Town boss Paul Jewell has praised supporters for the way they got behind the Blues during the 5-2 defeat to Southampton, despite his side being 3-0 down at half-time. Jewell says Town need to put their Portman Road phobia behind them sooner rather than later.

The Liverpudlian said: “At 3-0 down at home at half-time some places you probably wouldn’t get to the tunnel alive. But the supporters were terrific.

“I said to the players, ‘you see the response when we’re up and at them on the front foot?’. But we we’re always on the back foot, we take a backwards step.

“Why that is, I’m at a loss. It’s been happening here for quite a while. I thought we were making progress. I knew we were nowhere near where we want to be, but we take one step forward and we take three or four back.”

Jewell says this goes back long beyond his time with Town with the Blues having recorded only 32 home wins in 78 matches in all competitions since the start of the 2008/09 campaign: “I think there was one season [2007/08] when Ipswich couldn’t lose at home and couldn’t win away when Jim was here.

“We lost 10 games at home last year, we let in five goals against Norwich, we lose by five [to Southampton]. It really hurts me. I'm not sure it hurts some of the players enough."

He feels some of his squad aren’t doing themselves justice: “They’re letting themselves down, that’s the biggest thing, and they’re letting the supporters down.

“We’ve played three games, we won at Bristol City, but if you look back at what I said after the Bristol City game, I said we’re still a million miles away from being a team that’s going to be strong enough to compete. However, I feel that over time we’ll get there, that’s for sure.”

The Blues boss felt that defensively his team made life easy for Southampton: “It’s difficult to track people from midfield when the centre forward’s getting hold of it and is playing little balls around the corner under no pressure. That’s almost impossible to stop.

“We make so many wrong decisions. When there’s no pressure, all of a sudden we’ll give the ball away from a throw-in, they’ll get the ball back and they have space to play in."

Jewell says the home fragility desperately needs to be conquered: “We’re a team which is lacking in confidence playing at home and we’ve got to get over that as quickly as possible.

“Mentally, we can’t get over the fear of playing here. We’ve got to do it because this is the best place to play, this is our home ground in front of our supporters.

“At the minute we’ve got too many people running across the white line completely lacking confidence.”

Meanwhile, Southampton's performance against the Blues has won them the League Managers Association Performance of the Week award. Former Town boss Joe Royle is amongst those who sit on the voting panel.

Photo: Action Images

BelsteadCav added 10:55 - Aug 18 Yes I was terrific thanks
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KirbyStriker added 11:03 - Aug 18 I had a sore throat which is more than can be said for our captain, due to the fact he doesnt talk
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penguinsrus added 11:03 - Aug 18 i dont think they have a phobie off portman road i think its the fact that delainy and tommy smith are SiiiIT lol i didnt make it to the game but i saw the goals on tv and every goal they seemed to give up expeshaly delainey , the midfield and chopra get them back in the game and then they mess it up , yeh southamptom were good but if the defence had been solid it would off been a diff result just like the norwich game last year . chops creswell JET andrews martin , stand out players this season , rest off you pull ur socks up .

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randomblue added 11:04 - Aug 18 The atmosphere when we scored the second goal was awesome! It was like the Arsenal game last season. I wish ever game could be like that! League games aren't the same since they dismantled and reconstructed the North Stand!!! Get the samba band there every week - they make some noise and might get everyone going!!!!
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cornishnick added 11:06 - Aug 18 I just don't think some of the players are hungry enough. Need to look down the lower leagues more.
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rosseden added 11:14 - Aug 18 chops creswell JET andrews martin stand out players this season ironic how 4 of them are PJ acquisitions, and one was outcast by the former management team. I still think he needs to buy the rest of a team in...... leadbitter can go, scotland can go, with the exception of the younger lads the rest are squad players and back up at best....
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Pessimistic added 11:28 - Aug 18 Paul Jewell is trying his utmost to turn things around and he is right, there are too many passengers in the team for comfort. One in fact is too many. Bring back Shane O"Connor, Jamie Peters and Luke Hyam and let's take it from there. Give Jack Ainsley a go at the back too if necessary because anything is better than we we've got at the moment at the back - with the notable exception of Aaron Creswell who has been a revelation so far.

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jas0999 added 11:41 - Aug 18 We deserve much better than you Jewell! Since you have been in charge results have been considerably worse at home than under Jim and Roy! I didn't think that would be possible!!
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TheWeapon added 11:44 - Aug 18 I agree with belsteadbill. Our team may have been aload of tripe but I had a cracking game! Not that I was able to tell people about the game as I had lost my voice. The lads need to step up to the plate or do one! Roll on saturday! Smith not to start, that's my prediction.
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clive_baker added 11:47 - Aug 18 To be fair, it was pretty noisy in the 2nd really until they scored their 4th. When JET scored i really thought we were on for a great comeback. At least we showed a bit of guts but we were beaten but a better and well organised outfit. PJ is right, we looked scared to play at home, hopefully Saturday we can make it 6 points from 4 games and kick start a little run up the table. Southampton was always going to be tough, they'll be right up there at the end of the season. Hull was more disappointing for me although they didn't deserve the win.

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daniel9624 added 12:01 - Aug 18 jas0999...... No wait not even gonna bother
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tomisamos added 12:09 - Aug 18 Well said, daniel9624
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smarty55 added 12:25 - Aug 18 Scotland is just not good enough for this level any more. I would rather see Priskin start, but he prob wouldn't score either!
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randomblue added 12:33 - Aug 18 daniel9624 tomisamos - bravo!
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MathieandMarshall added 12:44 - Aug 18 have to agree that the crowd reaction after half time was spot on. I hate the booing, moaning mentality. The noise created after half time (up until they scored the 4th) definately spured the players on and the more effort the players put in the louder we got. SUPPORTING the players is clearly the way forward, not jumping on their backs every mistake.
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MathieandMarshall added 12:47 - Aug 18 Also... I witnessed in the North stand that there are many small groups forming, some younger lads trying to start new chants that are rubbished and moaned at by the older lads. We need to remember that we are all there for the same reason. To cheer the boys on to 3 points. lets all join in together for the cause rather than this new school / old school rubbish! rant over. COYB!

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Mark added 12:47 - Aug 18 We need to wake up and realise that Keane blew away millions of pounds, leaving the club with a group of massively overpaid players with nominal transfer values if that. The team could well have been going down, then that squad lost three key players: Gareth McAuley, David Norris and Connor Wickham. Jewell has not spent £10M+ like Keane, or even half the £8.1M Wickham money. No, he has had to pick up free transfers and spend wisely. All three of his cash signings: Cresswell, Emmanuel-Thomas and Chopra look good value for money BUT even if they turn out well it does not automatically turn us into a promotion team. That may take years if Jewell isn't given the money to spend. Just as a reminder to those who think Jewell is worse than "Roy", let's remind ourselves of the start to Keane's first season in charge with the side he build for multi-millions of pounds: 9th Aug Coventry 3 Ipswich 1 15th Aug Ipswich 0 Leicester 0 18th Aug Ipswich 1 Crystal Pal 3 22nd Aug West Brom 2 Ipswich 0 29th Aug Ipswich 1 Preston 1 12th Sep Middlesbrough 3 Ipswich 1 15th Sep Ipswich 1 Nottingham F 1 19th Sep Doncaster 3 Ipswich 3 26th Sep Ipswich 0 Newcastle 4 29th Sep Sheff Utd 3 Ipswich 3 3rd Oct Barnsley 2 Ipswich 1 17th Oct Ipswich 1 Swansea 1 20th Oct Ipswich 1 Watford 1 24th Oct Plymouth 1 Ipswich 1 31st Oct Ipswich 1 Derby 0 Remember that NIGHTMARE? At least we won 3-0 at Bristol City just over a week ago, so don't have to wait for Halloween for our first win!

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brogansnose added 13:18 - Aug 18 Sometimes, as supporters, we rip ourselves apart as not being vocal enough and there is definately some truth in that but Jewell is right in saying that there are lots of clubs out there who would be wading into a performance like Tuesday's who in football folklore have more voiciferous support than us. Even during Keanes reign there was little negativity from the stands and while we were continually losing at the start of his first full season we were still behind the team. Anyone remeber the crowd response at the Watford game when we snatched a draw from the jaws of victory ? We were spot on. We may not be the best but we are certainly not the worst, especially in this Sky, corporate, post Hillborough era. I have always maintained that Town supporters will always get behind the team when they see some commitment, passion and effort on the pitch because I don't know about you, I struggle to just stand there and blithely cheer a team of alleged professionals during something like that first half tradgedy.

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nkotb_sect5 added 13:20 - Aug 18 Mark .... Very nicely put. Cannot believe the trash posted today by almost all the others. What are these children like on Christmas day?
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petieboy2011 added 13:28 - Aug 18 Agreed with randomblue - get the Samba band back to get the atmosphere going, and also coz some of the ladies were quite tasty!!
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randomblue added 13:35 - Aug 18 Ha ha - petieboy2011 - I think I'm busted there!!!!
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Lightningboy added 13:47 - Aug 18 At the end of the day it's down to the players attitude - Which is why they can all raise their game to beat Arsenal at home on the telly and then let their standards drop for "lesser" games. They need to realise that every game is important.
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bluerealist added 16:44 - Aug 18 I've been away this week & missed Tuesday's game but I can't help thinking that Paul Jewell is the wrong man for the job! What's that, twice in 4 homeleague games we've conceded 5 ??? I know there are a lot of Keane haters on here but his team never let in 5 at home! What we need is for the players to show some guts and not let teams like Southampton walk all over us! They are a re-hashed div 3 side - we have now got some proven players like Bowyer and Chopra who should be setting an example. I cannot believe how some of you think it's OK to say Jewell needs time - good managers like Warnock get immediate results with the players at his disposal! we need to demand better and demand that Clegg either appoints a manager that gets or results or walks himself!

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OrkneyBlue added 18:32 - Aug 18 Is the sensible thing really to get rid of PJ, I mean really? Can you imagine what kind of reaction the players would've had if RK was still in charge? The whole squad bar a few would've been on the transfer list and the old 'they'll never play for the club again' rubbish would've been spouted. I know what he was trying to achieve by saying that, and he would've been used to that at Man Utd, but we aren't Man Utd and it just didn't work did it. In some ways though PJ's reaction is similar, he still suggested in the press that some of the players don't care as much as others. The main difference though is the b0ll0cking, presumably, happened in private and instead of threatening them with the heave ho, in public anyway, he seems like he wants to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in and make them better along with the odd signing instead of being bored of a player, ignoring him and going to ME again with his hands begging for more cash for another overpriced player. This doesn't mean I think he can do no wrong by the way, but come on get a grip folks we are 3 games into his first full season. If by end of the transfer window, we see no more recruits and say by mid/end of October it really is clear to see that we are going no where then fair enough, maybe, maybe a rethink is needed but even then he wouldn't be anywhere near a year in charge.

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thechangingman added 18:54 - Aug 18 Nice touch Paul - get the fans onside in a 'them-and-us' scenario so that 'we' can all say how exasperated we are, blame the players and good ol' Paul keeps his easy pay-chequ... oh, I mean - keeps doing a wonderful job for this club that he so deeply loves... *Sigh*
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