Town boss Joe Royle felt his side probably deserved more than a 3-1 defeat from their third round FA Cup tie at home to Bolton Wanderers. Royle was disappointed his side failed to take their chances.

The Town manager said: "The scoreline is slightly harsh on us. We probably had better chances but did not take them - therein lies the difference probably between Premiership players and Championship players.

"Premiership football is played on the counter-attack, and they did it very well. Their finishing was excellent.

"It is important that when you have your chances you take them - and on the day we didn't. We said at half-time we had nothing to fear and we were going for the win."

"It is not exactly 'Hooray, we are out of the cup' - but we are not exactly devastated either."

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce had particular praise for sub El-Hadji Diouf: "He was the only player who had played in all the four games previously, and that is why we wanted him on the bench.

"In the end he made a big contribution. He did not score but he laid on some very good openings. It was a big performance."

Diouf was booed throughout by Town supporters but Allardyce preferred to hear things differently: "I thought they were actually shouting 'Diouf' and spurring him on.

"It was nice for the Ipswich fans to be shouting his name and getting him to play like that."

Henrik Pedersen also impressed his manager: "It has put him back on the goal trail, which is where he was at the start of the season. It had dipped away a bit, but now I hope that will lift him and spur him on."

Allardyce admitted the game had been close, particularly in the first half, and felt his larger squad paid dividends: "With the extra bit of quality and fitness levels because of player rotation, we knew that the team would tire - and it paid off for us and took us into the next round.

"It was a tight game in the first half, and there were not many chances at either end. I was a little worried when Henrik missed the best chance of the game just after half-time, but then the flourish of goals were a real pleasure to watch.

"I thought the execution and the moves themselves were excellent. In the end it is a very good result and it leaves us undefeated in 2005 - and I hope sees us over the blip we went through in December.

"I think from Joe's point of view that his players just couldn't lift themselves where they could have been because the number of games they have had to play.

"My lads have got through it by me changing the team around, and if you haven't got the squad to deal with it you could end up losing match after match because of injuries and fatigue alone."

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