Blues defender James Wilson admitted the 1-0 loss at Sunderland was tough to take with Town having dominated the first half and having had a number of chances. The 30-year-old says no one at Portman Road is panicking despite a third successive defeat having seen Town drop out of the top six for the first time since the opening day of the season.

“Really tough,” the former Lincoln City and Sheffield United man said afterwards.

“I thought we played some really nice football in the first half and in the second half I think we had chances but it’s a tough place to come and when they’re on the front foot it’s difficult sometimes.

“It’s a tough one but I think there were a lot of positives to come from it definitely.”

With hindsight Wilson says the Blues should have been ready for the Black Cats’ second-half onslaught after Town had controlled the first period.

“Yes, we should have been, we should have weathered it better,” he reflected. “I don’t think we played half as well as we did in the first half in the second, so it’s frustrating.

“But they’re always going to have spells, especially here in front of a big crowd, and I think we did have some good chances in the second half so it wasn’t that we didn’t create ourselves. It’s frustrating.”

Regarding Chris Maguire’s winning goal in the 81st minute, Wilson said: “I think we can work on stopping that at source. I think there are things we can do to stop that but it was a good finish.”

Asked whether the mood in the dressing room after the game was flat, he said: “Not flat, more frustrated than anything. Flat’s not the right word, we’re still seventh in the league, we’ve still got 14 games to go, I think if we can put a run together then we’ll be right in amongst it, so I don’t think it’s flat.”

The centre-half says the biggest disappointment was not making the most of the chances created.

“Definitely,” he added. “I think things could have gone our way, there were a few decisions that didn’t go our way, that’s also frustrating but that seems to happen every week so that’s nothing new. But we need to take that out of it and do it ourselves.”

Saturday’s game was hardly the first time this season that the Blues have been unable to turn decent performances into goals but Wilson believes Town have the players capable of finding the target with the frequency required.

“Of course, we’ve definitely got the players to do it,” he insisted. “The last three games haven’t gone well but there’s no saying that we can’t go on a five or six-game run like we did before and we’ll be right in amongst it again at the end, it’s so tight in the league. I think that’s what we’ve got to look to do.”

At the other end of the field there was a change of keeper with Will Norris dropping out and Tomas Holy returning to the XI.

Wilson says Norris accepted the decision to drop him professionally: “Yes, of course, everyone’s in it together. Will knows that he’s played some really good games, he’s been brilliant for us and the big man’s got to come in and do the same.”

Despite the result, the Wales international felt the display was a significant step-up from the performances against Rotherham and Peterborough.

“I think so, definitely,” he said. “For 60 minutes of the game I think we were on top, they had spells but I think it’s really frustrating to lose the game 1-0.”

Even though the defeat saw the Blues drop out of the top six, Wilson isn’t getting too concerned about the league table at this stage.

“It’s not worrying, no, if we do what we know we can do then we’ll be OK, it’s just producing that,” he said.

However, he admits the pressure is going to build the longer Town remain in their current position.

“I guess so, but I don’t see the pressure from within at all,” he added. “I think we all know that we’re working hard and we’re doing the right things we’ll have chances in games, we’ll win games, it’s just doing that on the day.”

He added: “I think if you look at the league there’s no panic. I think it changes every Tuesday, every Saturday it changes, so we’ve just got to keep calm and keep doing things we believe in.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game at AFC Wimbledon, Wilson agreed that it could be a big one in the context of Town’s season with the Blues needing all three points.

“Yes, it’s a big game, but we go into every game wanting to win it,” he said. “There’s not going to be any difference on Tuesday, I think we’ll go in with the same attitude we did here, we want to win the game, we don’t do anything different.”

Town's current situation is the reverse of the one earlier in the season with the Blues now the ones chasing and with the teams above them having games in hand.

“To be honest, if we work hard and do the things we know we can do we shouldn’t even be looking at the league table,” Wilson insisted.

“We’ve just got to try and do the right things, that’s all it’s about, there are still 14 games left, so there’s plenty of time and plenty of points up for grabs if we do the right things.”

Photo: TWTD

Daleyitfc added 16:50 - Feb 9 Just shut up.
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norfolkbluey added 16:53 - Feb 9 What concerns me is when I look at our present form and our manager's history. Aston Villa (sacked) Wolves (sacked) Stoke (parted company). This doesn't fill me with confidence that he can turn failing teams around. I really hope he can but I am getting more and more fed up with losing matches and slipping further and further down the table. The last thing we need is a playoff place let alone mid table. It is only a few months before we were six points clear and now we are seventh and our competitors improving around us. It seems we are trapped in the headlights. We surely have the players to win. Norwood was an amazing goal scorer albeit in a lower league but he doesn't get enough time in the team. Holy is by far the better goalie but its a similar story. Perhaps our match on Tuesday will launch the recovery. IT HAS TO BE!

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midastouch added 17:09 - Feb 9 “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” - Winston Churchill. No wonder so many of our players are so keen to do interviews after each Saturday defeat then! They can't even wait till Monday to tell us these days! If they can't beat or at least match their main rivals (which they've failed to achieve all season so far) they don't deserve to go up. It's as simple as that. They can say whatever they like but the truth is they aren't good enough and the management clearly isn't all that it was cracked up to be! How long before the penny drops and some of the deadwood is cleared out to make way for the likes of Dobra and Morris? I can think of at least 10 players I wouldn't lose any sleep over if they never played for Ipswich again! To be fair to Wilson, he wouldn't be one of them. It's time for a clear out, we've been on the decline for several seasons now and certain players have been in the building all throughout. Those are the ones that need to take a long good look in the mirror. It took the Allies about the same time to beat the Nazis in WW2 as it's taken Teddy Bishop to score a goal for Ipswich. When was his last goal for Ipswich? One this season would be nice, or how about 2 or 3? Shouldn't a creative midfielder be chipping in with a few goals each season? Judge has got 2 in 48 appearances, wow wee! Never since the dawn of Ipswich have so many promised so much and delivered so little - and yes that includes you EVANS! Dozzell has managed 3 goals in 46 appearances. None of our midfielders seem to have shooting boots! Meanwhile, Skuse has got 2 goals in 270 games for Ipswich. Ok Skuse is a defensive midfielder but is it too much to ask for him to chip in with 3 or 4 goals a season? There are plenty of defensive midfielders that manage to do so on a regular basis. Why has he never done it once for us in 6 seasons? And now we're down a league he still looks like coming up short (yet again!) so that will be 7 seasons he's never managed to score at least 2 or 3 or 4 goals in a single season. It's just not good enough! When was the last time we had a player like Tommy Miller who could chip in with some valuable goals from midfield? There's just way too much deadwood around the place. I'm sick of hearing "when Teddy and Freddie are fully fit we'll be a force again". When was the last time those two were both on the same pitch together ripping it up? When was the last time Freddie scored 10 or more goals in the league for Ipswich? Answer, he's never achieved that! Yes he was starting to look better again before his nasty injury at Norwich but the fact is that he's been here for nearly 7 seasons now and he's never got 10 goals in the league in a single season. To be fair, Mick put him out on the wing which clearly didn't help his cause. Mick in his infinite wisdom decided Luke Varney or Connor Sammon might know where the back of the net was (ha bl**dy ha!). You had to feel for Freddie as seeing donkeys like that up front and you're being asked to play on the wing to accommodate, that's got to take a toll on your confidence. I do think Freddie could get 10 or more in League One (and here is the big if!) if he could stay fit. Personally I'd rather just go with Ben Morris. I bet if we played him regularly he could hit 10 league goals in a single season at his first if not second time of asking. The deadwood doesn't just include Skuse, Teddy, Freddie and Judge. I can think of at least 10 Town players that I couldn't care less if they never played for us again. They've done nothing but take us backwards. I want to see some young and hungry players that can help take us forwards starting with Dobra and Morris.

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BettyBlue added 17:31 - Feb 9 why doesn't Lambo and the team examine the negatives from the last few games for a change? (instead of this garbage talk we are continually being fed) here's some for a starter, no chance of automatic promotion, slim chance of play -off place , no chance in winning play- offs cos we can't score goals. and how does it feel pi**ing away a 6 point lead and now finding yourselves 7th and possibly 10th if game in hands go against us NEGATIVES! you lot have pi**ed away our best chance of promotion for years. Stick that in your positive pipe and smoke it, Lambo.

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dukey44 added 17:48 - Feb 9 Silly question... What player from the squad hasn't come out after a game yet and talked totally tosh.. Must be nearly every player now.... Yet they don't seem to realise its not what we want to hear.. We only want a 90 min game of football that shows they do really care?
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runningout added 18:04 - Feb 9 Deju blooming vue!! Would be tolerable not to hear from anyone at this stage of under-performing. Sorry
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ringwoodblue added 19:16 - Feb 9 The words are the same, they've just changed the picture of who said them. I don't accept any of these excuses, simple reason for these losses is that our manager is tactically weak, he doesn't do his research on the opposition, he doesn't pick the right team to start, he doesn't know how to change things during the match if things aren't going our way and he doesn't know when to put his hand up and say we were poor and kick some backsides. Where's the hunger in the team? Even Norwood has lost his fight, his passion, he's become just like the rest of the team -absent for large parts of the game.

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Doctor_Earman added 19:46 - Feb 9 Spare us the excuses Foodbank!
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brittaniaman added 19:48 - Feb 9 norfolkbluey !! I Believe you can add Blackburn to your list ????
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MurcianITCC added 21:58 - Feb 9 I saw the stats at half time. Obviously we dominated them. I thought, second half we'll be tosh then....🙄 Yes probably time we start to impose ourselves on games...here's hoping.
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bobble added 01:31 - Feb 10 the 3 teams just above us all have games in hand over us, if portsmouth win their 2 games they will be 8pts ahead of us for the same games, we are already doomed this season i reckon.....
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Vanisleblue2 added 03:10 - Feb 10 Well said Midas touch. Football is not played on paper. I hear that our players are too good for this league or should be playing Premier League etc. I say BS. Midas touched on the pathetic midfield goal record, I agree 100%. Also defenders need to chip in more than they do. In 1992 Thompson scored a few, Stockwell added some, Whitton, Milton, Johnson, Linighan all scored a few. We need a warrior right now- I remember when we were underseige in games Marshall would come back into defence or Sedgley both of which could really head a ball. Even if we sell Downes and Woolfy the money will go on "wages, debt, agents etc."

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 06:43 - Feb 10 If we don't go up this season - and there is not much at the moment to suggest we will - then I think we need a fresh start. One way to go might just be to play all our promising young talent (or as many as we have been able to resist selling) and enjoy some ups and downs without really challenging for promotion. A season of this, and we might be ready the one after, with a year's experience in the bag, to really go for it again. PL has, after all, told us this is a long-term project. Deary me, I think he might be right.

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Kirbmeister added 07:38 - Feb 10 I don't think we have a chance of going up this season and think about it, if we do next season will be a disaster. We'll need pretty much a whole new team and that will be an impossibility. I hate to say it but think we'll be stuck in league one for a good few years. I saw the way Forest dismantled Leeds Saturday. We are light years away from that standard.
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raycrawfordswig added 08:50 - Feb 10 Have to remember this is almost the same Rubbish that took us down.Evans was happy to tread water in the Championship will be happy to do the same in Div 1.
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planetblue_2011 added 08:54 - Feb 10 The worrying thing is in our last 3 games against bigger teams in the league we have only scored 1 goal from the pen spot, had chances to score in these games but can't hit a barn door. Just can't see where the goals will come from. maybe Sears needs a start, a lot of teams would like to have him as a league one player. Something needs to happen or we are doomed!!!!!

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spanishblue added 09:06 - Feb 10 Come the summer we will lose woolly Downes and Vincent if he gets fit Garbutt will not stay either so that's our 4 best players gone, sadly Bishop needs to be gone as well or prove he can last (tragic loss of our most talented player)Dozzell and Luke Chambers how's he get an extension reminds of a learner driver attempting to reverse need I go on oh well AJ the stand in left back why is Freddie not played up front he cannot misfire any worse than our so called forwards on there scraps of chances,sad times for my football club

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brittaniaman added 09:31 - Feb 10 Right Lambo has got Butcher in to help to coach the defence, How about he gets John Wark in to coach the Midfield on how to score Goals ???
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beornioblue added 09:54 - Feb 10 We just dont seem able to put any kind of consistency together, we will have a game like Lincoln where all looked Rosie for 90 mins but the lack of the second goal was a glaring problem, Then the last three games (albeit 1st half on sat was better) we've done ok in 10 minute patches but mainly turd!! We are lacking a striker with any real conviction and unable to take the few chances we do produce, prime example the last 10 mins against Sunderland the two chances one blazed over the bar and the other two slow to shoot and ball nicked off the striker. Its just not good enough and the people and options we sign are not good enough maybe even for this level but certainly not for Championship. I really dont know where we go now tbh, Evans wont spend, Lamberts feet are under the table now and he wont complain...and the club and the fans suffer again...because lets be honest we are the ones who will still be here as were our children and their children long after Evans , Lambert, O'Neill etc have long since departed. Maybe enough is enough and we should make our opinions more vocal towards the powers that be because I think personally that this downturn could spell a serious problem.

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dirtydingusmagee added 10:27 - Feb 10 beornioblue , we havnt been consistent for a few seasons now, [except for concistently poor] that is a major reason we are where we are now. As you also point out Evans ,O'Neil and Lambert have now formed a cosy relationship so things are unlikely to change.The curtains are coming down on the club .
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:32 - Feb 10 im getting worried about these weekly excuse statements from a chosen player , im wondering if they are drugged before being sent out to speak , i havnt spotted a gun pointed at their head in any photo . Just a thought,
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Michael101 added 11:16 - Feb 10 I do wish it fc would stop getting players to come out and say what we already know. Stop talking and start doing it on the ##king pitch .that's what you get the mega buck's for
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BeattiesBackPocket added 11:56 - Feb 10 The real concern is we had the 6th lowest wage budget in the championship for the last couple of years our wage budget will go down considerably next season if we don't go up and tbh the gate will probably halve with that ambition as well! Very very concerning and sad times and I think the Evans supporters need to take note
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blueboy1981 added 15:20 - Feb 10 Budgiepluckers stats prove the point that automatic promotion has realistically gone already, not only that but awareness of the rest, and current situation - the season sadly is virtually over. 10th place, end of season, 3rd Division. Don't kid yourselves otherwise - it's all there in front of you, once you take the blue tints off.
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