Town defender Jacob Greaves described his first Premier League goal as ‘bittersweet’ having come in the Blues’ 4-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

Greaves notched for the first time in Ipswich colours as a consolation after two goals from Cody Gakpo, along with one each from Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah, condemned the Blues to their eighth defeat in 11 league matches and leave them inside the relegation zone on goal difference.

Arne Slot’s Reds were dominant from the outset and maintained their firm grip on pole position in the title race, the Merseyside outfit now 18 Premier League games without defeat.

While it was a special moment in the personal career of Greaves, the defender was disappointed his header was not a crucial goal in deciding the outcome of the contest.

“A little bit bittersweet,” he said. “When the delivery is on it like it has been this season we’re going to create chances. Fortunately today I got a chance and put it in the back of the net.

“There’s no better place to do it than away at Anfield, it’s one I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life.

“I know I’m strong in both boxes, I like to use my aerial dominance as much as I can and I’ve not had too many opportunities this season to get in there. Today was a perfect opportunity for me – the ball was right, I arrived in the right area and knew I was going to score.

“I feel like we’ve got really good delivery in the team with Leif [Davis], Conor [Townsend], Julio [Enciso] today and Kalvin [Phillips] as well. We’ve just got to arrive in the right areas and we know that we can create chances if we get the blocks and the little details right like today. Fortunately I could score.

“It’s one to tell the grandkids, as a lot of people say. I want to contribute as much as I can to help the team. I’d rather do it at 1-0 or 1-1 to score a winner or equaliser, but it is what it is. I’ll take it and move on.”

The Blues knew the task ahead of them heading to Anfield and found themselves out of sight at the interval after a destructive first half from the hosts.

“It was tough,” Greaves conceded. “Obviously when you’re 3-0 down at half-time it’s a bit of damage limitation when you come out in the second half.

“I feel like as a team we all stuck together, we knew what the role was in the second half – we had to be more resolute, limit them to chances and I think we did that.

“Throughout the game they had a couple of chances but if I remember correctly I don’t think they had too many shots on goal, which is a little bit frustrating if you look back on it. A tough afternoon.

“We had a gameplan here today and we genuinely believed that we could get something. There’s no point going into any game not believing you can win, you might as well not turn up. Today wasn’t to be and we’ve got to move on quickly.

“There wasn’t too many clear cut chances where they’ve ripped us apart. We were in a good shape for the majority of the game, it’s just the little details where you’re maybe out of position for a little step and someone makes a run and you’re not there and they get a chance and score.

“But I felt like we didn’t get murdered in the first half, we were in decent positions. You’re not going to come here and play crazy, expansive football, we knew we’d have to bank in and I thought we did it okay, but in those moments we’ve got to do it a little bit better.

“It’s a tough one to take with the first goal, scoring it so early meant they could put a little bit of pressure on and the nerves in the stadium settled down straight away.

“Sometimes you can concede early against world class opposition, they did that today and we’ve got to look back and see how we can stand stronger to not let it get to three.

“They’ve got some unbelievable players, Salah has obviously been incredible this season. We were trying to limit him to as much as possible and I feel like we did that. With his goal we can defend it a little bit better.

“But they’re going to have chances, it’s just if we can limit them to slender ones, unfortunately we didn’t do that today but I’m really proud of the group for how we stuck at it in the second half.”

Greaves did feel Town had more of an attacking threat than they did at Arsenal towards the end of last month, where the Blues did not register a single shot on target against another of the title contenders.

The 24-year-old said: “Away at Anfield is a little bit different to being at home at Portman Road. We knew what the role was, we needed to stick together as a team and not let it get silly and I felt like we did that.

“The second half was a lot more competitive and brave, it’s probably easier doing it when the pressure is off at 3-0 down. But I’m really proud of the lads, it shows the culture that we’ve got in the group that we’ll stay fighting.”

Julio Enciso provided the assist for Greaves’s goal, delivering a perfectly-placed corner having only came onto the field for his debut as a substitute.

“I’ve only seen him for two days but I’ve seen little bits in training and seen his goal that he scored against [Manchester] City that was nominated for the Puskas award,” Greaves said of the Paraguay international.

“He seems a really good kid, not amazing English so I’ll have to learn a little bit of Spanish! Hopefully he can help us for the rest of the season.”

On the travelling Blue Army, Greaves added: “Incredible, honestly incredible. Even at 4-0 down making so much noise, until the Liverpool fans started singing their trademark song I couldn’t hear too much of them and it was a lot of the Ipswich fans singing.

“That’s going to be needed for the remainder of the season, they were incredible today and a lot of the lads bounced off it in the second half and put in a better performance.”

The Blues return to action at Portman Road next Saturday when they face bottom-of-the-table Southampton, with many earmarking the Saints’ visit as a crucial clash in Town’s fight to beat the drop.

However, Greaves does not put any more emphasis on next weekend’s match, stating that the prize of three points is exactly the same as any other Premier League match this season.

He said: “It was a really important game when we went away, it feels like ages ago now. Skip [Sam Morsy] got a goal in the last minute but we know it’s going to be a tough test. They’re not in a place where they want to be but they’ve got good players that can hurt you on their day so we know it’s going to be a big game.

“But it’s no bigger than any other one of these Premier League games, we know we’re going in there for three points and to try and win in the fight for survival.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Eeyore added 20:12 - Jan 25 Davis was awful today and now we know why. He gave the ball away in dangerous positions with sloppy passing and Salah went past him with ease several times. Don't play sick players. Especially if it’s at Anfield and they are supposed to stop Salah! Lesson learned we hope.
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mathiemagic added 14:41 - Jan 28 We were never going to win but the cameo from Ensico was encouraging and he will be on corner taking duty from now on if the team has any sense. How important could set piece goals become at the end of May.
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