Forward Sone Aluko admitted last night’s 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers was a tough night for Town, but says sides have been promoted from worse positions than the Blues’ current situation.

The Blues dominated most of the match and managed 21 shots, seven on target but were unable to find a way through a determined Pirates backline.

The result saw Town drop to fourth with Bolton Wanderers having moved ahead of them and Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday extend the gap to the top two.

“A tough night, obviously,” Aluko reflected. “I thought we did a lot of the right things to win a game.

“We had a lot of chances, worked the ball quite well. I think we had them camped in for long spells of the game, we just weren’t clinical enough and that’s let us down tonight.

“But we go again, that’s football, that’s the season. We’re going to have these nights and if we’re going to get to where we’re going to get to, we’ve got to be more clinical.”

Manager Kieran McKenna said afterwards that usually-attacking Rovers entirely changed their approach against his team with Joey Barton happy for his side to sit in and frustrate the Blues.

“That’s most teams we play against,” the 33-year-old said. “We look at clips and they’re playing one formation, we get on the pitch and it’s a different formation, so that’s playing for Ipswich in this league this season.

“We’re used to that, we’re used to having to adapt to what we face. They defended well, got some big blocks at the end and on set pieces as well. We created a lot of chances with the ball but we just didn’t have that finishing touch.

“Teams know that we could turn the team over, they want to keep the score down. Teams try and build and get to half-time 0-0 and try and get one big chance.

“We know that’s how a lot of teams play against us. It’s not something new. Sometimes we score early and we win 4-0, teams are well aware of that.

“We go again, like I said, there’s no panic, there’s nothing to be worried about at this point, it’s just little details.”

While a 0-0 draw away at Bristol Rovers isn’t a disastrous result on its own, too many of Town’s games are following a similar pattern with 15 of their 31 League One matches having ended in stalemates, six of their last eight.

“For sure, but teams have been promoted from worse positions than we’re in,” the former Nigeria international insisted.

“We’re in a good place still. We know there’s a lot more in us, we know we can take our chances more and create more chances.

“We created quite a lot tonight. It’s not something to worry about, it’s something we definitely look at and work on.”

He says there is still belief in the squad: “That will always be there to the very end. In my time here I’ve always believed that this squad can get promoted and I’ll keep pushing the team.”

Aluko says the comeback from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 against second-placed Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday was illustrative of the spirit in the camp.

“For sure. It takes character as a team to so what we did last week and also to get to where we want to get to. It’s going to take a lot of that,” he continued.

“We know we’re going to have challenging nights, we’re going to have some great highs and a couple of lows, that’s life and that’s football. We’ll deal with it and keep pushing.”

Town haven’t won back-to-back league games since October and have won only four of their last 15 and Aluko knows that form will have to change dramatically if the Blues are to have any chance of getting out of the division, starting with bottom side Forest Green Rovers’ visit to Portman Road on Saturday.

“We know we’re going to have to put a run together,” he said. “But ultimately we can’t think about runs, it’s about the next game and how we’re going to attack that game, how we’re going to be our best version in that and the run will come as a consequence of doing the right thing over and over. We’re just focusing on the next opponent.”

Photo: TWTD

budgieplucker added 10:53 - Feb 16 Sone by all accounts is a really nice guy, gentleman and a fabulous pro. and good role model. I have enjoyed many of those moments in seeing Sone manoeuvre out of tight spaces leaving the opposition for dead. I watch Kyle Edwards and often think he could be the next Georgie Best. These players have been with us now over 18 months Sone has been mainly played in the number 10 role and has only scored 3 goals in 55 appearances. I keep thinking of Kyle memorable moments only 3 come to mind the match that he scored with a cross and also got a second well taken goal, and the pass at Cambridge last week guided in by Freddie. These two epitomise the problem for me, nice lads and we keep awaiting for the improvements, more from Sone and a decent cross from Kyle. Nice guys, but nice guys don't win championships.

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Bazza8564 added 18:32 - Feb 16 Im reading these comments and three themes come through again and again. 1 We arent clinical enough. 100% agree, our chance creation to goals is below par, I cant prove it but I bet out attempts and chances % is mid table at best. 2 We look tired. Yes we do 100%, we've overplayed Burns and Morsy because of lack of cover in MF and confidence until recently in Jackson out right. 3 We need to pick the same 11 every game. OMG thats a 45 year old argument when we had one sub and a squad of 16 and a tea lady. How can everybody say we look tired then moan about rotation? After Burnley away (where we made 9 changes) everybody said, that's the nucleus for Saturday! Its 2023 not 1973, the pace and fitness demands of the modern game are light years above that thinking. How about this idea. We hated Evans and craved change and we got it, we hated Cook and craved change and we got it. Now we have one of the brightest young minds in the game, how about we grow a pair, trust the guy to make the changes he sees fit and get behind him! We have no God given right to anything, we have to earn it. Let the people that are in charge have a proper go at it and stop second guessing every grain of sand!

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