Millwall head coach Joe Edwards admitted his team were beaten by a very good Town side but was disappointed by the manner in which the Lions lost the game 3-1 at Portman Road.

Conor Chaplin, Massimo Luongo and Nathan Broadhead netted the goals for the Blues in the first half before Millwall sub Kevin Nisbet pulled one back for the visitors in the second.

“Beaten by a very good side, we’ll give them that, and I can accept when you lose to sides that are in the form that they’re in at the moment that can be as clinical as they are and continue to be around the goal,” he said. “I can accept losing.

“But the manner of it is the issue. We didn’t get going from the off. The basics of the game, we second to everything, a yard or two off everything.

“They’re bright, they’ve got pace in their team, but we were well aware of that. Everything they’ve done to us tonight is not something we haven’t seen this season from Ipswich, they’re consistently doing it well.

“We came with a plan and were well prepared to do it and we simply didn’t execute it, we weren’t good with any of the real basics of the game.

“They were, as well as showing high levels of quality, which we really lacked. We were sloppy and the game was over at half-time, really.”

Was he able to take more positives from the second half? “Very slightly. For someone like Kevin Nisbet to come on, I’m sure he’s been desperate to start, so when a striker comes on and gets a goal, hopefully that will give him some belief.

“In terms of the attitude and the body language, that kind of stuff, that began to really disappoint me after their first goal in the first half.

“There was probably a slight improvement on that in the second half and then we made some changes to keep the energy levels up, people like Billy Mitchell came on, I’ve been wanted to see more of Billy.

“But at the same time, I’m not going to get too carried away with the scoreline of the second half because we know what a team’s able to do when they get 3-0 ahead, they’re able to approach the game differently themselves.

“We need to focus on what that first half was and how we can avoid that happening again for us.”

Photo: TWTD

KiwiBlue2 added 01:25 - Nov 30 Decent comments. Bart must have noticed the improvement in our side.....roll on Saturday coyb
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heavyweight added 04:15 - Nov 30 He should be very grateful to Mckenna , I very much doubt without Kierans trailblazing and so far successful route from young coach to manager Edwards would have got the gig at Millwall.
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Saxonblue74 added 06:20 - Nov 30 Fair. He clearly recognises that we took our foot off the gas and cruised the second half.
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Europablue added 08:38 - Nov 30 "I can accept when you lose to sides that are in the form that they’re in at the moment". This was the first match that we've really performed well. We've been grinding out results while not playing particularly well. The problem for them was that we were super motivated after that loss and being at home. I didn't think that Millwall were that bad, they just looked very ordinary and lacked confidence. Contrast with us. Our players know exactly what they should be doing, so much so that muscle memory and grit pull them through at times.

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blues1 added 08:53 - Nov 30 Europablue. So you think this is the 1st game we've really performed well? Where have you been all season?
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ArnieM added 11:11 - Nov 30 lol exactly Blues1
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BobbyBell added 12:20 - Nov 30 I think the second half was cruise control with a view to another game in three days time. We still created chances though.
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