Blues boss Paul Jewell was disappointed with his side’s sloppy first 15 minutes but pleased with their spirit after they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Cambridge United. The Town manager again had praise for striker Michael Chopra, who netted twice, his third and fourth goals of pre-season.

Jewell was unhappy with a start which saw his team go two goals down within three minutes: “It got better. We were sloppy in the first 15 minutes and gave two goals away. We showed a bit of character coming back with two goals from Chopra.

“It was a work-out, but it’s not ideal or where we want to be. I’m frustrated like everybody else in there, but it’s 90 minutes for some of them and 45 minutes for others.

“We know we need a couple of players at least, if not three, so we haven’t learnt too much new tonight.”

The bright spark for the Town manager was again Chopra, who has made a fine start to his Town career with four goals in three games: “He’s a real positive spark for us at the moment, he looks sharp, he’s got two goals tonight, he got two goals in Holland and he will always score goals.

“We need to improve the team in other areas, but certainly Chopra always gives you the hope that you’re going to score goals.”

Jewell confirmed that Jaime Peters and Luciano Civelli, who were left out of tonight’s squad, will be involved in Wednesday’s reserves friendly at Bury Town (KO 7.45pm).

Photo: Action Images

blueblood66 added 22:26 - Jul 19 Goalscorer found, now for some defenders! Keep calm though folks, it's just a warm up
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GTRKing added 22:28 - Jul 19 well done PJ & the team
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pazelle added 22:34 - Jul 19 Chopra scores in pre-season, fantastic but let's judge when we're playing professionals! Chopra + Priskin starting up front for the next friendly please Jewell, none of this Priskin left wing Roy Keane nonsense! 2 players maybe 3 says Jewell? 2 Centrebacks for sure! No more strikers! Especially Ched Evans! He's cack!
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SouperJim added 22:35 - Jul 19 Just got in from the game, not bad overall, very slow to start which cost us 2 goals but decent enough after that. Was quite competitive for a low-key friendly, Cambridge obviously boosted a bit by their good start, as enjoyable a preseason game as I've been to. Chopra stood out for his movement, Lee Martin looked quite lively and played the ball a lot quicker than anyone else. Edwards saw a lot of the ball but had quite a mixed game. Drury really impressed me second half, played it about nicely. Tommy Smith didn't look very comfortable on the right side, although he probably did a better job than Delaney would have done as he is not quite as one footed. Anyway, we clearly need to sign at least one right sided defender.

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Lightningboy added 22:36 - Jul 19 Think we seriously need at least 3 quality and I mean QUALITY players in before the season kicks off..the current team/squad still looks very average to me. PJ,please do your best to sort out a right-back,a centre-back to cover Ingimarsson,Jimmy Bullard! & another striker.
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GTRKing added 22:46 - Jul 19 We did well but Defense please sort that out then i don't mind about the rest
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jas0999 added 23:15 - Jul 19 I was very disappointed as well Paul. A LOT of work for you to do between now and the start of the season. At least FOUR decent players needed. And soon. Over to you Mr.Jewell or a season of mid-table again.
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Kev_b22 added 23:49 - Jul 19 I was there tonight... So will give you a run down of what i thought.. I thought Drury shone in the middle of the park. Looked like a real creator and really got the team passing through the middle. After a first half of hoofing, he really helped get the ball down and ping it around. Carlos Edwards is not a left back, end of! Also, even when he moved onto the wing, he made himself lots of space, but against this sort of opposition, still did nowhere near enough with the final ball... Saw sooo much of it, but did nothing... Martin looked like he had a spliff before coming out... Wandering around and generaly thinking he was superman. Yes he had a couple of shots and a couple of crosses, but did nowhere near enough to suggest to me he is good team player. Chops and scotland look like being a very good pairing. They seem to know where each other are and seem to have a bit of chemistry which is a good sign. One off the other with intricate passes. Could prove to be a great combination! Over all, it was a slightly disappointing display. Not enough football in the middle of the park, but did improve with the introduction of Drury. I think the negatives out weighed the positives, BUT its still early days and there is a little way to go yet. Plus, iv got to mention that Cambridge did defend very well and made it hard for us to play further up the field.

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EmilyJones added 23:51 - Jul 19 Appears we need a whole host of players, 2 defenders plus someone of quality to partner chopra up is critial if we are to make any sort of challenge for the playoffs.
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algarvefan added 23:53 - Jul 19 The long and winding road...still some way to go yet me thinks!!
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Tractamatt added 02:06 - Jul 20 Those who where there,Any cambridge players worth a look
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Garv added 02:16 - Jul 20 Heard there was a QPR scout there tonight.
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foster added 07:33 - Jul 20 we need: keeper right back centre back centre mid winger striker
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Pip50 added 07:46 - Jul 20 Time to spend some promised land cash. Letting two of our better players go for the sake of longer or bigger deals, selling our best player on installments over the next millennium and getting in some aged frees that funnily enough our potential top 6 rivals didn't seem to want to keep, simply will leave us in the last two seasons territory. Come on splash the cash aka Leicester Middlesborough, my gran could have done the deals to date,

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itfcjc added 07:50 - Jul 20 Bring in some new defenders and a keeper then
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raycrawfordswig added 08:01 - Jul 20 Getting better only sloppy 15 mins not 90.
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Back_The_Boss added 08:18 - Jul 20 Two sloppy errors for both goals, although its harsh to blame it on Lee-Barrett because he could do nothing about goals. Finally found a 20+ goal a season striker now in Chops, a few more signings and it could be promising.
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woollyhattedliberal added 09:21 - Jul 20 just hope the 20-goal-a-season man doesn't get 'em all before the end of july
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sonian_blue added 10:30 - Jul 20 Lets wait and see how he does when the real business starts before we herald the new messiah in Chopra.
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dirtyboy added 11:23 - Jul 20 I've been saying that I think Drury will do well this year, I really hope he does well, my only concern was a slight lack of pace, but I think a decent pre-season will do him wonders. Looks like defence could be our achilles heel, but i'd rather we just score more than our opponents instead lol!
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whoppit added 12:16 - Jul 20 Can't beat Cambridge??? Does not bode well for the new season !!!!
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