George Burley, like the majority of supporters, feels that the Blues will have to perform a lot better than they did against Southampton today if they are to avoid relegation to the Nationwide League.

The Town boss says his players know that they have a difficult battle ahead: "The mood in the dressing room is that it will be very tough, and if we don't show more determination and grit than we did today then we will go down, it's as simple as that. We are a good passing team who like to play football, but you need to have all the elements there."

Burley says the Blues preparations in Cyprus were not to blame for the lacklustre performance against the Saints: "We prepared properly for this game, played last Saturday and knew it would be tight. Southampton work hard and get men behind the ball and don't give you time to lay, and overall we didn't match their commitment to closing people down."

Burley felt the first Southampton goal was unlucky: "The first goal was very unfortunate. Andy would have saved it but it took a wicked deflection, but the last two goals were poor defending, which we guilty of in the first half of the season. The first goal can be a deciding factor in the Premiership, and we were unfortunate the way it went against us."

Of the late penalty shout where the ball appeared to catch a Southampton hand Burley merely said: "The referee made what he thought was the right decision."

Burley added that the Blues had no new injury worries after today's match, although pre-match worry Chris Makin appeared to hobble off when replaced by Jermaine Wright.

Unsurprisingly Gordon Strachan was happy with his side's performance, although he felt that his team's win might have been in danger after Finidi George's goal: "I thought we might have a problem when they made it 2-1, but we showed bravery to keep playing and we got our reward with a magnificent goal. I did a Barry Fry and I apologise if that offended anyone, but it really was a fantastic goal.

"Before the game and at half-time I felt there would only be one goal in it. Rory Delap missed a good chance for us when he hit the post, and then another just after the break and I thought then we would be unlucky, but we were fantastic and brave in the way we tried to play."

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls