sooner we can get a playmaker in the middle (plus a manager who knows how to play) the better.
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tractorboyholmes added 21:25 - Jan 3 Spot on Runaround! Well said. I'd also like to agree with the person on the first page who said Wickham had a bad game. Yes he did. Did well winning us two corners from nothing but other than that I thought he was really poor today. Leadbitter also had a terrible first half but got slightly better in the second. Everyone else had a good game today & i feel for Livermoor & Fallon coming off as I thought they were having really good games. Gutted when we went behind as it so wasn't deserved and it was us who should have been 1-0. How Troy didn't score I'll never know! If Keano is insistant on playing three inner midfielders together then he has to give 3-5-2 a go. With no decent full backs on the books what do we have to lose?!?

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tractorboy2434 added 21:26 - Jan 3 People say back him in the transfer market, please, please whoever holds the purse strings do NOT give this idiotic clown any more money, he is clueless, we need some new faces but not chosen by RK, it really makes you wonder why he is still here, it looks like he had a cast iron guarantee of the 2 years on his contract, but we are going to struggle to stay up if he stays, Scunthorpe have 2 games in hand and those below us are not going to all keep losing, unlike us.

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Crazee added 21:50 - Jan 3 So I presume Mr Keane is also responsible for the economic mess the country is in, the Icelandic volcanic dust cloud, the Haiti disaster etc etc etc Let's be honest, we are basically a poor side, but one that has the potential to get better. Now is this all down to Keano ... what about coaching staff, the now obvious lack of support from Messrs Clegg and Evans .... and of course, us, the supporters. Frankly some of the personal attacks on Keano on here make me ashamed to be a Tractor Boy. Today, the atmosphere in the ground was so very poor you'd have thought is was a low ranking Scottish game. True, the players have to play their part in building the atmosphere - but then again so do we. Newcastle fans have had a pretty rough few years one way and another, but do their fans turn against the team, do they just stop turning up, or show apathy in the stadium. No way. Perhaps lessons need to be learnt, both within the club and within the support. GET BEHIND THE TEAM AND MANAGEMENT!

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bluedragon added 21:51 - Jan 3 All i will say now on here is M.E
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jpsmith added 21:56 - Jan 3 Today, was a terrible game, not just us but forest too. i am not sure that we deserved anything out of the game, althoguh the team did not seem to gel together, their heads were down and did not even look like they wanted to play for Ipswich, what is that all about. i am not a for or against keane man myself just a town man, if they are not motivated on the pitch however, this must be the job of the manager? is it time for a change?

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jpsmith added 21:58 - Jan 3 plus... whats with all the long ball cr*p, when did we turn in to a mid 90's wimbledon
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bluedragon added 22:00 - Jan 3 All i will say on here is M.E and R.K has ripped the HEART out off IPSWICH TOWN not a friendly club or a family club any more
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Kuqicoo added 22:08 - Jan 3 He must go..simple as that. How anyone can still say 'give him time' or 'support your team!' is beyond me. I like to have some degree of entertainment, not constant hoof ball. I and i don't like to be paying a fortune to watch this crap. Keane chose the players and bought them, he chooses the team and how they play, he motivates them (or is meant to) and yet certain people still refuse to blame him?? Take of your rosetinted glasses and see what is happening to our club will you! Its a complete shambles...i have never ever felt so disillusioned and embarrassed by my team as i do now. We are a laughing stock. M.E please take action now..keane had been given more than enough time to create a team and know his best team and look where we are! The gamble has not paid off (apart from press exposure of course) and its time to admit this is the case.

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Keaneish added 22:13 - Jan 3 Crazee - you're the only voice on here with those views about supporting our clubs management. I suggest that the route you're proposing is probably a bit misguided at this stage in this managements tenure. This is not Ipswich fans being fickle, the bottom line is we pay money to watch good football, if we don't get it we deserve, request and exercise the right for change. We haven't had this for a long time. It's a simple equation. All the atmosphere in the world is not enough to produce good exciting football.

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ipswich_forlife added 22:22 - Jan 3 I'm so tired of seing this club hovering in the lower part of the table. I cannot believe we got rid of Magic for this crap, at least under Jim we had a hope of the playoffs.
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thechangingman added 22:25 - Jan 3 Ummm, am I alone in thinking that it might be time to call a one-match boycott to show the club the depth of feeling at our present predicament? Or will we just come on here and have a winge, then go to the game, not say anything negative while we're there and then, after another lifeless debacle, come home and moan some more... Yeah, that'll really stick it to them won't it? If Portman Road was literally EMPTY for a game - now that's a powerful symbol and a clear message AND a huge financial loss. Oh well, back to reality - let the subdued whining continue...

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Garv added 22:27 - Jan 3 Rediculous. I had a good laugh with my dad today when the goal went in. The club is simply a laughing stock and a joke nowadays, why bother trying to get excited over nothing exciting? That's what the pro keaners have been doing for the last 19 months.
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ignatiusjreilly added 22:34 - Jan 3 i do not get to many games nowadays but the atmosphere today was non existent, talk about football in a library.1300 forest fans drowned us out whenever they felt like it. Is this because of the poor football that is being dished up, or is it systemic of fickle football fans. Surely 18mths is a long enough time span for an alleged world class footballer, with all the prerequisite coaching qualifications to get his house in order,and his team playing his way. Regardless of whether he has had the financial backing he requires or not. Other managers seem to be able to get their philosophy across to their team and be successful why not ours. Surely someone at the top of this club can see what is happening, i just do not understand why nothing is being done.

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Keaneish added 22:36 - Jan 3 thechangingman - i'm all for that. The question is how to get everyone else involved and on the same wave length? I guess we pick a game, contact the all Ipswich Town Supporters club in the UK with Emails, let the EADT know so they get an article out which'll then spread when dynamically when seeded online, set up a Facebook group, Twitter and write some articles on here/the forum. It needs a good, articulate spokesman though, a shareholder would be great. Anyone know one or fancy taking this on because we've all had enough and boycotting is the best way for me.

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mental1 added 22:37 - Jan 3 embarassing......... save our club evans! get rid of the tw@t i've lost any ounce of respect i ever had for him, and losing it faster for you and your croneys for keeping him on. NEW MANAGER WAY BEFORE SCUM COME TO TOWN PLEASE!!!!!!
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alfromcol added 22:39 - Jan 3 TACTICALLY INEPT. As soon as the team was announced it was obvious that we would provide no threat down the wings and have no width. What the hell is going on with team selection? You come away from games feeling a sense of helplessness, not being able to do anything. Great to have three cup games, at least when we are playing them we are not losing more league matches! I have got to the stage where I don't really care who the next manager is, just stop RK picking the team. We need players like Andros Townsend to make things happen on the pitch. Oh I forgot he got fed up not getting minutes on the pitch and decided to go back to Tottenham.

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