Blues boss Paul Jewell felt his side deserved more than just a point from their trip to Crystal Palace. Jason Scotland’s second half goal saw Town to a 1-1 draw after Chris Martin had put the Eagles in front during a first period in which the Blues were very much on top.

Jewell said: “I thought we dominated the first half completely. They had a chance for Darren Ambrose and the goal, but I thought we were outstanding football-wise. The only thing that was missing was that killer instinct.

“We had 10 crosses and 10 shots as the away team. We passed the ball really well. The only thing that was missing was a goal. I don’t think it was a fair result, but you’re never disappointed when you come from behind.”

He felt the first half performance was one of his team’s best passing displays of the campaign: “I don’t know what the possession stats were but sometimes we were overpassing it. There were some quality balls going across the box, but we didn’t have enough devilment.

“I know we’re talking about a world class striker, but someone like Shearer would have had a hat-trick today with the balls going across the box.

“We’ve got to want to score more goals and get across people in the box. Arran’s made a good save at 0-0 from Ambrose but other than that and the goal, I don’t think they’ve really had a shot.”

The Blues boss says his players have got to be prepared to put their heads in where it hurts inside the penalty area: “To score goals you’ve got to get a cut eye - you get your just rewards if you’re brave.

"I’m not going to be too critical of the players but the only thing missing, certainly in the first half was that. We had 10 crosses go in from those crosses I don’t think we made the keeper make a save.

“We had plenty of shots, twice as many as them but, even though we’ve scored a lot of goals this year, in the last five or six games we’ve struggled because we’ve had lots of possession but we haven’t made it count.”

Jewell had praise for scorer Scotland, who he believed came close to a goal in the first half when his volley was stopped by Julian Speroni: “Their keeper made a fantastic save from Jason in the first half when he tipped it around the post and it was a really good goal.

“I thought we had our worst spell just after we scored. They’re a hard team to play against Palace. I think Dougie’s done a great job here. They hit you on the break and counter-attack with their pace, but I thought we played well today.”

The Liverpudlian had praise for central midfield pairing Grant Leadbitter and Andy Drury, who he said ran the first half: “I though Grant and Andy Drury were terrific in the middle of the park. We got the ball wide, we got crosses in. I couldn’t be critical of them in the first half other than that we were a goal down and asking them how much we want to score goals.”

Jewell says he has no new injuries from today’s game but that keeper Richard Wright tore his cartilage in training: “He had a scan on Thursday afternoon and it revealed a little nick in his cartilage and looks like he’ll probably need a scope.”

Wright would appear unlikely to feature again this season with his third spell at the club set to come to an end this summer.

Palace boss Dougie Freedman felt the game ended in the right scoreline: “I thought it was a fair result. We’re a little bit disappointed after taking the lead.

“But I felt that Ipswich had a very experienced side out there today and it was hard to cope with them at times, very clever movement from them.

“Maybe when you look back on it it was a good point. It stopped the rut that we’ve been in for the last three or four games.”

Photo: Action Images

alfromcol added 19:48 - Apr 14 TimmyH Very true, the start of next season is the key. Provided we get the defensive players we require and a No1 keeper, then I am very optimistic that we can keep the moaners off this site and have a season to remember. I hope that come October I can say 'told you so'
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buryblue77 added 19:48 - Apr 14 Timmy, I'm putting a deadline of late Autumn/early winter on the PJ reign, but hopefully by next season things will have improved and the consistency we've seen recently will carry on until next year, if only because: a, I do like PJ and want him to succeed and b, another manager change could mean more upheaval and another period of transition. You're right though, for some reason we just don't seem to be able to spend money, apart from Leadbitters recent form most of our big money signings over the last few years have been average at best (apart from Martin based on this years form) How I would love to see another Hreidarsson or Stewart, they were two big money signings who were worth it.

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TimmyH added 20:03 - Apr 14 @bury - I think the problem is that we all want a 'quick fix' and let's face it some of the signings have been rather desparate. I know everybody is talking about 1x this 2xthat 1 that, but here again lies the problem, we could be again changing the team too much at a time and only find us back at square 1 (beginning of this season), I personally think we should stick with the nucleus of this team at present with minor changes. We do need another goalkeeper and a centre back. If we need time for the team to gel then surely logic would tell us not to delve agin too much into the transfer market? Its almost a catch 22 situation, be shrewd delve wisely over the summer and strengthen the positions to a degree with a largely settled starting 11.

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buryblue77 added 20:19 - Apr 14 Yep, you're correct timmy, the core of the squad is there, I would say four players are needed, a new GK, RB (Carlos has been great and awful, but mostly really good considering he's not a natural RB) CB and another striker. Hopefully JB will find his form again next season and he'll be like a new signing.
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Tractamatt added 20:22 - Apr 14 I was at the game and apart from needing a striker the most obvious thing for me was the amount of space that they had to run into on our right because carlos kept vanishing, a better team would have hurt us this way but overall cresswell, drury,martin and scotland played well and ALB had a safe enough game and could not really be faulted for their goal.This summer a striker and a right back plus a goal keeper are of the utmost importance.

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Crock added 20:31 - Apr 14 If we did enough to win why didn't we win then???
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BuckieBlue added 21:35 - Apr 14 Agree with TimmyH. Surely results since WHU at home show a mixture of team gelling & individuals (including PJ) upping their performances? Too many changes and we're back to square one. I don't see why we shouldn't continue on this run next season....if we do, we are well on road for play off push.
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buryblue77 added 21:56 - Apr 14 @Crock, because we simply weren't clinical enough in front of goal, improved as Scotland is I doubt very much he would ever be a '20 a season' man and Chopra seems a bit too inconsistent. 15 goals maybe, but not quite good enough for the magic 20 and that's one player we're still lacking, but easier said than done to find him, especially as I don't think PJ will have much to spend this summer.

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alfromcol added 22:31 - Apr 14 Crock Football, dear boy, football!!
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ClassyCranson added 23:59 - Apr 14 I was there and a draw was a fair result. Palace who seem to have suffered from their league cup semi final loss were there for the taking. Not for the first time this season PJ is putting some spin on his post match analysis. We have got the makings of a good team but we do need some additions particualarly defensively. We should be far higher up the table but PJ lacks tactical skill and his decision to keep playing the Boro player is poor management. Arc - I agree with most your comments but don't agree about what you said about Richard Wright. Wrighty, a product of the youth team cost us nothing and we sold him £6 million quid. Not only that but he gave us 6 years good service. A numer of great performances for example the 2 - 0 win against Coventry in 1995, the Wembley play off final win in 2000 (which you quite rightly said) but for me his best performance was against Blackburn at Ewood Park in 1996 in the fa cup. That night he performed heroically with superb saves particular from Shearer. I have never seen a performance like that from any Ipswich keeper and who can forget David Sheepshanks running from the directors box to salute the fans after Paul Mason's goal deep into extra time gave us a superb 1 - 0 win. Those were the days.

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captaincrunch added 00:46 - Apr 15 Lets face it, it doesn't really matter all that much what result we got but since PJ sorted out the tactics after the transfer window I have high hopes for next season based on our results and improved defensive record since then. We did well to stick with the cheeky scouser and I would be very surprised to see us finish bottom half next season and would only be happy with 6th place or above to be honest. I am of course assuming that we will be bringing in the right kind of players this time round in the summer and won't have to worry about players going back to their main club every few weeks!

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mulligan78 added 00:52 - Apr 15 Jas, how are we gonna get a win and two draws from our last two games?
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Keaneish added 04:27 - Apr 15 Happy witha point and had a point down in the predictions we all started doing early March. With the 3rd least goals conceded at home and a top 6 worthy home record, i fail to see how an away draw at Palace is anything other than positive. Birmingham D, Millwall W, Doncaster W = 64 points will do me for what has been a year of rebuilding.
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airliner added 06:33 - Apr 15 The scoreline unfortunately does not reflect this Paul? The table does not lie, we are mid table mediocre. Reading had the guts to get someone of Jason Roberts quality in and then went on a run and certain promotion. What does Clegg do, gets no one in for us in the transfer window and we get no where. Diddly squat. You get what you pay for so therein lies the truth. We have an owner and CEO who really dont want to take a risk here and there and we will still be here in the championship in 5 years unless they chance their arm now and again. Look at it this way: Roberts @ £30000 per week for 8 weeks =£58 million. What would you do ?

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bobble added 07:06 - Apr 15 coming from behind is heaven o shiney one
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DiamondGezzer added 07:10 - Apr 15 Have to say, that with a small amount of tweaking [ we all know where ] and I really do have high hopes for next season. The quality of football now being played by the boys is unrecognisable from not that long ago, making the entertainment value has rise 100% from the dross we were watching. Improvement !
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alfromcol added 08:14 - Apr 15 DiamondGezzer I agree 100%
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newboy added 08:16 - Apr 15 You idiot i was always told just 'doing enough' was never enough do us a favour and jog if you think think just doing enough is good enough you are worse than i thought
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brittaniaman added 09:16 - Apr 15 I can see what Jewillio is doing by playing his strongest team,, he is trying to beat his last seasons position of 13th and 62 points ?? so he can say to Marcus Evans there is an improvement however small it may be.. But from the last 6 games we have collected the sum of 6pts. ???? and he keeps saying we were the better team and not getting the results !!!! WELL let us hope we can get the results NEXT SEASON Jewellio !!!! because then we will be the longest serving team in this division (not a very good record hey)???? Chopra to get his 20 goal a season has got to get 2 hatricks in the next 3 games WOW ???? After all that I have renewed my season ticket so COYB !!!!!!!!

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RYITFC added 09:35 - Apr 15 We didn't do enough to deserve the 3 points, what was concerning was the fact we dominated possession in the first half but didn't create a clear cut chance where as Palace had 2, 1 in which they scored. We looked like we lacked imagination and ideas in the final third, if it wasn't for Scotland's wonder strike we would have come away we nothing. It's been the story of the last few games, it's not just defensive reinforcements needed in the summer.

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jackele added 09:40 - Apr 15 js what a gaol
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roytheboy added 13:21 - Apr 15 Apparently we didn't do quite enough to win, let's hope that we are not hearing similar comments throughout next season, strengthen the defence and do something about the sharp end too, it's not quite sharp enough at this time.
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tellitasiseeit added 13:37 - Apr 15 Richard Wright injury is more serious than was first thought .He is undergoing surgery on his Knee.So I think we have seen the last of Richard playing any more game's for Ipswich? Was hoping to see him perhaps play in towns new Kit in the last game of this Season,Would have been a fitting send off for him in front of his Ipswich supporters . COYB
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Keaneish added 14:14 - Apr 15 airliner - you're wrong. We were in for Jason Roberts and he decided to stay and fight for his place. When that never materialsed he looked elsewhere, elsewhere at a time when Chopra was in a rich vein of form. That's football! Some people on here need to start seeing the wood for the trees. While we all had high hopes for this season, it has still been a year of rebuilding. If you want to look at Reading as an example to pit PJ against then look at where we are after PJ has had 3 years in charge, the same length of time as McDermott! There's a mentality among a lot of you on here that we can rebuild a squad over the summer, have it gel instantly and be an immediate success. Get real people! Some of you will say, 'but we have high hopes for our club' - we all do but some of us seem to be able to see the bigger picture and realise that a year is nothing in the grand scheme of time given the history of ITFC!

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Blue041273 added 14:28 - Apr 15 Tellitasiseeit Don't write RW off quite yet. OK we will probably try to sign a new GK for next season leaving ALB as the back up. But whose to say that ALB will be happy with that. If it was me I might be inclined to look elsewhere. We need a backup GK who is happy to accept being backup, even a no. 3 who has to understand that he may not get any games at all. Who better than RW to fulfil either role? It's not like he has been deluged with other offers which might be more acceptable to him in the last couple of years. In any event we will not be playing in the new strip until next season so that little part of the dream is dead anyway.

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