Following Town's 1-0 defeat to Cambridge United on Saturday, wing-back Wes Burns admitted that the Blues’ hopes of making the play-offs are all but over.

A stuttering display against the U’s was disappointing for Town, who went into the match needing to win most if not all of their games to make the top six.

Dominic Thompson's 56th-minute own goal was the difference between the sides, while Cameron Burgess had a late equaliser ruled out.

They're now six points off the play-offs with only five games left to play and with the four sides above them all having a game in hand.

Whilst Burns still thinks it's a positive time to be an Ipswich fan, the Welshman conceded that finishing sixth is now almost impossible.

“We spoke about it in the dressing room and we said the season is probably at its end now,” Burns began. “We've got five games to go and it's going to be tough to grab that sixth spot now with the dropped points today.

“It's just frustration all round, really. I think it was clear from the start of the game they came here today to literally waste time, put 11 men behind the ball and try and ruffle our feathers a little bit, and they succeeded with that. Their game plan worked perfectly. It was just a frustrating time, really.

“But we'll look forward to the next five games. You have to finish the season well, finish the season on a high and build that momentum into next year.

“I think we're already doing so and in terms of the feel-good factor around the club, everyone can see how the team has been building and how the team will be for next year.

“So it's a positive time to be an Ipswich Town fan and be a part of Ipswich Town. Next year we'll come back stronger again and hopefully when it's five games to go next year, we'll already have lifted the trophy.”

However, the 27-year-old knows that despite the chances of the Blues making the cut being slim, they still have to go into each of the remaining five games looking for a victory.

“Just because we're saying the season's finished doesn't mean it actually is, you know what I mean? We have five games to go - why not go and win all five? We've got nothing to lose now, so we'll give it our all in all five.

"Teams could capitulate massively and implode on themselves, and we do nick sixth if we win all five, so obviously we'll be praying for that.”

Town's performance was uncharacteristic of their recent form, a frustrating and sloppy showing.

It made for frustrating watching from the stands, but Burns explains it was equally frustrating on the pitch.

“I think the first half wasn't our best today. We were quite sloppy in possession, certainly for the first 15 to 20 minutes and then after we kind of got to grips with that.

“The first half kind of passed us by. I know we had some spells of possession where we kind of looked threatening, and we did create a chance for Samy [Morsy].

“But, the first half we weren't our greatest. Second half, I thought we were a little bit better, but still not quite our best. It is quite tough when teams come [and sit] and it's happening quite often, which is obviously a positive for us in terms of teams are giving us the respect that we deserve in terms of we played good football, and we do try to break teams down.

“But today wasn't the day. We weren't bang on it and we didn't create that clear-cut chance to score a goal.

“Sometimes it's like that. We were sitting in the dressing room after the game, saying you can't be 100 per cent bang out to every game. It's tough. It's almost impossible. It's like being perfect every single time. It's not possible.

“And today was just one of those games. On another day, the passes that we do try, the shots that we do have, they go in and the passes come off, and we might have scored two or three, but it just wasn't to be today.

“The longer the game goes on, the more they grow into the game, the more confidence they gain from that.

“I think we've all been part of teams where when you're hanging on at the last gasp and stuff, it's tough to break that down and you know we just weren't quite good enough today, I put it down to that.

“It is, is very frustrating. I keep using the word frustration and that's what it is. I'm gutted to keep saying it and I'm gutted that we didn't win today, gutted for the fans going home, and they have to wait until next year to celebrate and things like that. So, yeah, just all around frustrated, gutted and sad.”

Recent success under Kieran McKenna has seen teams approach Town differently with Cambridge, not the first to come and sit back in numbers.

Burns has often presented Town’s biggest threat down the right but the former Fleetwood man was kept in check by the U’s.

“I know it's sort of quite frustrating when teams do that and they bring multiple players over to try and deal with the right-hand side,” he said. “It's not just me as an individual.

“A lot of it comes down to the rotations with me, JD, Chappers and Sone [Aluko] when he plays in there. It's not just me as an individual.

“Our right side in general is very dangerous and we do create a lot down our right side. So when a team does nullify that a little bit, it is frustrating for us.

“It's fine details at the end of the day. We conceded a late goal at Oxford down to a set play. We conceded a goal today, set play. It’s not something we're used to, since the boss has come in. We've been pretty solid in terms of clean sheets and dealing with set plays and things like that.

“But it's the minor details when we’re not bang on it like today. We need to make sure that we are 100 per cent focused in and concentrating on set plays.

“It would be nice if we could score one down the other end and not be offside. It’s happened twice to us now, the Portsmouth one and the one today. It will eventually drop for us, but it didn't today.”

Despite Saturday’s disappointment, Burns says the form since McKenna took charge would have been good enough for a top-two place if repeated over an entire campaign.

“I think since the boss has come in our form has probably been top if not the top three or second,” he continued.

“If we had that from the start of the season, we'd be looking at automatic promotion. Our season wasn't won or lost on today's game and it's been a collective thing over the season.

“I think we've lost ten or 11 games this season and if you want to be a team that gets promoted, you can't lose that many games. As I said, next year we'll build and hopefully, 11 losses isn't us next year.”

Photos: TWTD/Matchday Images

Linkboy13 added 18:35 - Apr 4 Although Aluko and Chaplin are valuable members of the first team squad i cannot agree with Len Brennan that they are championship players. Chaplin was never a regular at Barnsley and is not here but is a very good impact player to have. Aluko is also a very useful player but is probably slightly past his best and has not featured regularly this season and McKenna has stated that he has to be used carefully.

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