Town manager Joe Royle hailed his players' five-goal first half display as outstanding and felt that it was only a matter of time before his side dished out a hammering.

A delighted Royle said: “In the first half we were outstanding and to score five and miss other chances meant that our forward play was awesome.

“As much as I impressed on the players to keep going in the second half some of them switched off and went walkabout. When you have a big lead that often happens.

“A big score has been coming and now we are leading scorers in the division and I'm proud of that.

“We played some great stuff and our three loanees, Mahon, Kuqi and Bart- Williams were outstanding.”

“It's great for the fans. They deserve it after we were having a rocky time only a month ago.”

Burnley boss felt that schoolboy defending didn't help his team's cause: “We were OK for 20 minutes, but then we got what we deserved.

“We gave away soft kindergarten goals and were well and truly thrashed.

“We must take it on the chin and show more character and tenacity in our next match if we hope to get anything out of it.

“There was nowhere to go from being five down at the interval except to play for a bit of pride.

“The saving grace is that we know we are better than that.

“Don't take anything away from Ipswich, though. They were very good.

“We were nowhere near the standard I expect from my lads.

“Now we must battle away and see what happens. I am looking for new players but those with the quality we need are not easy to come by.”

Photo: Action Images

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