Cole Skuse believes going straight into an international break following the nightmare display in losing at home to Rotherham 13 days ago will have benefited him and his colleagues.

The midfielder said: “There are pros and cons to international breaks. A lot of people would say you want to bounce straight back into your next game to make amends for the defeat, but I thought it came at a good time.

"The gaffer gave the lads a couple of days off to recharge the batteries and we’ve all come back fresh this week and looked very sharp.”

Town’s display in going down 1-0 saw large sections of the Portman Road crowd turn on boss Mick McCarthy and his players — and Skuse confirmed that it wasn’t a game that was easy to erase from the memory bank.

He added: “You always have a few days, the Sunday and Monday, when you’re forever thinking over things, little bits in the game, but once I had the few days off with my kids — and the nagging wife — I only had her to concentrate on so it was forgotten about.

“I was desperate to get back in on Monday. It was nice to have a break but when we came in on Monday we were straight back at it — there was no easing our way back.”

Reflecting on the defeat by a much-improved Millers under new boss Neil Warnock, he said: “We were poor and I think Rotherham deserved to win the game.

"I think the fans are entitled to voice their opinions — I’ve always said that — because they are paying their hard-earned money for their season tickets.

“But while I acknowledge we were poor I don’t think you can take anything away from Rotherham.

"They are scrapping for their lives so they came and got their goal then sat back in to defend their lead very well. They deserved their win.

“Getting booed is never nice, of course not. You think about what the supporters are saying and their reaction. But it’s part and parcel of the game — you can’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.

“You try to stay on a bit of a plateau and look to bounce back next game. It was a bad day all round against Rotherham and the fans were entitled to voice what they voiced.

“We have not drastically changed our style of play from last season when we got into the play-offs.

"We have played some decent football, maybe not so much against Rotherham, but there have been times when we’ve played decent football and created good chances.

“We didn’t go and drastically change our style for that game but we didn’t get a result against a team lower in the league.

"That’s where a lot of frustration might have come from but we haven’t drastically changed out style of play in the three seasons that I have been here.”

Photo: Action Images

Kikapu added 11:13 - Apr 1 Whoops! I see another injury coming. Battered husband by angry wife.
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