Town boss Mick McCarthy says his team has got to get out of the bad habit of giving teams one or two-goal starts. Former Blue Jordan Rhodes netted in the 12th and 16th minutes - the first a penalty - to give Blackburn Rovers a 2-0 victory over the Blues at Ewood Park.

“It’s become a bit of a bad habit of ours giving teams a goal start or a two-goal start and it’s got to stop,” a frustrated Blues manager said.

Town’s progress under McCarthy has been based on defensive solidity but the Blues have now kept just two clean sheets in 22 games in all competitions and only four teams have conceded more than their total of 17 in the Championship this season.

He says that the defensive frailties aren't a result of the Blues now offering more going forward.

“It’s not because we’ve got more of a threat, that’s for sure,” he insisted. “It’s not only one thing, I can put my finger on a lot of things that are wrong but I can’t just give you one answer as to why we are defending the way we are.

“I’ve been at pains to try and put it right this week but we didn’t start well, and I have to say they started well.

“They played like us when we were in our pomp last season and playing well 4-4-2. They got about us, people were blocking things and stopping things and stopping us playing. And they did it better than we did.”

Town had four strikers on for the final half hour but McCarthy, admitted it was always going to be tough once the home side were two goals in front.

“They got their tails up from the start and to get two goals it was always going to be difficult to get them back,” he added.

“Just putting on attackers doesn’t always work but if you’re two down you really need to find a solution.”

Regarding Jordan Rhodes, whose two goals take his overall total against his old club to six in six matches, he said: “He was outstanding, his all-round performance.

“He messed us around, he bumped us, he nudged us, he blocked things. Don’t forget his goals because they have won the game, but his all-round performance was outstanding.”

McCarthy didn’t have too many arguments about the penalty decision: “It’s one of them. He’s not going to go down if he’s anywhere else other than in the penalty area but I don’t blame him and Larsen gave him the chance.

“I’ve no complaints about it, I’m looking at it and he shouldn’t have been allowed to get into that position and fair play to him for driving in the box, so not really.”

Ryan Fraser missed out with an injury which McCarthy says isn’t too serious: “He got a knock before the Leeds game, he had a bad ankle and he got another knock in training the other day.

"He had a scan and the scan’s clear but he’s just bruised bone, so he wasn’t fit for today."

However, McCarthy says the knock could force the on-loan AFC Bournemouth winger out of the Scotland U21 squad: “That’s a discussion that our physio’s got to have with them and I think he’s going to struggle for it.”

McCarthy confirmed that Jonas Knudsen was absent as the Dane is unwell: “He was poorly, he had diarrhoea and sickness.”

In his Ipswich Player HD interview the Town manager apologised to fans: "That was as poor as we have been in the three years I have been here and I feel sorry for our fans who watched that. That performance wasn’t good enough.”

Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer was delighted with both the result and his team’s overall display.

“I think it was probably the most complete performance since we’ve been in charge,” he enthused.

“I thought we came out of the traps ever so well, scored two goals very quickly and then continued to play some excellent stuff.

“We got to half-time and we knew the firepower that Ipswich have got and that we were going to be under the cosh in the second half and that proved to be the case, but we still created some great chances.

“But [I was pleased with] the resilience we showed and to come out of that game with a clean sheet.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Ipswich are going to be right up there this season, especially with the attacking options Mick’s got. At one stage he had all four strikers on the field.

“It’s very, very difficult to pick out any one individual, as I say it was the most complete team performance.”

Former Blues academy scholar Rhodes was once again a thorn in his old club’s side.

“Jordan is rightly going to get the plaudits for two goals again,” Bowyer said. “The header is a fantastic header, it really is.

“And the penalty, he’s the calmest lad on the planet when it comes to taking the penalty. He’s in a very good, rich vein of form.”

Photo: Action Images

bigjohno added 21:06 - Oct 4 Let's take the positives out of this game first 1, great support again from fans 2, ok there's nothing else. Why do we always have to have 2 defensive midfeilders in are teams , cant wait to see how mm fiddles it when hyams fit can he play all 3 won't that be exciteing
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yorksblue added 08:26 - Oct 5 Yet again, someone mentioning progress. Love to know what they've been watching. Is it videos of the good old days?
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coolcat added 22:04 - Oct 5 We looked stronger in the 2nd half - it was like someone flicked a switch. Strange as it may seem, but I think we've turned a corner on our bad run. We still have a relatively new squad that still needs to settle in which I think accounts for some erratic performances. I'm right behind Mick and the team and I'm sure these problems will be ironed out. It's not the 1st time we've had a bad run with Mick and got through it.

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