Ipswich Town defender Leif Davis admitted the players were “disappointed” by their performance against Rotherham United, despite Omari Hutchinson scoring a stoppage-time winner to claim a 4-3 victory, which moved the Blues up to third in the Sky Bet Championship.

It looked like the Millers had snatched a point in additional time in the second half when substitute Cafu audaciously dinked a penalty into the back of the net to level the score at 3-3 four minutes into injury time.

But Ipswich never do things the easy way and only a minute later, Hutchinson smashed home to send Portman Road into raptures.

The win moves the Blues level on points with second-placed Leeds United, after Southampton’s 2-1 defeat at home to Hull City, and Kieran McKenna’s side are only outside the automatic promotion places on goal difference.

“It was a tough 90 minutes. It just goes to show the quality we do have with Omari’s goal,” said Davis.

“We lacked a lot of composure in the game. We are disappointed in the performance and know we can play miles better. The level wasn’t good enough tonight.

“The main thing is the three points on the board and we’ve got to keep going and learn from what happened tonight.”

Kayden Jackson gave away the penalty that led to Rotherham’s equaliser, and when asked if he thought it was the right decision, the left-back said: “I couldn’t see it properly, but Jacko [Jackson] claims it wasn’t.

“Their player stood on his foot. The gaffer’s seen it back, apparently it was a bad decision but I can’t say anything, I didn’t see it.”

The 24-year-old highlighted that Town did well to back into the game, from falling a goal behind so early on, but stressed that there were things that their performance lacked.

“We did well to get back into the game when teams score against us [early], they obviously just sit back and try and do everything they can to stop us because they know the quality that we’ve got,” he said.

“Then Wes [Burns] showed his quality and got the two goals and the assist. That early goal did kill the momentum in the game a bit, but we fought hard to get back in front in the first half.

“And then in the second half, that’s what I mean by the composure we lacked, with clearances, defending and being switched on. That’s what we lost in the second half.

“Not every game’s going to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and we’re all not perfect.

“The main thing is we fought hard. Obviously it went to the final whistle and the last few minutes of the game, but we still got the three points.”

Davis was asked if he felt fatigue played a part in the performance, after playing three games in the last seven days.

The left-back said: “Not really. We’re all fit lads. We check the running stats after every game and we always run the most in the league out of all the teams. We’re a fit bunch of boys and everyone recovers really well.

“I don’t think it was tiredness, it’s just one of those games where it’s a different opponent and you knew it was going to be a difficult game, how they play, set pieces they’re big at.

“I think on set plays we actually defended really well and we have done in the past few games that we needed to do against tough teams.”

Town have shown their ability to come back on numerous occasions this season and Davis says that experience served them well after Rotherham had scored their penalty.

“One hundred per cent,” he said. “You see out there how mentally strong the boys are, we never give up and we’ve just got to keep fighting to the final whistle, keep pushing and do what we need to do.”

Photo: TWTD

Europablue added 10:05 - Feb 21 The two teams that we have struggled the most against this season have been Leeds and Rotherham, for differing reasons, obviously. Our players are not best suited for playing Rotherham, so even though they have been poor throughout the season, Rotherham have looked decent against us both times.
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Bazza8564 added 12:40 - Feb 21 We simply have to accept sometimes the result is more important than the performance. When thats better result than performance, all well and good. Best element about it is 3 clear days for the guys to regroup and another home game Saturday
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Broadbent23 added 12:55 - Feb 21 This season we have been a Jekyll and Hyde team where tactics are pre-planned and the opposition goes to plan B. Shooting stats do not always create goals. Football has always been a fantastic spectacle where results do not always pan out. For example the dreaded Maidstone game. No one can argue we have had brilliant entertainment at PR, we are on a journey to the Premier; we have a great manager and a good team which makes the odd mistake now and again. The Referee will always be the party spoiler. So let's push these lads on until the end of the season and see what we can achieve. COYB.

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BurleysGloryDays added 13:59 - Feb 21 Reassuring to hear he thinks they’ll recover well, I think I’ll still be knackered on Saturday from that!
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BobbyBell added 10:53 - Feb 22 Our attack looks so good yet our defenders look suspect. As much as I like Wolfy I wish sometimes he would just stick the ball into the stands. We have conceded a lot of goals this season where we could have just put the ball into touch. Ball playing defenders who can pass are great but good old fashioned basic defending is needed too.
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