Lambert: Staying Up Not Mission Impossible Saturday, 23rd Feb 2019 17:53 Town boss Paul Lambert insists staying up isn’t now mission impossible for the Blues, despite Joe Garner’s last-gasp leveller denying them all three points at Wigan. Lambert was pleased with his 10-man team’s valiant display and felt they might have been in front prior to Jonas Knudsen’s red card for pulling back Leon Clarke. “I thought we played ever so well, with 10 men for the majority of the game. I thought we were excellent,” Lambert said. “I thought we started the game brilliantly, I thought we could have been one or two up. "We started the game well and then Jonas was red-carded. We regrouped at half-time and we defended really strongly but had one lapse. “I thought Flynn [Downes] should have done better, he should have stopped the cross, but he’ll learn. He’s a young kid, who has been really, really good for me since I’ve come in but you have to be good every single time and I think he should have stopped the cross.” He added: “The lads were great, I couldn’t ask any more from them, 10 men for the majority of the game. We looked threatening and I think we should have been one or two-up at the beginning of the game. “I think Nolan has a great chance with his header, Judge has a chance, Myles came in at the back post. We had really good opportunities to score but it never materialised and then the red card gave them the advantage. “But even then I wasn’t up there thinking the goal was coming or anything like that. There were one or two little moments, which is normal but I think Flynn’s definitely got to do better to stop the cross.” Lambert had no argument about Knudsen’s dismissal: “I think the referee had a good game. If Jonas is the last man then the rule says he has to go, so I don’t have too many complaints. He’s pulled the guy and if he’s the last man he has to go.” The Blues boss felt the situation which led to the Dane’s foul shouldn’t have been allowed to occur. “I think he got caught, it should never have happened,” he added. “We were so comfortable in the game. “I thought we were really comfortable with the game and one long ball should never really beat you. But I think he got caught under it, Jonas, then tried to retrieve it and then has the tug.” Lambert had praise for goalscorer Will Keane and said he didn’t know the seriousness of the second-half injury which forced the frontman off. “I think has been playing fantastically for us since he’s come in,” he continued. “I don’t know the extent of his injury at the minute but it looks like his hamstring so we’ll have to wait and see. But I think he was playing excellent for us the whole game.” Lambert watched the game from the directors’ box as he served the first match of this two-game touchline ban. “It’s not great up there but I need to do it again next week,” he reflected. “I’d rather be down there on the touchline. But I’ve had to sit up there and it’s not great.” He admitted that not holding on for two further points which would have closed the gap is a blow but says other clubs in the relegation fight will feel similarly. “Yes, but Wigan were saying the same, so were Bolton, so were Reading, they never made any ground,” he said. “We’re playing well, we’ll have an absolutely next Saturday but we’re certainly playing well, that’s for sure.” Asked whether staying up is now mission impossible for the Blues, who remain nine points plus goal difference from safety with only 12 left to play, Lambert insisted: “No, not at all.” Latics boss Paul Cook admitted the game didn't progress as he had expected it to after Town were reduced to 10 men and had praise for the Blues. “Ipswich started the game very well," he said."They came with attacking intent playing Judge just behind Keane and Quaner. “Obviously the sending off has big influence on the game. You feel at that point that the likelihood is that we should hopefully go on and win the game. “Obviously with Ipswich getting the goal very quickly the game was set up where Ipswich would defend very deep and narrowly, and rightly so. And they frustrated us for long, long periods. “Everybody will have a different opinion, but I didn’t really feel we looked like scoring, if I’m being truthful. “But the goal came and it was a massive relief but I think Ipswich must take great credit out of the game because I thought they were excellent.” Asked whether the game illustrated that there are good sides from top to bottom in the Championship, the former Portsmouth manager added: “Look at the quality of player in Ipswich’s team and you can tell that for sure. "It’s a point, it’s not what we all wanted. We had a good crowd in today and certainly the relief in the stadium was there for all to see. “It would have been lovely for us to pinch that winner, and that’s not being disrespectful to Ipswich because we didn’t deserve it, but sometimes when things go for you, it goes for you, but unfortunately that wasn’t to be.” Regarding goalscorer Garner, he said: “It was always something we wanted to do to get two lads at the top end of the pitch, especially when you think that the best way to score would be crosses in the box. "Joe’s a proven target man/goalscorer. You know when balls go in the box he’ll be at the back post and that was the job he was sent on to do and Joe did it with aplomb, it was great for him to get the goal.”
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