Mohamed Diamé’s goal three minutes after the restart was enough to see leaders Hull City to a 1-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road. Town went closest to scoring before the break when Daryl Murphy hit the post, but having gone in front the Tigers dominated the second half.

Mick McCarthy made three changes with top scorer Brett Pitman coming in up front and Jonathan Douglas and Luke Hyam returning to the central midfield roles in the anticipated 4-4-2 formation.

Douglas was back after a three-match ban and Hyam from a calf injury which had sidelined him for the last two games.

Kevin Bru and Kevin Foley both dropped to the bench, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles wasn’t in the 18.

Hull made nine changes from the team which drew 0-0 at Arsenal in the FA Cup on Saturday with only Curtis Davies and David Meyler keeping their places.

Freddie Sears created the game’s first excitement in the sixth minute when he broke past Andrew Robertson down the Town right but his cross was too deep for strike pair Pitman and Murphy.

There was a scare for the Blues in the 10th minute when Tommy Smith got the ball caught under his feet and lost possession to Abel Hernández not far outside the area on the left.

The New Zealand international hauled the Uruguayan down as he looked to break into the box with only Bartosz Bialkowski to beat and was perhaps fortunate not to see a yellow card.

Robert Snodgrass took the freekick and sent it curling away from Bialkowski to his left, but the on-form Polish keeper got across to superbly tip it past the post.

Hull had most of the ball in the opening 20 minutes but with the freekick their only chance, while the Blues occasionally threatened to create an opening on the break.

On 25 Hernández shot over, then Smith did superbly to block a Diamé effort from the left of the area after he had appeared to have got away from the Town central defender.

A minute later, the Blues claimed a penalty when Pitman looked to be shoved as a Sears cross came over from the left. The ball was bundled out of play and from Pringle’s corner Berra’s header was stabbed behind.

Town were by now in charge and on 27 Murphy saw a shot deflect wide, Hull subsequently making heavy weather of clearing the danger after the resultant corner.

In the 37th minute, the Blues went within a whisker of going in front. Pringle, the man on all Town’s set pieces, whipped in a near post freekick from the left, which skipper Luke Chambers headed against a defender.

The loose ball fell to Murphy, who lashed a shot which struck the inside of the post and flashed across the goalmouth before being cleared.

Five minutes later, another Pringle freekick from the left caused more danger, the ball falling to Chambers a few yards out but the Blues’ captain was unable to get in a clean strike and the ball looped harmlessly to Tigers keeper Allan McGregor.

Town were ended the half on top, Sears making a strong run through the middle before shooting over, then Douglas similarly went high with a strike from distance.

Hull had started the half the stronger side but with Snodgrass’s freekick, which was superbly saved by Bialkowski, their only chance.

Town grew into the game and by half-time were in charge and had created chances, several from Pringle’s excellent set pieces.

The visitors threatened first after the break, Berra blocked a Hernández strike and Bialkowski rather needlessly punched the loose ball away before David Meyler hit a low shot which the Blues keeper claimed more comfortably.

But the Championship leaders didn’t have to wait too long to go in front. Robertson played in Diamé between two Town defenders and the striker dinked it over BIalkowski and into the net.

The Senegalese international almost immediately shot over and then Chambers blocked brilliantly from Meyler as the visitors took control of the game.

On 52, Bialkowski saved superbly from Sam Clucas, then one-time Blues loanee Jack Livermore smashed the rebound against the post.

The Tigers had dominated since the goal, passing the ball around confidently and looking likely to add to their lead, but on 59 Chambers caused McGregor an awkward moment with a cross-shot from the right which the keeper was pleased to see fly just over his bar.

In the 64th minute, with the visitors still on top, Kevin Bru replaced Hyam, who had suffered a knock. Five minutes later, as Hull swapped Hernández for Chuba Akpom, Pringle and Sears switched flanks.

Hull continued to control the game comfortably and might have increased their lead in the 75th minute when Moses Odubajo got behind the Blues’ backline on the right but crossed poorly and Chambers cleared.

Two minutes later, there were calls for a Town penalty when Douglas went to ground as he took a bouncing ball into the area but mainly from the stands and referee Malone quickly waved the claims away.

In the 79th minute Luke Varney took over from Pringle, who was warmly applauded off after an impressive home debut.

Soon after, Davies headed across the face of goal from a Snodgrass freekick when it seemed easier to score. Two minutes later at the other end, Pitman curled a freekick wide.

Town were finally beginning to get more of a foothold in the game and on 85 Murphy headed a Chambers cross from the right well wide. Two minutes later, Smith was booked for puling back Akpom.

As the game moved into three minutes of added on time, Sears forced McGregor to save down to his right after he had chested down and hit a low shot.

And from the corner the Blues almost grabbed an unlikely equaliser, Smith heading over under pressure at the far post. But there were no further chances before referee Malone blew the final whistle.

Having ended the first half the better side, the Blues never got going after the break with Hull scoring their goal only three minutes after the restart.

From there they dominated and looked every bit this season’s Championship title winners in waiting and they might have won more comfortably with Livermore coming close to a second when he hit the post and Davies heading across the face when he should have scored.

Town rarely threatened until the closing stages and will feel they ought to have taken their opportunities during their spell on top before the break when Murphy went closest when he struck an upright.

The result sees the end of the Blues’ 16-game, three-year long Tuesday night home run with the Blues now having lost four of their last five matches in all competitions.

Town, who are down to 10th in the table, now six points off the play-offs, next travel to Huddersfield, who drew 1-1 away against the MK Dons this evening, on Saturday.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Douglas, Hyam (Bru 64), Pringle (Varney 79), Sears, Pitman, Murphy. Unused: Gerken, Digby, Foley, Tabb, Touré.

Hull City: McGregor, Odubajo, Dawson (c), Davies, Robertson, Snodgrass, Meyler (Huddlestone 87), Livermore, Clucas, Diamé (Powell 84), Hernández (Akpom 69). Unused: Jakupović, Maguire, Maloney, Elmohamady. Referee: Brendan Malone (Wiltshire). Att: 17,630 (Hull City: 393).

Photo: Action Images

blueboy1981 added 23:00 - Feb 23 Goodnight all - Where did we take the wrong turning ? - braved the cold, and ended up at Portman Road again.
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PinstripeBlue added 23:00 - Feb 23 I place a £20 bet every year for us to get promoted. Crazy I know, enternal optimism. I've lost that bet this year already. However, ME has placed a few million more than me. So you cannot ask him to spend more on the chance we may or may not get up. We are still a football club because of ME. MM is ok but not good enough.
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ITFCsince67 added 23:05 - Feb 23 Not a shot on target in a whole game. What an embarrassment. Do we have anyone in midfield who can pass the ball forward?
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GoldieBlue added 23:06 - Feb 23 It's difficult to see where are club will go from here. As it's not like before with Jewell and Keane it was quite clearly the manager at fault. As much as it disagree with some of MM tactics and style of play isn't good I can't see how sacking him will benefit us. Plus he has a just signed a new deal anyway. I just don't understand the lack of investment it makes no sense, we will clearly will not go anywhere without it. Now is the time for big changes, and to start planning for next season. Mr Evans needs to have a long hard think about the long term plan and ambitions for his club.

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blueherts added 23:06 - Feb 23 We have no money to improve our squad but enough to 'reward MM and his mate' for another 2 years for the 'progress' Like many I saw this year as a real chance to press on and step up - we have lost key players - real footballers to injury and them leaving - and MICK says we have enough quality in the squad - Coke , Digby , Foley etc etc - Deluded - yes , He is coasting now as is ME - run out of ideas My only consolation is looking at Leicester , Southampton , Norwich and Bournemouth , who in the last 10 years were down in Div One and now looking stronger and playing decent football - It will not happen on this watch but things change - ME and MM are way too tight - MM is like the model employee keeping control on costs As for the U21s what is going on there ! At least we have some decent U17s and U18s , Oh and what happened to Adam McDonnell the wonder kid from Ireland ? Not ready eh Mick - cannot get ahead of Digby or Coke - Hmmmm

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portmanteau added 23:08 - Feb 23 hm, 1.5 points per game so far this season. 0.66 per game over last 6. lets say we get the midpoint of 1.5 and 0.66 = 0.84 per game over remaining 14 games = 11.76. add that to present 48 points = 60 in total. nowhere near enough for playoffs.
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oldegold added 23:08 - Feb 23 Same old boring, one dimensional football. Battling hard to keep my young son still as an Ipswich supporter but when you watch philistine football then you know you have no chance. Quite simply the worst soccer played at Ipswich in my 40 over years of following the club...horrendous. We have a youth system that was the envy of the country but is rotting too.
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ITFCsince67 added 23:09 - Feb 23 Hey look on the bright side... We can't drop below 10th for at least two games.
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runaround added 23:09 - Feb 23 With the team we had available tonight I don't think we could have asked or expected anymore. The few game changing talented footballers we have were unavailable tonight so we had to rely on hard work & attitude alone. Those attributes get you so far but against teams with quality in abundance throughout the side like Hull had tonight we come up short. Had Murphys shot that hit the post gone in or the header just wide at the end it would have been a different story but we just aren't good enough. There are mitigating circumstances for why we haven't done as well as last year. Bishop has missed all season, McGoldrick and Hyam most of the season, Fraser half the season & Skuse & Douglas periods too. Add to that Murphy and Berra having poorer seasons than last year. Take those things into account any team would struggle to make an impact. Mick only has hard workers left who give their all epitomised by Chambers, all teams need these but the added ingredients to get promoted are not there. If the injured players had been fit then I think we would have had a real chance but you're a very lucky club if you avoid injuries to key players during a season. A glass ceiling has been hit & it's very disheartening. Perhaps next year Bishop McGoldrick etc will all be fine but you cannot guarantee it. The club is at a crossroads & ME/MM need to decide what way they are going to go. Time will tell what they decide but they to do it quickly as the current inertia will turn fans away

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Bert added 23:13 - Feb 23 In very simplistic terms we matched them first half, could easily have gone in front. Second half their goal allowed them to play and show their obvious skill. It was not a disaster. Yes our style of football is boring but with no money, injuries to our best players it was not such a bad effort. If we don't pick up wins in the next month then that is a disaster. Perspective please.

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jas0999 added 23:14 - Feb 23 Frankly I'm not surprised by the result, but the manner of it disappoints. As the home side we barely created a clear cut chance. 100% effort but zero quality. The problem remains the midfield. There are few worse central pairings in the championship and who ever plays, it lacks goals, quality and creativity. Star performers last year such as Murphy and Berra have lost their edge and won't get better. The key players are getting older and our signings are getting cheaper and poorer. We can't blame injuries, we knew about Bishop and McGoldrick months ago. The reality remains that we lacked ambition in January - when others strengthened - we ended up weaker. The bench today was terrible. Nothing there to change a game. Our unambitious owner Marcus Evans and the deluded MM must take the full blame. How they can suggest we couldn't get better is remarkable. That budget must have been pitiful. Worse Evans was charging £35 on the gate where I sit tonight. Can anyone support that's value for money for a) the quality of football/ entertainment or b) for the quality of player available. It was all very average and won't improve without significant investment or MM becoming less pig headed. Disappointing and frustrating times.

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bluefeast added 23:15 - Feb 23 How would Hull , Burnley , Boro , Brighton , Shef Wed , Derby , Birmingham i.e. the favourites for promotion / top 6 do under MM , i bet none of them would be up there .
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baz1978 added 23:20 - Feb 23 Football boring no money spend going backwards
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carsey added 23:23 - Feb 23 Sadly much as I expected. The 1st half looked fairly even but without Town troubling Hull other than Murphy hitting the post after a messy corner kick. I said to my mates at 1/2 time Hull looked like they could easily step it up and sure enough they did. It was unfortunate that the goal came on the counter after Town created a half chance in the Hull penalty area and while it was a good goal the question has to asked why was the full back allowed to run unchallenged into the Town half. Nobody even attempted to close him down or take him out. In my view Town have become totally predictable under McCarthy with no one willing or able to put a foot on the ball. Everyone wants to wack it down the pitch towards Murphy (who is half the player he was last season). If it wasn't for Freddie we would have no serious threat going forward - he chased everything all night but sadly McCarthy will not play him through the middle where he would be most effective. I expect Smithy and Bera to hoof the ball away but surely the likes of Jonathan (Sideways Backwards anywhere but forwards) Douglas and Bru ought to be able to show some composure. Knudsen worked hard but doesn't look remotely like blossoming into the next Cresswell or Mings. Pringle aside from looking knackered midway through the 2nd half is no substitute for Frazer - he has little or no pace and didn't put one decent cross into the box. The stadium was a quiet as I can remember it being for a long time apart from a couple of moments when the referee made a couple of dubious decisions but all in all a poor showing once again from a poor footballing side. Zero shots on target at home says it all.

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bonamassablue added 23:24 - Feb 23 This was like watching a re-run of the Boro match. Whilst not playing that well (Sears and Pringle excluded) we were unlucky not to go in at half time ahead. But the second half exposed our weaknesses. Hull played with us whilst not getting out of second gear. I usually try to be supportive of MM's efforts but I cannot understand what coaching goes on during the week. We lacked confidence, guile, and why can professional footballers look to be half the pace of the opposition? We do not impose ourselves on the opposition, instead, we match their pace. When Hull slowed the game down to a walking pace, so did we. Where was the passion from a home team? Sorry, I cannot see an improvement round the corner.

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VulpineBlue added 23:30 - Feb 23 Hull were simply a different class all over the field. Like Burnley and Middlesbrough they simply show us how far we are off being a top team. The only bright spot for me was Mr Pringles performance.
2

dubblue added 23:30 - Feb 23 beaten by the better side, we were not totally outplayed but our recent results demonstrate the need to up our performance if we are to have any chance of making the play-offs. looking less likely I am afraid.
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DannyITFC added 23:31 - Feb 23 Hull are a much better team than us so no shame in losing to them however there are some deep issues with the club and the fact we are spiraling down the league at the rate of knots highlights this. Although MM has been very unlucky with very similar players all getting injured we did have the chance to bolster the squad in wide areas and Central Midfield but apparently the likes of Coke/Toure/Tabb etc were good enough to step up...... So after missing the boat there one of our biggest problems is at full back positions.......Knudson is not ready for this standard of football and Chambers should be in our CB with Smith a good backup on the bench! Further to this it has come to my attention that Murphy has not played anything like last season simply because he is missing his best strike partner option......Sears! Why oh why does MM waste this talent out wide when he could be running CB's crazy.....I like Pitman but for me he is an impact Striker. Of course me miss the skill of Mcgoldrick & Bishop that has effected our season with their absence and now Fraser we have no one who can change a game except Sears who is being played out of position. I thought Pringles looked a real player and it is a shame both him and Fraser are not in the same team. Douglas is average and Hyam has loads of passion but again a sub at best....Bru get us a top player wasted here at Ipswich similar with Maitland Niles. All in all I feel certain players are playing out of position and we need two new decent full backs. We can't help injuries but if we have to work with what we have got then start playing our best player - Sears up front where he has earnt the right! I think it's time for a new young manager......MM has taken us as far as he can. Evans should be investing more in players otherwise we will stay another 15 years in this division. If ambition is not changed along with style of play and attitude which would only come with a new manager I certainly will not renew my season ticket, it has been awful viewing this season and quite frankly everyone else in the championship are laughing at us right now. Time for changes MM has to move on and Evans needs to back his management with purchasing some quality players not league two jokers like Coke!

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BrettenhamBlue added 23:38 - Feb 23 Pros: First half fairly even. Sears, Bialkowski and Pringle all had very good games. Chambers played ok. Murphy ok when he was able to get the ball Cons: Tactics very 1-dimensional for long periods. No need to mention the inevitable hoofball which we all knew Hull could cope with before the match. Lack of creativity in midfield. Smith's concentration seems lacking and if it wasn't for superb acrobatics from Bialkowski the result could have been much worse. Midfield and defence (particularly in 2nd half): completely overrun. If we had equalised at the end it would have been a travesty of justice. Knudsen and Chambers passed far too easily. 1 clear cut chance that I can remember in the entire match whilst Hull got a lot of opportunity. The bench was awful and would have been even worse if Coke was on it. We seem to enjoy playing anti-football these days. Berra didn't have his best game in a Town shirt. Douglas ok but would be a lot better if he had a decent creative player beside him. We are not a top 6 side and sorry to say deserve a mid-table finish. Thankfully we are nowhere near the relegation zone.

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blueherts added 23:39 - Feb 23 Tonight result was not the problem it was the performance and the complete lack of any structure in our club - we are neither seemingly building for the future or trying to break into the big time We have a manager who is running on Auto and may as well give same old spiel pre and post and an owner ( if he really exisits) who has no desire to take £100m payday next season - Bishop and Dids were injured ages ago so we could and should have invested in Jan - oh sorry , yes we got DIGBY FFS

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BrettenhamBlue added 23:42 - Feb 23 For me Bialkowski was MOM btw. Another outstanding performance. If I was a bottom 6 Premier League Team I'd be looking into investing in him at the end of the season.
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clint_eastwood added 23:49 - Feb 23 I don't care if we dont get into the playoffs....just take Jonas Knudsen back to Denmark, please....please, i'm begging you.
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essex57 added 23:53 - Feb 23 Having been at the Hull away game I feared for us tonight and was pleasantly surprised how well we competed against them we were undone by a good goal and a better team onto Huddersfield a match that has taken on even greater importance than if we could of nicked a point tonight .
0

birdie82 added 00:08 - Feb 24 McCarthy says we had full squad in January. Bishop hasn't come close to playing and mcgoldrick has been injured for months. Even with a depleted squad there can be no excuses for aimless passes, headers l, crosses, all into areas where theee might be team mates but generally isn't! Surely professional footballers can look up once in a while. I think there is a lack of invention creativity and execution of basics. It's time some truth was spoken by the club and they need to stop papering I wring he cracks with PR rubbish! I have driven best part of 120 miles tonight, to Bristol last Saturday and there has been very little to remember

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hkbluey added 00:39 - Feb 24 Murphy is woefully out of form, i believe Chambers has more goals from RB! .. And McGoldrick makes Sturridge look unbreakable . . .. too late now but i would have outted the pair of them in January . . Hooper looks a steal at SWed. . . Would have loved him here. . . You make your own luck, and we are just lucky we already have enough points to stay up . . . p155poor. .

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