Striker Freddie Sears says the Town squad still believe they can make the play-offs, despite Saturday’s dismal 1-0 home defeat to Rotherham United.

Leon Best netted the only goal of the game as the Millers climbed out of the relegation zone, while the Blues remain eighth, but now four points - plus goal difference - from the top six.

“We didn’t do enough to get something from the game,” Sears admitted. “Rotherham have a good manager and they have picked up some points of late so their confidence is high.

“Even so, these are the games we should be winning at home. It is a big blow, especially as the teams around us won. We have to keep going and coming back strong.

“The gaffer will get us working as we have a tough run of games coming up. We have to stick together as a club and come out firing. We believe we can still get in the play-offs.

“We looked better in the second half when we played with a bit more width. The first half was a bit tight. We played down the middle, which suited Rotherham.

“They played Greg Halford just in front of the defence and it suited them, we couldn’t break them down.

“Goals change games and once Rotherham got in front it was hard for us. We made changes at the break and came out better in the second but couldn’t break them down.

“We had a couple of chances but we need to create more chances for the frontmen. We need to get more balls in the box for the strikers. But there is no point in pointing fingers, we need to stick together.”

There were boos and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ at the final whistle, but the 26-year-old hopes the fans will be back on side when the Blues get back to action at Wolves after the international break and in the back-to-back home games against Charlton and Brentford which follow the visit to Molineux.

“As a player you hear the fans and it is not nice but you have to get on with it,” the former Colchester and West Ham man continued.

“The fans have been brilliant so for them to give us a bit of stick now is probably fair enough.

“Hopefully they will be supporting us next time round. The fans are disappointed but we are too — we have not come off laughing and joking, everyone is down in the dressing room. “

Rotherham captain Kirk Broadfoot said: “Mick McCarthy’s sides are always difficult to beat. We had a good structure, we contained them for most of the game and we looked dangerous. We were comfortable and overall we deserved the points.”

Town’s U21s are in action at home to Nottingham Forest at Portman Road this evening with David McGoldrick and trialist Keiran Morphew both expected to play (KO 7pm).

Meanwhile, former Town skipper Jon Walters was named Senior International Player of the Year at the FAI Soccer Awards last night.

Elsewhere, Ipswich Town Ladies beat AFC Sudbury Ladies 1-0 in the Suffolk Womens' Cup semi-final after extra-time at Greens Meadow, Stowmarket.

Photo: Action Images

ITFCGloryDays added 09:20 - Mar 21 Living in dreamland
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marcus1642 added 09:36 - Mar 21 No we can't Freddie.
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brittaniaman added 09:37 - Mar 21 If MM. continues to pick his out of form Favourites then we stand no chance of going forward with this club !!! When the team was announced on the bar screen Sat, you could have heard a pin drop before the Gasps of amazement !!! Well half time doors were slamming from angry frustrated fans who just could not hide there Anger !!!! especially after Tuesdays first half with that same team, and then at the end of Saturdays game, MM. had the cheek to say he got his Selection WRONG !!!! The fans could have chosen a better team than he put out ??? Stubbon Mick would never resign, and as for Evans extending his contract is unbelievable, why oh why Evans could not wait until the summer to see how this season panned out is anybody guess ?? So we have got to put up with another 3yrs. of this so called football unless there are some dramatic changes

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blueandwhite92 added 09:46 - Mar 21 Douglas is the luckiest bloke. How on earth does he consistently get picked in the starting 11
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EatonBlue added 09:47 - Mar 21 On Saturday Freddie looked like the only player with that belief.
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essexboy added 09:53 - Mar 21 LOOK,if MM had set his stool out correctly in August with the right tactics,and not square pegs in round holes,and MAYBE a small investment from the owner we could have been in the promotion hunt,instead of now chasing shadows.I'm always optimistic,but I feel the chance has slipped away now.Shame,but true.
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TR11BLU added 09:54 - Mar 21 @brittaniaman Could not agree with a post more...spot on. Forget the play offs, Mick has blown it. mathematically yes we can, but we had to win those five at home and Dino picked a back seven. Utter To$$er, go now Mick ... #
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Lightningboy added 09:58 - Mar 21 Really gets on my t1ts when players come out saying we can do this and that but continually fail to deliver - not having a go at Sears personally as he's been a brilliant signing but like a few others constantly played out of position thanks to the stupidity of our manager. Sadly i'm past caring about promotion under McCarthy (as I was under Keane and Jewell)..our owner needs to get himself on here for a few days and see what our fans really think about what's happened to our club since he took us over - here's a hint Marcus,the biggest mistake you made was getting shot of a guy who was blue through and through and had the right philosophy about how this club should go about entertaining and respecting it's fans..btw,his initials were JM.

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bluelodgeblue added 10:12 - Mar 21 Evans does things on the cheap (Academy??) , god help us if we did make the playoffs which if we look at it in the cold light of day we do not deserve!
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sirbenofmorlingshire added 10:12 - Mar 21 Have been a Mick supporter for a long time. He's a steady manager, experienced and does a job in regards to stability and getting teams in the promotion pack. HOWEVER for all the Mick out brigade there is a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed in my opinion, and this is MARCUS EVANS!!! Before we all go shouting for new managers and coaching staff, lets address the guy who bought our club and ask just what is his plan??? From what I can see, this mystery man has bought us, yes saved us from going to the dogs (to a certain extent), but what's his plan, WHY DOES HE OWN US???? Thanks Marcus for backing us all the way to STABILITY, but you've also created a stagnant, boring, nothing club. WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS PLAN??? The golden land of the Premier League is not that far away, and with the right investment and people, we can do a Watford, Bournemouth… but with this guy investing bare minimum, showing NO AMBITION, NO DESIRE, this is what we get. A manager who fits the ‘hold us steady' remit, a club that picks up the scraps in the transfer windows (if we're lucky), and the embarrassing record of being the longest serving team in the Championship. So where Mick takes blame for poor team choices and I concur with the boo's and jeers on this front, it's deserved; but actually what the hell do we expect??? You can't polish a turd, and Mick is a very experienced turd polisher, but only he can do so much before he feels as bored and fed up as us with the lack of AMBITION and OPPORTUNITY shown by the owner. For me, yeah I'm bored of Mick's excuses, but I suspect so I he!!! For me, and for what it's worth, the main problem is the owner and just what the bloody hell does he want from us, it doesn't make sense. Sack Mick and we get another drone to tick ME's ‘keep us up' criteria and that'll be it. Ask yourself the question, if Mick had the support from the chairman in regards to money to spend, would he be an awful manager… no he wouldn't. Like I say, Mick is chief turd polisher at Ipswich and it's wearing thin for him and us! MARCUS EVANS — what are you doing???? What do you want????? Invest or sell us!!!! We are a stagnant, nothing club, and that starts at the very top!

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jonbull88 added 10:16 - Mar 21 Yes we can, 8 games to go 4 point gap it is do able especially as we have to play Wednesday and Derby still. People who don't believe what's the point of following football if you give up with so many games left? If we were 2nd 4 points off top or 4 points from safety would you still want town to "give up"?
0

fents71 added 10:27 - Mar 21 Mathematically yes, Realistically no!
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Woodbridgian added 10:37 - Mar 21 Someone said they only saw the highlights on TV! .....That must of been the shortest programme in the history of broadcasting!
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wherescounago added 10:45 - Mar 21 Lets face it to get into the play off and then get promoted you need at least 6 to 8 players with Premier League qualities, at present we have none! I know some people will say Freddie or maybe Scusey has the quality but do they? The only plus I can see with this article is that he is still dreaming.
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12th_Man added 10:58 - Mar 21 I don't think so freddie but you keep thinking that
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JewellintheTown added 11:05 - Mar 21 Never thought I'd say this, but, I'm not sure I'd want us to go up after this seasons performances, even if by a miracle we managed it. Would feel we robbed a more deserving side of a place that was just unlucky not to get there. Not going to happen so I'm sadly resigned to the team getting ready for next season, hopefully with lessons learnt. Will still support fully until the season end though, as we all should.

0

MGNottsBlue added 11:18 - Mar 21 Actually yes we could make the play-offs and we do have some decent players, the problem is that if MM continues to pick boring defensive teams to counteract the opposition rather than set us up to take the game too them then no we won't..!
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tallguy6767 added 11:19 - Mar 21 No we can't !!!!
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Lathers added 11:29 - Mar 21 MM has got the best out of a very average bunch of players, but finally he can squeeze nothing more out. He has done an incredible job with the players he inherited and brought in, but with the exception of maybe a couple, he has brought in average work-horses. It appears that MM only knows the one way to manager, but ITFC needs a change of direction in the summer. I've said it on here before - I would take the risk of bringing in a new manager who plays football the right way and can persuade our owner to spend some money. Being bang average every week, never going to go up, never going to go down........ playing an awful brand of football. Something has to change..... PLEASE.....

3

78ShadesOfBlue added 12:02 - Mar 21 He's talking about the parallel universe! ;) :D
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jas0999 added 12:16 - Mar 21 If by some miracle we achieved promotion, it's a sorry state of affairs and demonstrates how poor the league is. We are poor. We have hard working average players with little quality who are overachieving. However, this is some excellent spin from the club. Evans I'm sure is concerned by the boos and shouting of what a load of rubbish particularly when season ticket sales are at stake. So what better than send out one of only two saleable assets to pull the wool over our eyes. The decision to increase season ticket prices albeit by a couple of pounds is also looking like a poor one now.

1

woohoo added 12:41 - Mar 21 Well, I would hope that the squad do believe that the playoffs are still a possibility - which mathematically, they still are, of course. .
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battyblue added 12:49 - Mar 21 MICK McCarthy .MICK McCarthy,,,OUT OUT OUT MICK McCARTHY MICK McCARTHY...OUT OUT OUT
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dannyrr added 12:50 - Mar 21 I'm not sure if it is too late to make enough changes to help us get into the playoffs. Every time we get within touching distance we play teams we should be beating and we either draw or lose. We set out to defend the game and usually get caught out every time. Our set pieces are abysmal and I'm not sure apart from corners if we've managed to score from one yet. Pitman went for goal and it went miles above the bar but at least it was goal ward and not straight to the keeper. The quickly taken short one led to the opposition goal and like our other free kicks pointless. I like the others couldn't believe it when I saw the team. How bad does it have to get before its noticed that a combination of Skusey Hyamsy and Douggy does not work. The others Foley and Feeney would have been better options if we wanted to win. If players were played to counter the opposition instead of being played because they won the game the last game- how is that logical? I'd like to believe we could make the playoffs but they're getting further away at the moment and another team selection like that on Saturday will ensure others end up in the playoffs. We don't have a bad team just the wrong selection and inept tactics. I can understand the boos but it was probably a WTF in relation to the starting lineup.

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MrDiddle added 12:52 - Mar 21 "our owner needs to get himself on here for a few days and see what our fans really think about what's happened to our club since he took us over" - haha this comment is priceless!! Why on earth would Marcus Evans would want to log onto TWTD and read comments from a bunch of miserable whinging fair-weather fans? Regardless of whether we win, lose or draw the same sad cretins come on here week in week out to purposefully slate the entire club. It's absolutely pathetic and if you still think you can publicly slate the club and call yourselves supporters then you're sadly deluded.

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