Preston boss Craig Brown raged at referee Keith Hill after his side had been defeated 2-0 by Town at Portman Road. The former Scotland boss felt that Georges Santos had handled the ball prior to Tommy Miller netting Town's first goal.

Brown fumed: "The opening Ipswich goal was the turning point. It was a shocking decision because there was clear handball from Santos inside the box. I saw it quite clearly. Everyone must have seen it except for the referee.

"I couldn't understand why the goal was allowed to stand. I accept referees' decisions but this was hard to bear because, at that stage, I thought the least we would get was a goalless draw. I am not a whinger but this was a very critical decision.

"You can forget the second Ipswich goal. That came after we had sent Chris Lucketti into attack to try to save the game.

"Preston players are told to accept decisions which was why there was no protest over the opening goal. The referee has a difficult job to do but I just wanted him to be fair."

Town boss Joe Royle felt his players' controversial trip to Tenerife this week had helped his side to a rare clean sheet: "The sunshine did our defending a bit of good but it's hard to quantify.

"We are still right in there in the promotion race. There is a terrific scramble going on for play-off places and it's going to be very close but we are looking upwards and not behind us."

Royle said he felt Georges Santos was fouled in the pre-goal incident which had so angered the Preston boss: "I think their fellow pushed Santos before the ball hit his hand and my take on the incident is that it could have been a penalty to us.

"Preston had three big central defenders and were hard to break down. The first half was a bit of a stalemate but, in terms of a professional performance, it's the best we have been for a while. Preston are a decent team who came here to contain us.

"Santos was terrific, while Ian Westlake is in a good run of goals."

Royle reserved special praise for Kelvin Davis, largely untroubled throughout the afternoon, but who made a fine save from Richard Cresswell just after the hour: "It was an outstanding save at a vital time for us."

Royle made two substitutions, the first due to his side's lack of penetration: "I felt sorry for Pablo Couñago but nothing was going right for him up front, so I brought on Richard Naylor who provided more energy and aggression which helped to win the game for us.

"Chris Bart-Williams came on for Jim Magilton because I wanted to tighten up in midfield after we had taken the lead."

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